LendingClub Banking Review: Checking, Savings and CDs
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- Savings
- CD rates
- Checking
- Banking experience
- Overdraft fees
Overall institution rating
4.5
After acquiring Radius Bank in 2021 and rebranding it with its own name, LendingClub offers an excellent checking account with perks including ATM fee rebates and cash back. It also offers deposit-taking ATMs for easy cash deposits and competitive rates on its savings account and certificates of deposit.
Best for: Online banking customers who use a debit card often, want to earn a high yield, and don't mind getting support online or by phone.
Pros
- One checking option has cash-back rewards and pays interest.
- Unlimited ATM fee reimbursements.
- Competitive savings account and CD rates.
- Free checking and savings accounts available.
- No overdraft fees.
Cons
- No overdraft program.
- Only one physical branch location.
- High minimum opening deposit for CDs.
Full review
Savings
Member FDIC
4.5
/5 NerdWallet ratingYou need $100 to open a LendingClub High-Yield Savings account, and there are no monthly fees. The savings rate is competitive with some of the best high-yield online savings rates; it has an APY of 4.25% on all balances.
A free ATM card is available with this account, which not all banks offer for savings. Having an ATM card for your savings account means that you can use your savings to make purchases, should you need to, and that you can deposit cash directly into your savings account.
CD
Member FDIC
5.0
/5 NerdWallet ratingLendingClub certificates of deposit are available in terms ranging from six months to five years. The minimum opening deposit is $2,500, which is more than some banks require. But rates are strong, including 4.75% on one-year CDs and 4.10% on three-year CDs.
» Want to comparison shop? See our list of the best CD rates
Checking
Member FDIC
5.0
/5 NerdWallet ratingWith the Rewards Checking account, you can earn unlimited 1% cash back on signature-based purchases in stores and online (at store checkouts, you select “credit” instead of "debit"). If your balance hits $2,500, a 0.10% annual percentage yield kicks in. If you have $100,000 or more, the rate becomes 0.15% APY.
LendingClub Rewards Checking has no monthly fee and no minimum balance requirement after the $100 to open an account.
LendingClub doesn’t charge fees for using other banks’ ATMs for cash withdrawals. The bank issues refunds — with no cap — on fees charged by non-network ATM owners. That includes ATMs abroad, though you still might be subject to international exchange fees.
Banking experience
4.5
NerdWallet ratingLendingClub offers online chat support and a phone line that operates with extended hours during the week and on weekends, as well as support through Twitter. Some online banks don’t have ways to deposit cash into your account, but LendingClub lets you deposit cash at its own ATMs and at certain ATMs in the MoneyPass or NYCE networks.
Though the banking provider has one financial center in Boston, you should expect to do all your banking online. The LendingClub apps earn good user ratings from iOS users but middling ratings from Android users.
Overdraft fees
4.0
NerdWallet ratingLendingClub doesn’t have an overdraft program, which means it declines transactions that would overdraft your account, such as debit card purchases. The bank may allow some types of transactions to force post to your account (recurring subscription services, for example) but in that event, it will not charge a fee.
This kind of system can help you not incur fees, but if you sometimes need to overdraw your account and want to have transactions go through, you can find accounts that charge either no fee or a low fee for that service. See our picks for best banks for overdrafts.
A previous version of this review incorrectly included a 0.5 star penalty to LendingClub Bank's overall rating relating to complaints on the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau database. LendingClub Bank does not have outsized CFPB complaints relative to its asset size. The penalty has since been removed. For more information about our process, see our methodology page.
Methodology
NerdWallet’s overall ratings for banks and credit unions are weighted averages of several categories: checking, savings, certificates of deposit or credit union share certificates, banking experience and overdraft fees. Factors we consider, depending on the category, include rates and fees, ATM and branch access, account features and limits, user-facing technology, customer service and innovation. The stars represent ratings from poor (one star) to excellent (five stars). Ratings are rounded to the nearest half-star.
