Looking for a low maintenance bank with high interest rates? Capital One 360 is almost incomparable. Find out why in our review below.

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Capital One purchased ING Direct in 2012 and created Capital One 360. It’s an online bank that offers everything from checking accounts to savings accounts to bank accounts for children.

I’ve had a savings account at ING Direct for several years. So, I was part of the transition to Capital One 360. I now have a Capital One 360 checking account, and a Capital One Venture credit card–which show up in my account overview with Capital One 360. So it seems like a good time to give Capital One 360 a thorough review.

What is Capital One 360?

Capital One 360 is a suite of checking and savings accounts offered by Capital One bank. It was known as ING Direct but was later purchased by Capital One. Since the acquisition, the offerings and features have grown.

In the cadre of offerings from Capital One 360 are:

Checking Accounts

Capital One 360 offers two checking accounts: the 360 Checking, which is for all adults, and the MONEY Checking, which is geared toward teens.

Savings Accounts

Capital One 360 has five options for savings accounts:

• 360 Money Market: designed for those with more than $10,000 in deposits, you get a 2.00% APY
• 360 Savings: your standard savings account, earning 1.00% APY
• Kids Savings Account: designed for children, and still earns 1.00% APY
• 360 IRA Saving – Traditional: a Traditional IRA, set up as a savings account that earns 1.00% APY
• 360 IRA Saving – Roth: the same thing, only set up as a Roth IRA

CD Accounts

If you’re looking for a Certificate of Deposit (CD), you can get decent rates with Capital One 360. They offer three CDs:

• 12-months: 2.70% APY
• 24-months: 2.85% APY
• 60-months: 3.10% APY

IRA CDs

You can set up a CD as an IRA, too. They offer two options:

• Traditional IRA CD: 0.60%-3.10% APY
• Roth IRA CD: 0.60%-3.10% APY

Each product is based primarily online (Capital One does have branches across the country, but 360 is focused entirely online) and comes with a solid interest rate. Let’s explore a little further to see what exactly you have available to you.

Capital One 360 Features

Top-Rated Mobile App

Capital One has a fantastic mobile app. I love it. You can access your account on the go and check your balance, transfer money, and manage multiple accounts with ease.

Online Bill Pay

All banks have this now, but Capital One 360 will send a paper check on your behalf if they can’t pay it electronically. This is a great feature, especially when you have to pay smaller utility bills that aren’t managed by big companies.

Mobile Deposit

Depositing checks is super easy–just take a picture of the check with your phone, and it’ll show up in your account in a couple of days.

Digital Payments

If you need to pay someone with cash but don’t have any (come on… who carries cash anymore?), you can use Zelle within your Capital One mobile app to send secure person-to-person payments to almost anyone. Or, you can use it to pay card-free with Apple Pay, Google Pay, and Samsung Pay.

Automatic Savings Plan

Getting in the habit of saving money is fun and easy with the Automatic Savings Plan. You can set it up quickly and choose how much you want to save and how often. Then you sit back and watch your savings grow. Plus, you can have up to 25 savings accounts, all with unique names. This way you can plan to save for specific things, such as a home or baby.

My Savings Goals

Along with multiple savings accounts, you can increase your enthusiasm around savings with what’s called My Savings Goals. This is an excellent tool to help you track the money you’re saving every step of the way. You can set a goal for each savings account, change it any time you want and watch your progress.

CreditWise® from Capital One

Using CreditWise® from Capital One, you can track your credit score for free. It allows you to receive alerts when your score changes and get easy-to-understand credit tips so you can manage your financial future.

Capital One 360 Pricing

There are no fees for opening or maintaining your checking and savings account. That’s a big deal because nowadays a lot of banks are trying to nickel and dime you every single way they can. So having no fees is such a big plus because that will save money for you to build additional wealth, cut down your debt, and build a substantial emergency fund.

One of the best things about Capital One 360 is the interest rate. It’s not super high, especially with the checking account, but it’s competitive when you look at other options. Their savings account offers 1.00% APY. If you have $10,000 to deposit, you can get into their Money Market savings account and get 2.00% APY.

Sign up/Application

The sign-up process is really easy. It took me about 30 seconds to get from the main page to the specific application for a Capital One 360 Savings Account:

Once you fill out the basic information, it should be no more than five to ten minutes and you’ll be up and running with a new account.

Security

This is one of the best things about Capital One 360–they take security seriously. First, all associates that work for Capital One must take annual security training, so they know how and when to protect your information.

Capital One 360 also puts safeguards in place to protect your information, such as your Social Security Number. They ensure that their app and website are accessed securely and with layers of encryption, too. The mobile app comes with SureSwipe, which allows you to “replace your usual password with a custom pattern you swipe with your finger.”

Beyond that, you can contact their support team at any time if you think your information has been compromised, but they’ll also proactively contact you if something looks unusual on your account. This is called Second Look, and Capital One 360 says that they “automatically check your credit card accounts for unusual, duplicate, and auto-renewal charges,” and if they “see any of those types of things, [they will] notify you to help be sure you’re not wrongfully charged.”

I have both a Capital One 360 checking and savings account, and I’ve been so happy with the security features they put in place. They’re always on top of new threats, and they’re proactive with telling you that things don’t look right. I feel very comfortable keeping significant money with Capital One.

Mobile Support

The Capital One mobile app is excellent. It’s visually appealing, safe and secure with encryption, and has a bunch of great features. You can use the mobile app to pay electronically with services like Apple Pay or Google Pay, and you can set up plenty of alerts to keep on top of your money.

One of the other features I love is the purchase notifications. You can get a pop up on your phone the moment a new charge hits your account–this helps you be protected against fraudulent charges and to make sure you’re being charged the correct amount when you make purchases.

You can also lock your card if you lose it, use CreditWise (Capital One’s free credit monitoring service), pay bills, deposit checks by taking a picture of it, and pay other people instead of using cash by using Zelle–which is built right into the app.

Customer Service

Customer service with Capital One 360 is excellent. You have plenty of options to contact them via email, phone, or social media. You can also self-service by using their in-depth knowledge base of FAQs so you may save yourself a call. If you call them, they’re open late–8 AM to 11 PM EST, 7 days a week.

Pros and Cons

 Capital One 360 Alternatives

When I look at the suite of offerings that Capital One 360 has, I’m not sure there’s a comparable option. They offer multiple account types under one brand, and they have unique features like the kid’s savings account.

However, the best comparison I can give you is for their savings account. The CIT Savings Builder is a more competitive account. You can get a 2.40% APY, which is much better than Capital One 360’s money market account (and more than double the regular savings account) but you have to deposit $25,000 or consistently deposit $100 per month.

Bottom Line: Who is it for?

Capital One 360 is for someone who doesn’t need to go into a physical branch and is fine doing all of their banking online. It’s also for someone who doesn’t want to be bothered with managing different accounts at different banks, just for the interest rate. For example, the CIT Savings Builder is only a savings account. You can’t bundle checking, CDs, and other products.

So if you like simplicity and reasonable rates, Capital One 360 is worth a shot.

You can compare rates with other banks in the table below:

Topics: Banking

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via Finance Xpress