Investors Bank Review – For New York and New Jersey Residents

4:06 AM

If you’re a resident of New York or New Jersey, Investors Bank could be a great option for checking, savings, and money market accounts.

Investors Bank

's rating
8.4
Investors Bank
Products and Services 8.0
Customer Service 9.0
Fees 7.5
Mobile Support 9.0

Pros

  • Known for local service
  • Special CD rates
  • Low minimums to open

Cons

  • No online only options
  • Monthly fees for all accounts

Table of Contents

Investors Bank is a local bank that’s existed for almost a century in New York and New Jersey. It features a robust menu of offerings, including personal and business checking and savings accounts, online and mobile banking options, loans, and more. In this review, we’ll talk mainly about the bank’s staple offerings of checking, savings, and money market accounts, but we’ll also touch on what else Investors Bank has to offer.

What is Investors Bank?

Investors Bank is primarily a regional bank in New York and New Jersey. It offers personalized, in-person service in its branches, but also allows account holders to manage their accounts online.

Deal of the Day: CIT Bank is offering a fantastic 2.30% APY on their Savings Builder Account. There are no monthly maintenance fees and the minimum deposit to open is $100. FDIC Insured.

Products and Features

Like most local banks, Investors offers a wide variety of account types and options, including a mobile wallet option. But here, we’ll focus on its core offerings: personal checking, savings, money market, and CDs.

Checking Accounts

  • YourStyle Checking: This account has a $50 minimum deposit to open, and comes with up to four free withdrawals at non-Investors ATMs per statement cycle. It comes with cell phone protection and identity theft protection, as well as a rewards program. It does have online banking and bill pay options, and it has a $600 overdraft privilege.
  • YourStyle Plus Checking: If you can maintain a very high daily account balance, you can get more benefits with this checking account, including exclusive money market interest rates, a $1,000 overdraft privilege and an unlimited number of free non-Investors ATM transactions each billing cycle.
  • Consumer Checking: This account offers a low monthly fee, but you can’t avoid it like you can with the other two accounts. It has a $25 minimum to open, no minimum balance, and four free withdrawals at non-Investors ATMs each month.

Savings Accounts

  • YourStyle Savings: This account has a $50 minimum deposit to open, unlimited cash withdrawals at Investors Bank branches or ATMs, and no monthly fee if you’re 18-24 years of age, over the age of 62, active-duty military, or a military veteran.
  • Passbook Savings: This traditional bank account offers a set APY, which isn’t advertised online, and a $50 minimum deposit to open.
  • High-Yield Savings: This account is available to those using the YourStyle Plus Checking account. It earns more APY the higher your account balance. Again, though, the rates aren’t published online.
  • Holiday Club Savings: Start saving for the holidays with automatic transfers into this account, which distributes your funds automatically in October, just in time for the shopping season.

Money Market Accounts

  • YourStyle Money Market: This account offers tiered interest rates, so you earn more as your balance grows. It has a $50 minimum deposit and includes unlimited check-writing.
  • YourStyle Plus Money Market: Similar to the account above, this one offers tiered interest rates and unlimited check writing. This higher-interest-rate account is only available if you’re using the YourStyle Plus Checking account.
  • Edge Money Market: This account is targeted towards those with high account balances, since you must maintain a balance of at least $50,000 to avoid monthly maintenance fees. But it may have higher tiered interest rates, as well.
  • Money Market Maximizer: This account has a $10,000 New Money deposit requirement, and you must have a YourStyle Checking account to open it. Again, it has tiered rates that aren’t published online.

Related: Best Money Market Rates

CDs

CDs at Investors have minimum deposits as low as $500 and terms that range from three months to five years. The yields for these accounts aren’t published online, so visit a branch to find out more.

Related: Best CD Rates

Main Products Pricing

The fees for Investors Bank products vary, but none of their products are completely fee-free. With most, you can avoid monthly maintenance fees if you maintain a minimum account balance. For instance, with the YourStyle Checking account, you can avoid fees by getting a direct deposit of at least $500 each statement cycle, maintain a monthly average balance of $1,000, or make at least 10 point-of-sale transactions with your account’s debit card.

With the YourStyle Plus Checking Account, you have to maintain an average monthly balance of $20,000, add another qualifying account and a direct deposit of at least $1,000 per month, or have 15 or more point-of-sale transactions on your debit card to avoid fees. The monthly fee for the regular checking account is $10, and it’s $20 for the YourStyle Plus account.

The savings accounts are similar with monthly maintenance fees ranging from $3 to $10, which you can avoid by meeting the requirements, typically minimum balance requirements.

Note: There are no completely fee-free products from Investors without meeting the requirements on a monthly basis. With many accounts, meeting those requirements won’t be difficult for average customers. But it’s definitely one more thing to worry about.

Applying for an Account

Investors Bank is strictly a local bank, so you must visit their branches in person to open any accounts.

Security

Investors Bank uses authentication standards and bank-level encryption for its online accounts. It also gives its customers access to information on how to proactively protect their information online.

Mobile Support

Investors Bank Mobile App

Mobile app

Investors Bank does have a mobile app, so once you’re enrolled and have accounts open there, you can manage them largely online and through your phone.

Customer Service

Since it’s a local bank, Investors is known for great in-person customer service at its branches. You can also contact customer service through the mobile app or your online account, or directly through their customer service line.

Pros and Cons

Pros:

  • Known for local service: Investors has a decades-long reputation in its region, so if you’re looking for somewhere to get good customer service in person, this may be it.
  • Special CD rates: While Investors doesn’t make its latest rates public on its website, it does sometimes offer great rates on its special CDs.
  • Low minimums to open: Most accounts with this bank have a low minimum to open and a low minimum to avoid monthly maintenance fees.

Cons:

  • No online only options: If you live outside of New York and New Jersey, you are pretty much out of luck with this bank.
  • Monthly fees for all accounts: Again, it’s simple to avoid monthly fees with most Investors accounts, but the possibility of being charged monthly does exist for all of the bank’s checking and savings accounts.

Investors Bank Alternatives

If you’re looking for a high-yield savings account or a free checking account, there are definitely better options than Investors. And if you don’t live where Investors operates, this is even more essential. You can avoid fees with this list of free online checking accounts, or check out savings accounts with the best yields right here.

If you’re specifically looking for an online-only savings account with a high-yield, check out our list of the best high-yield online savings accounts right now. We also recommend CIT Bank’s Savings Builder account offering 2.30% APY with $100 minimum opening deposit plus $100 monthly deposit. It’s a great incentive to build up your savings. This is a good option if you’re just getting started and don’t have a bunch of money to open an account with, in spite of the slightly lower APY.

Read more: CIT Savings Builder Review – NEW 2.30% APY

Who is Investors Bank For?

If you’re a resident of New York or New Jersey near an Investors Bank branch, and you will maintain an account that can avoid the fees commonly associated with these accounts, check out this bank as an option. Otherwise, look into an online-only bank or one that’s closer to you.

Bottom Line

Investors Bank has a long history in its area, but it’s really only a viable option for those in the New York and New Jersey region who don’t mind jumping through a few hoops to avoid service fees on a locally-serviced bank account.

Topics: BankingInvestingMoney ManagementPersonal FinanceReviews

The post Investors Bank Review – For New York and New Jersey Residents appeared first on The Dough Roller.




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