Varo Money Savings Account 2024 Review
When you're ready to open a savings account, you can find plenty of great options online. Varo Money might be a good fit if you want a savings account with a solid APY and lots of features. There are no fees and no minimum balance requirements, which makes it easy to save.
Varo's digital savings account offers competitive rates with zero fees. It's easy to open an account online and Varo offers several tools to help you grow your money faster.
A Varo Money Online Savings Account could be right for people who:
- Are interested in getting a competitive APY on their savings.
- Want to skip monthly maintenance fees and other banking fees.
- Don't mind an online-only banking experience.
- Would like an ATM card with their savings account.
You'll need a Varo Bank Account to open a savings account. The Varo Bank Account is the equivalent of a checking account. There are no minimum deposit or minimum balance requirements to meet to get started.
Varo Money High Yield Savings Account Pros & Cons
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Compared to Other Savings Accounts
Synchrony Bank High Yield Savings Account
Synchrony Bank offers high-yield savings accounts, money market accounts and CD accounts. There's no minimum deposit to open and no monthly fees. Rates are competitive across the board and you can easily access your money online or through the Synchrony Bank mobile app.
Ponce Bank High Yield Savings Account
Ponce Bank offers a high yield savings account in partnership with Raisin. You can open your account online with just $1 and the APY is one of the best around. The only catch is that you're limited to managing your money online through the Raisin website.
Credit Karma Savings Account
Credit Karma is mostly known for offering credit monitoring services but you can also open a free savings account here. The APY is impressive and there are no monthly fees to worry about. There's no minimum opening deposit requirement and your account is FDIC-insured up to $5 million.
Liberty Savings Bank High Yield Savings Account
Liberty Savings Bank offers an interest checking account and savings account bundle. While the APY is above what you could find at most traditional banks, it's not as great as what online banks can offer. But there are no monthly fees for either account.
Interest Rates
Varo pays a generous APY to savers, but there's a catch. Rates are tiered by balance.
Here's how it works in a nutshell:
- You'll earn a higher APY on the first $5,000 in savings.
- Balances over that amount earn a lower, but still competitive, APY.
There's one more stipulation. To get the higher APY, you also need to have at least $1,000 in qualifying direct deposits each month.
Overall, the rates you could earn are still better than almost anything you might find at a brick-and-mortar bank. But it's important to read the fine print so you know which APY you're earning on different balances.
The interest rate is just one thing to weigh when choosing a savings account. It's also important to consider:
- Initial deposit requirements
- Minimum balance requirements or other requirements to earn the stated APY
- Monthly maintenance fees and ways to waive them, if any
- Interest compounding frequency and when it's credited to your account
- How rates apply (i.e., tiered or the same across all balances)
- Mobile and online banking access
- ATM access and whether an ATM card is available
The Varo Online Savings Account offers some enticing rates but you have to consider how much interest you could actually earn. If you don't have qualifying direct deposits set up, for example, then you'll miss out on the higher APY.
Fees
Bank account fees can eat into your savings. If you're wondering what you might pay for a Varo Money Online Savings Account, here's how the fees add up.
Other Account Fees - Varo Money High Yield Savings Account
| Fee | Amount |
|---|---|
| Monthly maintenance fee | $0 |
| Paper statement fee | $0 |
| In-network ATM fee | $0 |
| Out-of-network ATM fee | $3 |
| Stop payment fee | $0 |
| Bill pay fee | $0 |
| Return deposit fee | $0 |
| Incoming wire transfer fee | N/a |
| Insufficient funds fee | $0 |
As you can see, fees are minimal. There is an out-of-network ATM fee but that would only apply if you're using a debit card linked to a Varo Bank Account to access another bank's machine.
ATM Access
Varo doesn't offer an ATM card with its savings accounts. You can, however, get a debit card with the Varo Bank account.
You can use your debit card to make purchases or withdraw cash at more than 55,000 Allpoint ATMs fee-free. An out-of-network ATM fee applies and Varo doesn't offer fee reimbursement.
You won't be able to withdraw cash from your savings account directly. You'll first need to log in to online or mobile banking and transfer funds from your Varo Savings account to your Varo Bank Account.
Account Management/Features
Varo offers a few helpful features to make saving and managing money easier.
They include:
- Online banking access
- Mobile banking access
- ATM access with a Varo Bank debit card
- Save Your Pay
- Save Your Change
Save Your Pay is an automatic savings tool that lets you deposit a percentage of your paychecks into savings. You can decide how much to save and Varo Bank transfers money for you automatically.
Save Your Change is a round-up tool. When you buy something with your Varo Bank Account debit card, Varo rounds the transaction up and deposits the difference into your savings account. It's a simple way to save your spare change, with no added fees.
FDIC Insurance
FDIC insurance is designed to protect your deposits in case of a bank failure. Should your bank fail, the FDIC insures your accounts up to $250,000. That limit applies per depositor, per account ownership type and per financial institution.
Is the Varo Online Savings Account FDIC-insured? Yes, since Varo is an FDIC-member bank. Should Varo fail for any reason, the FDIC would step in to make sure you're able to get your money back, up to the coverage limit.
