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The bottom line: Live Oak Bank Live Oak Bank Personal Savings Account is good if you're searching for an online bank that pays high rates. But because there's no personal checking account, you might want to look at our guide to the best checking accounts if you're worried about accessing your savings quickly.
Live Oak Bank Overall Rating
| Feature | Personal Finance Insider rating (out of 5) |
| Savings | 4 |
| Business savings | 4.25 |
| CD | 3.5 |
| Trustworthiness | 3 |
| Total: | 3.5 |
Live Oak Bank Pros and Cons
| Pros: | Cons: |
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Live Oak Bank Personal Savings Account
no monthly service fee
4.20%
$0 (must have at least $0.01 to earn interest)
$300
- High APY
- No monthly service fees
- No minimum opening deposit (must have at least $0.01 to earn interest)
- Mobile check deposit
- $19 outgoing wire transfer fee
- No way to deposit cash
- Earn $300 on Live Oak Bank personal savings account if you do the following:
- -Open a new personal savings account by 1/13/25
- -Deposit at least $20,000 of new money into your account by 1/13/25
- -Maintain a balance of at least $20,000 for 60 days
- Account is limited to one bonus per tax identification number per promotional period; money will be deposited within 45 days of the end of the 60-day period. Account can't be closed or restricted to get the bonus
- If you're an existing member, you have to maintain your other account balances at or above the end of day balance on November 11, 2024 across existing personal savings to earn the bonus
- To access savings, transfer funds to external bank account
- Interest compounded daily, paid monthly
- FDIC insured
The Live Oak Bank Personal Savings Account doesn't require a minimum opening deposit (must have at least $0.01 to earn interest) or charge monthly fees. It also pays a competitive interest rate.
Depositing and receiving cash are the tricky parts. Although you can transfer funds into your account and deposit checks digitally, there's no way to deposit cash. You'll have to transfer funds to an external bank account, which can take a couple of business days.
Live Oak Bank CD
2.00% to 4.40%
$2,500
- Competitive APY
- Low-to-standard early withdrawal penalties
- No terms under 3 months or over 5 years
- $2,500 minimum deposit
- Terms ranging from 3 months to 5 years
- Early withdrawal penalties: 90 days simple interest for terms under 24 months, 180 days simple interest for terms of 24 months or more
- Interest compounded daily, paid monthly
- FDIC insured
Live Oak's minimum deposit of $2,500 is pretty steep. If you don't have $2,500 on hand, you can open a CD with less at another online bank.
Live Oak Bank Business Savings
no monthly service fee
3.70%
$0
- High interest rate
- No monthly service fee
- No minimum opening deposit (must have at least $0.01 to earn interest)
- Cannot deposit cash
- Big banks offer high fees and low interest rates. Enjoy a better way to save for your business. High-yield interest.
- No monthly maintenance fees. No minimum balance requirements.
- 3.70% APY (accurate as of 12/03/24) - one of the best rates for business savings in the country
- No online banking or monthly maintenance fees
- No minimum balance requirements
- Open account online in minutes
- Human-powered support
- Available to businesses nationwide
- FDIC insured up to $250,000
- Access to over 55,000 ATMs in the Allpoint ATM network for business checking account
How Live Oak Bank Works
Live Oak is an online bank with a savings account and CDs. Not many customers have reviewed the mobile app in the Apple or Google Play stores, but the average review ratings so far are mediocre.
Speak to a customer service representative over the phone Monday through Friday, 8 a.m. to 8 p.m. ET. There's no customer support available on weekends. There's no live online chat feature, but you can fill out an online form and wait for a response.
Your deposits are FDIC insured for $250,000, or $500,000 for a joint account.
Live Oak Bank Trustworthiness and BBB Ratings
The Better Business grades companies based on responses to customer complaints, honesty in advertising, and transparency. Live Oak Bank current has an A- rating from the BBB due to several customer complaints and failure to respond to one complaint.
Trustpilot also scores companies based on age and number of reviews received. It is rated 4.5 out of 5 stars on Trustpilot with over 900 reviews.
Live Oak Bank vs. Ally
For a full banking experience, you'll likely prefer Ally Bank to Live Oak Bank. Ally is the only financial institution of the three compared here to offer checking and money market accounts.
Live Oak Bank has a pretty straightforward and simple saving account—there's no minimum opening deposit and no monthly service fee. Meanwhile, Ally has savings tools that let you sort your money into "savings buckets" to help you save for financial goals.
Live Oak Bank vs. Marcus
Live Oak Bank and Marcus have similar savings accounts that require no minimum opening deposit and no monthly service fees.
If you don't have a lot of money to deposit into your CD, Marcus might be a stronger contender than Live Oak Bank. Marcus has a minimum opening deposit of $500 and also no-penalty CDs.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Live Oak Bank
We rate bank accounts on a scale from one to five stars. For Live Oak Bank's savings, and CDs, we used Personal Finance Insider's bank account ratings methodology. The exact factors we evaluate vary depending on the type of account.
For Live Oak Bank's CDs, for example, we used our CD rating methodology which looks at interest rates, minimum opening deposits, early withdrawal penalties, CD variety, customer support availability, mobile app ratings, miscellaneous features, and the security and ethics of the company.
We use a weighted average to get our star rating, which means we weigh certain features, like interest rates and fees, at a higher weight percentage than others. We understand that these areas can more heavily impact a person's overall banking experience.
