Banking with Capital One

I opened a money market account with Capital One about a year ago and I have been very pleased with the experience. It was very easy to open the account and it probably didn't take more than ten minutes. The application asks for basic information such as your name, address, phone number, etc. All you have to do is link your Capital One savings or money market account with your bank's checking account and you're ready to start saving. You can send money from your checking account to your savings whenever you want to or set up automatic deductions from your checking account that will go into your savings.

The overall look of the account homepage is not fancy, but what I like about it is that it is simple to use. You can transfer money from your checking account to savings or from your savings to your checking. Just keep in mind that it can take up to five days for the money to transfer from one account to the other. Keep this in mind if you need to transfer money from your savings to your checking for something important. If you need money immediately and just can't wait for the transfer, you can opt to use your ATM card. You can use the ATM card at thousands of ATM's nationwide and Capital One does not charge an ATM fee. However, the ATM owner may charge a fee (usually runs from $2.50 to $3.50). Another great feature with the account is that it does not charge any maintenance or annual fees of any kind.

As far as rates go, Capital One does not have the highest rate of some of the other banks, but it is still rather competitive at 1.75% for a Savings Account (for balances above $10,000) and 1.40% for a Money Market Account. Keep in mind that the average rate for most national banks is about 0.58%. As a matter of fact, the savings account at Wells Fargo only gets 0.05%. Once I found out about the other banks that had higher rates, I didn't waste anytime moving my money.

Capital One offers some rather competitive credit card rates. Many of their credit cards have no annual fee and you can get a rate as low as 11.9%. This is a far cry from my Wells Fargo credit card which has a rate of almost 22%. Capital One even offers a build your own credit card option. You can create a credit card that matches your current credit level, select your preferred interest rate, choose your own card design, and then apply. I have yet to get a credit card with Capital One, but I may consider it in the future. If you are like me and want a banking experience that is easy and efficient, Capital One may be a good choice. The customer service is so great that JD Powers and Associates certified Capital One as providing "an outstanding customer service experience."

Source:

http://www.capitalone.com/