Zions Bank is another one of those FDIC banks that offers a high yield online savings account. Based in Salt Lake City, Utah and a result of a merger in 1957, Zions Bank has been helping customers with banking needs for over half a century. Though their branches number in the triple digits, chances are good that you haven’t seen one in your area and since they now offer an online savings account, let’s take a look at what they offer.
Click Here to Learn More about Zions Bank
Why Zions Bank
Competitive but not the highest is about all I can say. For rate chasers, this bank is probably not for you but if you are looking for another bank because your deposits are large enough that the $250,000 guarantee becomes a concern, then you might want to look into this bank as yet another option for your money.
In addition, I notice that Zions Bank actually allow you to open an account under your trust, which for whatever reason isn’t available for every high yield savings account out there so that is also a plus.
What I’d Like to See from Zions Bank
The interfaces of practically all the online savings accounts available today are pretty basic, but that’s okay because they work just fine. So the differentiators really boils down to its customer service. If there are any requests for this bank, I’d have to ask them to give the customer service hours a look. I looked for a while but I cannot find the hours of its online chatting service; as to the phone hours, the website claims them to be 7am – 8pm MT, Monday to Saturday. This means that if you have a question that needs to be addressed on Sunday, then you are out of luck. For someone like me who works at home on his own business, these hours might be fine but if you work Monday to Friday from 9 to 5, then you might need to wait till Saturday and hope that you can get everything resolved.
Another issue that bugs me is with the deposit and transfer limits. As of writing, the bank limits your initial deposit to $10,000. Furthermore, they only allow you to move $10,000 per day in and out of your account from within their system. Though you can always setup electronic transfers from another bank to get your money, the lack of flexibility and low limits will make moving money cumbersome.
Is Zions Bank Right for You?
Like I said, if you want another solution because you are hitting the FDIC limits, then by all means. Another more subtle benefit that I like about Zions Bank is the fact that unlike some of their competitors, they haven’t been continually changing their interest rates to annoy their customers. Of course, this is more of an observation of recent events rather than an insight on its strategy, so it can change at any time.
Interested? Click Here to Learn More about Zions Bank or to Sign Up for an Account.
- Zions Bank – Official Site
Zions Bank is just one of the online banks we reviewed on MoneyNing.com. Click here for the list of online savings accounts we have experience with.
{ read the comments below or add one }
I like to really investigate the complaints on the on-line banks, especially the less well known ones. Even if a bank is FDIC insured, it may be a pain to get your funds out.
From writing these reviews and then letting people talk about the bank, I find that pretty much every bank has a ton of negative press.. 🙂
I think in general, getting funds in and out is similar (apart those pesky transfer limits). The problem lies when you are unique requests. For example, someone made a comment recently on a competing bank that said they were unable to change his accounts from under his name to a name of a trust, and then said the only way to do so was to close all the accounts, which involved incurring fees.
Something like that is a very special case, and it would be impossible to figure out ahead of time unless you wrote the guidelines of the bank yourself.
The key for me is to have good customer support, because sometimes, the customer rep can go above and beyond what’s normal and help you out base on common sense even if it breaks their standard procedure.
Why does the Zions Bank website say it’s been in business since 1873 and you claim that they merged to become Zions Bank in 1957? Who’s right?
Let me clarify…
According to their website, the original bank (Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company) was founded in 1873, then in 1957, three banks, Zion’s Savings Bank and Trust Company, Utah Savings and Trust Company (founded in 1889) and First National Bank of Salt Lake City (founded in 1890) merged to form Zions First National Bank so that’s why you see both years.
I should have been more clear right from the start, but now you know. 🙂