We choose Ally, First Citizens Bank, First National Bank, Mechanics & Farmers Bank, and
Our favorite financial institutions are federally insured by the NCUA and FDIC, which means your money is safe in even the rare event that a bank shuts down. These banks also stand out because they have minimal bank fees and offer appealing features.
Below, you'll find the savings rates from the biggest banks in North Carolina. In March 2022, the national average for interest rates on savings accounts is 0.06% APY, according to the FDIC.
None of these banks offered a competitive interest rate, so we didn't end up choosing any of these banks for our best savings account category. However, you may still decide one of these banks is a good fit for you.
Financial institution | Savings APY | Number of NC branches | Next steps |
Truist Bank | 346 | ||
Wells Fargo | 263 | ||
First Citizens Bank | 228 | ||
Bank of America | 133 | ||
PNC Bank | 113 | ||
First Bank | 95 | ||
Woodforest National Bank | 92 | ||
First National Bank | 89 | ||
Southern Bank | 53 | ||
Fifth Third Bank | 50 |
Why it stands out: Brick-and-mortar banks in North Carolina pay pretty low interest rates, around the national average. If you'd like to open a high-yield savings account, Ally is an excellent online option. It pays a competitive rate and doesn't charge standard bank fees.
You may also like the
Ally customer service is available over the phone and through live chat 24/7.
What to look out for: As an online-only institution, you'll have to transfer money from another bank account if you'd like to deposit cash.
Why it stands out: First National Bank offers a solid free checking account. If you open the
What to look out for: You might have to deal with fees if you accidentally take too much from your account. There's a $37 overdraft fee if you overdraw from your account. The bank has overdraft protection that lets you link to another bank account, but you'll have to pay a $10 transfer fee if you use it.
Why it stands out: First Citizens Bank is a great choice if you prefer traditional banking. It's the third-largest financial institution in the state, and it offers a free savings and checking account.
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What to look out for: You might have to deal with overdraft fees if you take out more money than you have in your checking account. First Citizens Bank offers overdraft protection, but you'll have to pay a $12 transfer fee if you utilize it.
There's a also $3 excess withdrawal fee if you exceed two withdrawals per month from your savings account.
Why it stands out: State Employees Credit Union is a good option if you'd like to bank with a credit union over a bank. It has over 273 locations and 1,100 free ATMs, making it one of the biggest financial institutions throughout the state.
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The credit union's checking account has a low minimum opening deposit, but there's a $1 monthly service fee that can't be waived.
What to look out for: To be eligible for membership at SECU, you or an immediate family member need to be working or formerly employed by one of the following:
To become a member, you'll need to open a share account with at least $25.
Why it stands out: Mechanics & Farms Bank is a Black-owned bank with eight branches in Charlotte, Durham, Greensboro, Raleigh, and Winston-Salem.
Local banks are an ideal option if you're looking for an institution with close ties to its community. Mechanics & Farmers Bank hosts financial literacy workshops in each city with a branch. Employees and management also attend around 80 community events yearly.
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If you meet these requirements, you'll also be eligible for up to $15 in out-of-network ATM refunds.
What to look out for: The bank's savings account requires a minimum opening deposit of $100 and has a $6 monthly service fee if you don't keep at least $200 in your account daily.
We use ratings from the Better Business Bureau to evaluate how financial institutions address customer issues and handle transparency.
Financial institution | BBB rating |
Ally | C |
First Citizens Bank | A |
First National Bank | A+ |
Mechanics & Farmers | A+ |
SECU | A |
All of our top picks have at least an A rating from the Better Business Bureau, except for Ally. Ally has a C grade because there have been 315 complaints filed against the business and two unresolved customer complaints.
A good BBB rating won't guarantee your relationship with a business will be perfect. Consider talking to current customers or reading online customer reviews.
On the bright side, none of the financial institutions featured have recent public scandals.
Personal Finance Insider's mission is to help smart people make the best decisions with their money. We understand that "best" is often subjective, so under each section, we outline the advantages and limitations of each account or institution. We spent hours comparing and contrasting the features and fine print of various products so you don't have to.
We reviewed the 10 biggest banks and credit unions in the state and financial institutions included in our Black-owned banks and credit unions guide and Hispanic American-owned banks and credit unions guide.
We sought out accounts with minimal banks and unique features. For example, some of the accounts featured offer a competitive interest rate or budgeting tools to help track your spending.
For our best credit union and best local bank, we chose financial institutions that offered great customer service, easy membership requirements, and low minimum opening deposits.
It depends on what you're looking for. Wells Fargo has the most branches in the US, followed closely by Chase and Bank of America. If you're looking for high savings rates and low fees, then you'll probably want to go with an online bank. (See our picks for the best online banks here.)
As long as an institution has federal insurance, your money should be safe. Banks need to be insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC). Credit unions need to be insured by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA).
An individual account is insured for up to $250,000, and a joint account is insured for up to $500,000. This means you won't lose all of your money should the bank go under.
Insider
To learn more about what makes a good bank or credit union and how to choose the best fit, four experts weighed in:
We're focusing on what will make a bank most useful, including customer service, fees, rates, and more. Here's what they had to say about finding a bank. (Some text may be lightly edited for clarity.)
Mykail James, CFEI:
"The No. 1 thing about a checking account is you should know what provider the debit card is coming from. And a lot of people don't think about that, because there are places that don't accept MasterCard or don't accept an Amex."
Laura Grace Tarpley, Personal Finance Insider:
"I would look for the bank that charges you the least in fees. This means either no monthly fees, or you qualify to waive the monthly fees. If you never overdraw from your account, then a bank's overdraft fees won't matter much to you. But if you occasionally overdraw, then I'd look at the fees or overdraft protection options."
Tania Brown, CFP:
"How can that bank grow with you? If you are 25, single or newly married, and all you need is a checking account, that's going to look very different 15 years from now when you may have had a couple of jobs, you may have an IRA roll over, or you may want a financial adviser."
Mykail James, CFEI:
"How accessible it is. So where are the branches? And if I am to go out of town or something, how accessible is my money to me?"
Tania Brown, CFP:
"With an online bank, absolutely online customer service, because you do not have the advantage of walking inside and talking to a human being. How often are you able to get them? What are their hours?"
Roger Ma, CFP:
"How onerous the transfer process is, transferring money in and transferring money out. Is it same day, next day? Is it pretty easy to sync a brick-and-mortar checking account to this particular high-yield savings account?"
Mykail James, CFEI:
"When it comes to online banks, you want to be a little bit more strict about what type of interest rates they're providing. That's the biggest thing, because online banks are supposed to have the higher interest rate because they don't have the overhead of the brick-and-mortar. You want to make sure that it's well above the national average. What type of securities do they provide? Do they have two-factor identification? If it's an online bank, they should definitely have — at the bare minimum — two-factor authentication in how easy it is to change your passwords and things like that, because you want to be a little more hypersensitive about the cyber security for a strictly online bank."