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Marcus Savings Account by Goldman Sachs

Update: As of November, 2018, the new interest rate on Marcus Savings accounts is 2.05%.

Something as simple as a savings account can be a quick place to improve your personal finances. Today, we are going to do a Marcus Online Savings Account review to show you how.

When it comes to high-interest online savings accounts, there are a lot of really great rates, and a lot of not so great fine print. One of the most common tricks for online banking is to only offer the high-interest rate on part of the balance, say the first $500 or even the first $5,000. The remaining balance earns a much more mundane online savings account rate of interest. For example, the Farmers Insurance Credit Union offers a high-yield checking account with an eye-popping 5% interest rate. But, before you transfer your account, note that high rate only applies to the first $5,000.

Check out the Credit Karma reviews.

Marcus Goldman Sachs Online Savings Account

Goldman Sachs has traditionally catered to high-net worth individuals and their investing needs. For many services, you’ll need a million dollar minimum to even talk to someone. Recently, however, the company has reached into the standard retail worth with Goldman Sachs Marcus brand online banking. And, as a company used to dealing with big dollar amounts, they aren’t going to limit your high online interest rate to a small portion of your balance. There is a limit to how much you can deposit, it’s a million dollars.

Marcus Savings Account Review

First, let’s start with the basics. This Goldman Sachs savings account is provided by the Goldman Sachs Bank division of Goldman Sachs. As a member FDIC bank, all funds in Marcus online banking are FDIC insured up to the usual limits of $250,000 per person, or $250,000 per owner for joint accounts.

What about Marcus online savings fees?

The Marcus savings account doesn’t come with any unusual fees. There are no monthly fees, and no minimum balance fees either. (Technically, you have to have at least $1 on deposit to earn the full interest rate.) There is no ATM or debit card available with the account, so obviously, there are no ATM fees or card fees either. There are no Marcus savings account fees for transfers, however, the bank on the other end of the transfer might charge its own fees.

Currently, the interest rate is 1.95% and that is on every dollar, with no minimum and no maximum other than the account limit. Currently, Goldman limits Marcus accounts to a maximum $1,000,000 balance. Most regular money market and banks accounts are paying below 1% interest these days. That makes doubling the interest rate on your savings a real possibility.

See my Acorns review.

After that, all of the Marcus savings account cons are just the usual ones attached to dealing with savings accounts and online banking. Per federal banking law (Thanks, big bank lobbyists!), you are only allowed up to six withdrawals per month. Since it is an online bank, you need to transfer your money to another financial institution to get full access to it. ACH transfers to and from your Marcus account will take 3 to 5 business days depending on who is on the other end of the transfer.

There is a maximum withdrawal from Marcus savings accounts of $125,000 using the online banking interface, but high amounts can be achieved by calling the bank.

Is Marcus Savings Worth It?

As an overdraft account, or for your emergency savings, Marcus probably isn’t a good fit. It just takes too long to get access to your money if you need $1,000 now. However, as a place to put your cash reserve, the high-interest Marcus account is a great financial tool. A high rate on your whole balance, and full FDIC insurance, makes Marcus a comfy place to park three to six months of living expenses, while letting that money still grow.

Marcus will not replace your “regular” bank, but it does offer a lot of upside for savvy users with sizable savings.

Best Online Bank Rates

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OK, I get asked all the time about where to get the best rates for a savings account. First off, you want a money market account, not a savings account. Money market accounts pay better rates in exchange for restrictions that should be very easy for you to meet. (You can check here for information about kids savings accounts.)

The Online Banks

Next, if you are purely interested in rates, then online banks are the way to go. There is a catch, but it isn’t what you think. 99% of the online banks you will find through a reputable source are backed by real banks with real assets offering better rates in exchange for not having to hire tellers to process your transactions. The catch is that you probably still need a regular local bank of some sort to handle certain things. The time it takes to transfer money from your local bank to your online bank is usually 3 or 4 business days, so we are not talking about instant access to your cash. However, many online accounts come with ATM cards, so if you just need $40 for gas, no problem, but if you need $800 to cover your mortgage payment, then you’ll need to plan ahead.

If you haven’t shopped for savings rates in a while, you might be in for a little shock. As you may have noticed, the Fed has been slashing interest rates in an effort to prop up the sluggish economy. That means loan rates are down (good news), but so are savings rates (bad news). Right now, you’ll be looking at 1% for the highest yielding accounts and closer to 1/2% for your more standard accounts. As always, you can get higher rates with higher balances.

The best place to find online savings rates is at Bankrate.com. If you aren’t familiar with Bankrate, you probably should be. Overall, it is a pretty honest site without too much flash or smoke. Yes, there are ads, but they tend to be non-intrusive. Skip the articles or whatever on the front page and click to go right to what you are looking for whether it is home equity loans, car loans, or bank rates. Don’t take these rates as the gospel, but they will give you a solid ballpark of what you are going to be looking at when you are ready to move forward.

Choose the minimum balance you are looking at and click next. Be sure to watch the fine print for introductory rates or other tricks. You aren’t some sucker who is going to get all dazzled by a high rate for 3 or 6 months. You are a savvy customer who wants the goods, not the gimmicks. Again, don’t take this chart as set in stone. Use it as a place to start your research.

The Fine Print

Watch out for the fine print. Most commonly you’ll find things like being required to also have a checking account, or being required to have a direct deposit. Before you sign up make sure that all the fine print and monthly fees makes sense for you.

Remember, don’t fall for intro rates, and read all the terms and conditions. It might sound like legal mumbo jumbo, but somewhere in there you will clearly understand if you are required to have direct deposit or make 3 ATM withdrawals per month. Whatever account you choose, be sure it fits how you use your money.

Online Bargains Aren’t Always Great Deals Check The Details First

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top-christmas-gifts-2009-graphic Black Friday has come and gone. Cyber Monday is history. Yet, online shopping continues in full force. Various reports suggest that online shopping has increased dramatically this year, likely due to the increasing usage of broadband connections in the home, and the draw of huge savings secretly located on the Internet if you can just find the right combination of coupon codes, discount websites, and wholesalers online. However, as always, when it comes to personal finance what you don’t know can hurt you. Make sure you understand all of the details regarding online shopping for bargains. Otherwise, you may get burned.

Amazon Makes Online Shopping OK

Not long ago, online shopping was the exclusive providence of very specific people, typically techies, and ultra-bargain shoppers who linked together in electronic discount finding groups reminiscent of the old coupon clubs. A few appearances on Oprah by folks like "Coupon Mom" helped drive online shopping and deal finding to the forefront of the American consciousness. But, what finally pushed online shopping over the edge from the wary, angst filled, activity it used to be to a common shopping method used by teenagers, little old ladies, and the technological inept alike was the legitimizing factor of Amazon.com.

When Amazon burst onto the scene a decade ago, it was a revolutionary idea. Selling books online meant that not only could Amazon offer deep discounts on books, but it could also stock many more titles than local booksellers could on their shelves. Even the big national chains like Barnes & Noble and Borders couldn’t compete with how many books Amazon sold. The offer to order a book for you began to pale by comparison. Instead of waiting for the bookstore’s regular shipment of books to include the book title you were looking for, you could order the same book from Amazon and have it delivered directly to your house right away.

For a while, books, were one of the things that was OK to purchase online. There were many things that made them safe. First, any book Amazon.com sells is exactly the same as the books on the shelves at Barnes and Noble. In other words, there is no concern about quality or some sort of bait and switch scam. Secondly, shipping costs were relatively low. The savings offered on the price of the book was larger than the cost of sending it in the mail, which meant a good deal, was still a good deal even with shipping. This was no small factor as online pet supply websites found out when it turned out no one was interested in buy 50 lb. bags of dog food online due to the ridiculous shipping costs. Finally, Amazon had good customer service. Products could be returned, and exchanged, and over time, the company became a household name, erasing the fear of giving out your credit card number online.

Once Amazon started selling products beyond books, the barriers were officially broken, and online shopping was a common thing among all groups of people.

Not All Shopping Websites Are Like Amazon

Unfortunately, this familiarization with online shopping via a retailer like Amazon has made many Americans let their guard down when it comes to buying online. It is important to remember that not all merchants are Amazon.com. In fact, precious few are. That means that you need to find out all the facts about who you are buying from FIRST before placing an order, no matter how great of deal it is.

Top Things To Know About Online Shopping Websites

Return Policy – Not just that they accept returns, but the details as well. Who pays for shipping? How long is the return period? If it is also a brick and mortar store, can you return items to the store? Is there a restocking fee? Most importantly, under what conditions can something be returned? Many sites allow returns, but only for defective items. That means if you don’t like it, or it isn’t what you thought it would be, then that is just too bad.
Shipping and Handling Charges – Even on Amazon.com you have to be careful of this one. Amazon lets anyone sell on their website. Unfortunately, it sorts prices based on the cost without shipping. That means that the vendor who sells for $9.99 plus $8.95 shipping is listed as cheaper than the vendor who sells for $12.99 plus $2.99 shipping.
Is It Really Amazon – Speaking of Amazon. The website doesn’t always make it easy to tell if you are buying a product from Amazon, or from some third-party using Amazon as a store front. It matters because they have very different return policies and shipping time frames.
Who Is It? – Amazon isn’t the only website that makes it harder to see who you are actually doing business with. Don’t check out the main website to see if they are legitimate, check out the actual seller. There is a big difference between how legitimate eBay.com is and how legitimate one of its storefront sellers is.
Privacy Policy – Will your name and address be sold on lists as a sucker who buys stuff online from unknown websites? You can never know for sure, but make sure you check the privacy policy to ensure that the vendor at least cares enough about their customers to make it look like they care.

Lastly, never forget that identity theft and credit card numbers are tasty targets for scammers. Protect them as much as you can by not signing up or registering for websites with your real name and address until you are actually ready to make a purchase. Whenever possible, use a temporary credit card number for all online transactions to avoid nasty surprises later.