Best Banks in Boston

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Are you comfortable with making the transition to an online- and mobile-only bank? Ally is one of the top options available, especially considering the bank’s high-end interest rates. The Online Savings Account at Ally is paired with a 4.00% APY and no monthly maintenance fees, ensuring every dollar you earn stays in your pocket. Its checking counterpart, the Spending Account, offers a 0.25% APY for accounts with a minimum daily balance over $15,000 and a 0.10% APY for accounts beneath that benchmark. The bank has also eliminated all minimums, meaning anyone can become an account holder regardless of their initial deposit.

Because Ally’s services are based entirely out of its online and mobile banking platforms, customers will be able to access their account balances, transactions histories and a peer-to-peer money transfer program called Zelle® 24/7. You can even complete mobile check deposits through the Ally mobile app, which is available for download on both Apple and Android devices. Between these two app stores, the Ally app holds a 4.35-star rating out of 5.

Withdrawing cash might seem like a difficult task for mobile/online bankers, but Ally has quelled those fears by joining the Allpoint ATM network. Allpoint is an extensive, worldwide set of 55,000 ATMs that Ally customers can use on a fee-free basis. Should you be unable to reach an in-network ATM, though, Ally will reimburse you for up to $10 in ATM fees per statement cycle.

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The only bank with more Boston branches than Bank of America is the best regional bank below, Citizens Bank. Not only does Bank of America offer Bostonians easy access to 170 branches in the area, but thousands more branches and ATMs throughout 36 U.S. states, as well. This makes Bank of America perfect for those who want convenient, physical access to their money both at home and while traveling. 

Bank of America offers a variety of account options that includes a savings account, three checking accounts, four IRAs and multiple CD terms. This way, you can choose the accounts that work best for your needs. You could also keep all your accounts with Bank of America if you wanted to. You will often face monthly service fees on a Bank of America account, although you can usually waive these pretty easily by maintaining a certain balance or setting up direct deposits. The exact terms will depend on the account in question. 

Like most big banks, Bank of America does not offer its customers the best interest rates. Its savings accounts earn at some of the lowest APYs, meaning you can’t substantially grow your savings. 

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Almost anywhere you go in Boston, you’ll find a Citizens Bank logo. This is due to the bank’s huge presence in the city with over 200 branches and ATMs. Citizens Bank also has a physical presence in 10 other states in the New England, Mid-Atlantic and Midwest regions. This does make accessing your Citizens accounts more difficult if you’re traveling beyond those areas. 

When it comes to bank accounts, you can have your pick from a variety of options. Citizens Bank offers various savings, checking, money market and CD accounts, plus IRA offerings to help you save for retirement. Most of these accounts do charge a monthly fee, namely the checking accounts. However, you can get these fees waived by meeting certain requirements like making one deposit each statement cycle. Plus, the bank makes it easy for almost anyone to open a checking or savings account without any minimum deposit requirements. 

The cost of maintaining physical branches in various states throughout the country makes it so that big banks like Citizens typically don’t offer the highest interest rates on their bank accounts. The bank’s most basic savings account, the One Deposit Savings Account, earns a mere 0.01% on all balances. To earn at the highest savings account rate of 0.05% APY, you would need to open a Quest Savings account. The highest APY the bank offers comes with its 14-Month CD and requires you to link the CD to a checking account.

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The 1.00% APY associated with the Savings Builder account at CIT Bank is about as good a rate as you’ll find. In order to hold onto this rate, account holders must make monthly deposits of at least $100 or maintain a balance of $25,000 or more. Should you fail to meet either of these prerequisites, a 0.40% APY will be attributed to your account until you surpass them. The minimum opening deposit for the Savings Builder account is $100.

Between the Apple and Android app stores, CIT Bank’s mobile app holds a combined rating of 3.85 stars out of 5. Banking services available through your phone include inter-account transfers, mobile check deposit and online account statements and transaction histories. One additional item to note here is that CIT has absolutely no physical locations, making the quality of its app rather important.

CIT Bank offers much more than just the Savings Builder account. More than 15 certificates of deposit (CDs) are up for grabs at CIT, including the bank’s proprietary “RampUp” CDs, jumbo CDS, standard term CDs and more. There’s also a money market account (MMA) and an alternative to Savings Builder called the Premier High-Yield Savings account.

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For a small bank with only 22 Boston locations, Webster Bank’s Premier Savings Extra® account offers solid interest rates. The rates do depend on your account balance, with higher balances earning higher rates. The highest APY you can earn currently lands at 0.05% with a balance of at least $250,000. Still, the lowest and more accessible APY comes in at 0.02% which outperforms big banks’ rates by a decent margin. Account balances below $25,000 earn at this rate. 

The Premier Savings Extra® account does charge a monthly service fee, which you can have it waived by maintaining a minimum balance of at least $10,000. 

Luckily, if you don’t want to pay a monthly fee but can’t meet that minimum balance, Webster Bank offers two other interest-earning savings accounts. The rates there are slightly lower, but the WebsterOne® Savings account allows you to more easily waive the $5 fee and the Premier Savings account doesn’t charge one at all.

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Rockland Trust Bank is “where each relationship matters.” With a motto like that, you can guess that this small community bank aims to put its customers first. Plus, the bank was voted best in overall satisfaction on a 2017 customer satisfaction survey. For starters, the bank offers its customers a number of ways to contact the bank and voice their concerns or questions. You can reach a bank representative seven days of the week, from 7 a.m. - 8 p.m. on weekdays, 8 a.m. - 5 p.m. on Saturdays and 10 a.m. - 3 p.m. on Sundays. 

If you don’t quite have time to talk on the phone at the moment, you can submit a general contact form on the bank’s website. This allows you to submit your general concerns or questions and be contacted by the bank in the method that suits you best, whether by email, phone or regular mail. You shouldn’t submit any personal or specific account information on the contact form, though. For that, you should call, use the live chat option, online secure messaging feature or visit a branch. You could easily schedule a branch appointment. This ensures you can be seen by a representative at a time that’s convenient for you. Of course, this perk only applies to customers who live in Massachusetts or Rhode Island. 

Rockland Trust Bank’s top-rated customer service complements its solid suite of bank accounts. You’ll find accounts with low minimums and low monthly fees, if there is a fee at all. Its basic savings and checking account interest rates don’t perform as well as other small banks. However, you can still find high rates on its CDs and money market accounts.

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Not only does Rockland Trust Bank offer the best customer service in Boston, but it also has the best free checking account in the area. The account in question is called the Free Checking account so you know you won’t have to face fees when you own this account. There is no monthly fee nor a minimum balance requirement. The account includes a Rockland Trust MasterCard® debit card and a free first order of standard Rockland Trust checks. 

To open a Rockland Trust Free Checking account, you can do so on the bank’s website, calling customer service or by visiting a branch.