Salem Five Direct Review: High Interest on Deposit Products
Written by
Taylor Milam-Samuel
Edited by
Elizabeth Constantineau
Commitment to Our Readers
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20 Years
Helping You Live Richer
Reviewed
by Experts
Trusted by
Millions of Readers
GOBankingRates Score
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Checking Account
4.5
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Savings Accounts
5.0
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CD Accounts
4.2
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Banking Experience
4.0
Pros
- High APYs on savings with any balance
- No monthly service fees
- Free ATM network and monthly reimbursements
Cons
- High minimum balance for CDs
- No money market account
- Mixed reviews for customer service
Salem Five Direct Overview
Salem Five Direct is the online-only division of Salem Five, a mutually owned bank with over $6 billion in assets. The Salem Five online bank offers checking, savings and CD accounts with higher-than-average interest rates to customers in all 50 states.
GOBankingRates has ranked Salem Five Direct as one of the Best Online Banks of 2024 and one of the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts of 2024.
Key Features
Here are some key features of Salem Five Direct’s banking products and services.
Salem Five eOne Savings Account
The Salem Five Direct eOne Savings account was rated one of the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts of 2024 by GOBankingRates — and for good reason.
The Salem Five Direct eOne Savings account pays APY on every dollar of savings, up to $1,000,000. There are no monthly maintenance fees and no minimum balance requirements. You can open a Salem Five high-yield savings account with as little as $10. There’s no monthly transaction limit, so you can move money in and out as needed.
Salem Five eOne Checking Account
Salem Five’s eOne Checking account has no minimum balance and no monthly fees, and you can open a new account with just $10. You will never pay an ATM fee to Salem Five. You can also get reimbursed up to $15 per statement cycle for the ATM fee other banks charge, which is a significant benefit that most banks don’t offer. The account pays interest, but it’s just APY.
When you use your Salem Five debit card for purchases and select “credit” at the point of sale, you’ll get $0.05 cash back for each transaction. There’s no limit to the amount of cash back you can earn, and you get the rewards in your checking account on the last day of the statement cycle. It’s a unique perk since earning rewards with a checking account is usually impossible.
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You can also open a combination of eOne Checking and eOne Savings accounts at the same time. You can easily move money between accounts with online banking or the Salem Five mobile app.
Salem Five CD Specials
Salem Five offers competitive CD rates, but terms are limited to 6 to 24 months. Rates range from to , with the highest rates available on 6-month and 9-month CDs.
The only downside is that the minimum balance to open a new Salem Five CD is $10,000 — much higher than most banks require. The maximum deposit is $500,000. As with CD offerings at any bank, there’s a substantial penalty for taking money out of a CD before the end of the term.
Online Banking Experience and Mobile App
Salem Five Direct has no branches — although its parent, Salem Five, has over 30 branches in Massachusetts. You can do all your banking online, on the mobile app and at ATMs.
Customers use the same Salem Five Banking mobile app as customers of the brick-and-mortar banks. The app has a rating of 4.4 out of 5 stars on Google Play and 4.7 out of 5 stars on the App Store.
You can move money between your Salem Five Direct accounts on the app and transfer money to and from accounts at outside banks.
Salem Five Fees
You’ll never pay a monthly service fee for your checking or savings account with Salem Five Direct. Other bank fees are minimal — $25 for annual overdraft protection, up to $35 for insufficient fees, and a $9.95 branch transaction fee if you have an eChecking or eSavings account.
Salem Five never charges ATM fees, and will reimburse you up to $15 per statement period if other banks charge you to use their ATMs. It’s a helpful perk that can help you save a significant amount of money over the years.
Customer Service
Despite the reasonable fees, Salem Five’s customer service reviews are mixed. Although customers appreciate Salem Five’s high-yield savings account rates, some report low deposit limits and slow response times from representatives.
Comparable Online Bank Options
If you’re looking for a new bank, it’s important to compare your options to find the right fit. Think about how you will use your bank and which features matter most. Then, compare the available options to choose the best option.
Here are some comparable banks that are worth considering.
First Internet Bank
First Internet Bank is also an online-only bank and has been since it opened in 1999. In addition to deposit products, First Internet Bank offers loans, mortgages, banking products and business services.
Its Money Market Savings account pays APY for balances less than $1 million, and there’s a $5 monthly maintenance fee. It also has two checking accounts: a Free Checking account with no monthly fee but no interest, and an Interest Checking account that pays APY with a $10 monthly fee unless you maintain a $500 average daily balance.
Bank 5 Connect
Bank 5 Connect also offers only deposit products. Its Connect Savings account pays just APY. However, its High-Interest Checking account pays APY if you maintain a $100 balance. Like Salem Five Direct, Bank 5 Connect offers free ATMs nationwide and reimburses up to $15 per statement cycle for the ATM fees charged by other banks.
Final Take
If you’re looking for an online bank with a great interest rate on savings, Salem Five is a solid choice. A combination checking and savings account gives you a good return on your savings and cash back for non-PIN transactions.
FAQ
Here are the answers to some common questions about Salem Five Direct and Salem Five Bank.- Is Salem Five Direct FDIC-insured?
- Yes. Deposits at Salem Five Direct are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000 per depositor, per ownership category. Ownership categories include individual, joint, trust and employee benefit plan accounts, so you could have $250,000 in an individual account, and another $250,000 in a trust account, and still be protected.
- Is Salem Five Bank a safe bank?
- Salem Five Bank has been in business for 160 years and is well-respected in the community where it operates. It is a mutually owned bank, so it is operated for the benefit of its customers and is also active in the local community. Salem Five Direct is the online division of Salem Five Bank, and its accounts are FDIC insured.
- How do I contact Salem Five Direct?
- The Salem Five Direct website has a virtual chat assistant on most pages for general questions. Alternatively, you can call the bank at 800-850-5000 or email using the form on the Contact Us page of the bank's website, located here.
- Is Salem Five Direct legitimate?
- Salem Five Direct is a legitimate bank. It's the online division of Salem Five Bank, a brick-and-mortar bank located in Salem, Massachusetts, that has been in business for 160 years. Deposits at Salem Five Direct are FDIC-insured for up to $250,000 per depositor.
- Who owns Salem Five Bank?
- Salem Five is a mutually owned bank, so it is owned and operated for the benefit of its customers. It is not a publicly held company and so it's not beholden to stockholders.
Daria Uhlig and Karen Doyle contributed to the reporting for this article.
Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Sept. 24, 2024.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
To determine rankings for the Best Online Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors across exclusively online banks: (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) savings APY; (4) 1-year CD APY; (5) Bauer rating (out of 5 stars); (6) products/services offered (auto loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, investment services and insurance); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. Factors (1) and (2) were weighted 0.5 times, and factors (3) and (7) were weighted 2 times. For all savings and checking account data, only the basic accounts/products offered at each institution were analyzed.
To determine rankings for the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks: (1) minimum deposit to open an account; (2) monthly savings fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) minimum needed to earn APY; (4) savings APY; and (5) the average mobile app rating between the Google Play (Android) and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being the best. Factors (2) and (3) were weighted 1.5 times; factor (4) was weighted 4 times; and factor (5) was weighted 0.5 times. To be considered for the high-yield savings account, the product offered had to have an APY above 0.45%.
