Marcus By Goldman Sachs Review 2024

Savings

The Marcus by Goldman Sachs High-Yield Online Savings Account is one of the best high-yield savings accounts you’ll find. It’s currently paying APY on all balances, and Marcus doesn’t charge any one-time fees to open a savings account or any ongoing account maintenance fees, service fees or transfer fees.

It doesn’t even charge a fee for outgoing wire transfers, which the vast majority of banks do. However, the external bank account you link to your Marcus account may charge fees to transfer funds to or from your Marcus account, depending on the bank’s policies.

Unlike other high-yield online savings accounts, Marcus has no minimum deposit or minimum balance requirements. However, it does have a maximum limit of $1 million per account, not to exceed $3 million per account owner.

A Marcus Online Savings Account can be an ideal place to store your emergency savings fund or save up for a specific goal, like a new car, vacation or home improvement project. And with competitive rates on consumer deposit products, your savings stand to grow substantially.

To calculate your potential earnings, use the Forbes Advisor savings calculator.

CDs

Marcus offers three options for certificates of deposit (CDs), depending on how long you want to commit your money. Marcus by Goldman Sachs High-Yield Certificates of Deposit are available for a minimum deposit of $500 and offer a fixed rate of interest depending on the term you choose. CD terms range from six months to six years.

You may be reluctant to lock in a long-term CD for fear of the rate rising right after your money is committed. To help you navigate this situation, Marcus offers a special 10-day CD Rate Guarantee.

Here’s how it works: Open a Marcus CD and deposit a minimum of $500 within the first 10 days, and if Marcus increases the rate for your CD term during those 10 days, you’ll automatically receive the new APY, even if it’s higher than the rate that was available when you opened your account. This can help you benefit from rising interest rates and avoid buyer’s remorse.

Like most CDs, Marcus high-yield CDs have a fee for early withdrawals. When you sign up for one of these CDs, you are agreeing to leave your money deposited in the CD for the entire term. If you pull any of your money out before the term is up, you’ll be charged an early withdrawal penalty equal to a certain number of days’ worth of interest.

The exact amount of the early withdrawal fee depends on the term of your CD. If you have a CD with a term of 12 months or fewer, the early withdrawal penalty would be 90 days of simple interest on the principal amount of your CD at the APY of your CD. For longer-term CDs, the number of days increases.

Here are Marcus’ high-yield CD rates:

CD Term	APY
6 Months	5.10%
9 Months	5.00%
12 Months	5.00%
18 Months	4.60%
2 Years	4.20%
3 Years	4.15%
4 Years	4.05%
5 Years	4.00%
6 Years	3.90%

See MoreSee Less

Marcus No-Penalty CD. If you want to avoid the risk of early withdrawal penalties while still earning a high APY, the Marcus No-Penalty CD is a good option. No-Penalty CDs require an opening deposit of at least $500 and are available with these terms and rates:

• Seven months, with an APY of 4.70%
• 11 months, with an APY of 4.70%
• 13 months, with an APY of 4.70%

With a No-Penalty CD, you have the flexibility to withdraw your money as soon as seven days after funding without sacrificing any of the interest you’ve earned.

You could use a Marcus No-Penalty CD to hold your emergency savings, save up for a specific future goal (e.g., a new car, a down payment on a house, a family vacation, etc.), or any other savings goal that would benefit from a higher APY and more flexible access to your money.

Checking

Marcus does not yet offer any checking account options, although it is beta testing a checking account among employees.

Marcus is an online bank without any bank branches or ATM network. However, you can connect your Marcus account to your existing bank account and access mobile banking within the Marcus mobile app.

The app is available for both iOS and Android devices. It lets you:

• Check your account balances
• Review transactions
• Transfer money to or from your other bank accounts
• Set up recurring deposits
• Manage your progress toward your financial goals

The Marcus mobile app recently added a new tool called Marcus Insights. It lets you connect external accounts to the app to track your spending by category, see your monthly cash flow and analyze your saving and investing trends. It can give you a bird’s-eye view of your entire financial picture—all on one screen.

One drawback of the Marcus mobile app is that you can’t use it to deposit checks. If you want to deposit a check into your Marcus savings account, you need to endorse the check, then mail it to Goldman Sachs Bank USA at an address in Illinois.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers another potential upside to consumers: no fees. While you might see account minimums on certain products like CDs, you won’t find account maintenance fees. Plus, sending and receiving wire transfers are both fee-free.

Marcus only has a few financial products, but the quality of its offerings is impressive. Suppose you want a high-yield savings account or CD. Marcus has some of the best APYs you’ll find. And the bank’s fee-free accounts and minimum requirements make keeping your savings with Marcus an even more attractive option. Marcus previously offered personal loans, but the bank stopped doing so in 2023.

Keep in mind that Marcus is an online bank. Goldman Sachs is not a consumer bank, and it doesn’t have a network of ATMs or any brick-and-mortar branches where you can deposit and withdraw cash. And Marcus doesn’t currently offer checking accounts or several other popular financial products (credit cards, auto loans, mortgage loans, etc.) that a traditional full-service consumer bank would have.

However, if you can get your everyday banking needs met from a different bank or credit union, Marcus by Goldman Sachs can potentially help you earn better rates on your savings. It offers some of the highest APYs currently available for an online savings account with no minimum deposit.

Here’s how it compares to other top online banks.

Marcus vs. Amex Savings

Both Marcus and the American Express® High Yield Savings Account currently offer similar rates on their savings accounts—higher than ten times the national average saving account interest rate, according to the FDIC. Like Marcus, Amex Savings doesn’t charge monthly fees or require customers to provide an opening deposit or maintain a minimum balance.

Accessing the money sent to your Amex savings from external accounts usually takes one to five business days. With Marcus, you can typically receive the funds within one business day (for amounts up to $100,000). So if you value speed, Marcus by Goldman Sachs is the way to go.

However, if you plan to park a large sum of money in your savings account, consider opting for the Amex savings account—which has a maximum balance limit of $5 million. The limit on Marcus savings accounts is $1 million, which may not be high enough for everyone.

Chime® vs. Marcus

The 2.00%^{[ ]} APY on the Chime® Savings Account is lower than the APY that a Marcus by Goldman Sachs savings account earns. However, it’s still substantially higher than the national average, according to the FDIC. Like Marcus, Chime doesn’t charge monthly fees or require a minimum opening deposit.

One factor that sets Chime apart from Marcus is its two automatic savings features. The Save When I Get Paid^{[ ]} feature automatically saves a percentage of your paycheck when you receive a direct deposit greater than $500. And the Round Ups^{[ ]} feature automatically rounds up each transaction to the nearest dollar and transfers the spare change to your Chime savings account. So if you prefer to put your savings on autopilot, Chime might be a better fit. Similar to Marcus by Goldman Sachs, Chime provides checking accounts, credit cards and debit cards but not personal loans.

Ally vs. Marcus

Ally Bank and Marcus are fairly similar. They’re both online banks that offer high-yield savings accounts with competitive rates and no fees. You can’t go wrong with either option if you want to watch your nest egg grow.

Where they differ is their product variety. Compared to the limited accounts available from Marcus, Ally offers a full suite of services, including checking accounts, IRAs, CDs, auto loans, money market accounts and investments in stocks or ETFs. With Ally, you can manage all your finances on one platform, which can be convenient.

Neither Ally nor Marcus provide personal loans directly to customers, but Ally works with healthcare, auto and home improvement service providers to furnish financing options for qualifying applicants.