Nationwide Bank Review | Free Checking And High Yield Savings

If you’re looking for a savings account to park your cash, you may have come across Nationwide My Savings. It’s a relatively new account, and it’s near the top of the pack when it comes to interest rates.

But Nationwide is best known for insurance – so should you consider using My Savings for your savings account?

Well, it’s backed by Axos Bank, which has been around for a long time. Just a note here as well – they only offer banking services to well qualified applicants. So make sure you know your banking history!

See why Nationwide My Savings is usually on our list of the best high yield savings accounts.

Nationwide is “one of the largest insurance and financial services companies in the world” and has been around for over 85 years. Nationwide is primarily an insurance company. You might have seen their latest TV ads featuring the country singer Brad Paisley or heard their slogan, “Nationwide is on your side.”

Nationwide insurance products are underwritten by Nationwide Mutual Insurance Company. Nationwide is not a bank, but through a limited marketing partnership with Axos Bank, they are promoting banking products, such as My Savings.

For all intents and purposes, you are banking with Axos Bank, which you can see in the top left of the Nationwide/Axos Bank-branded website — “Banking services provided by Axos Bank.”

What Do They Offer?

Nationwide offers a few different products – My Savings, My Checking, and Money Market Plus.

We’re going to review Nationwide’s My Savings product. This savings account product currently offers a whopping 0.30% APY if you combine their My Savings Account with a My Checking Account and set up a direct deposit of at least $1,000.

If you don’t have the combo, the My Savings account with still yield a nice 0.20% APY.

There is no minimum balance requirement, no maintenance fee, and interest is compounded daily. You’ll need $100 to open an account.

Some of the features included with this product are:

• Free mobile deposit
• Online bill pay
• Mobile banking
• No-hassle switch kit

Remember, this is really Axos Bank, and the mobile app is an Axos Bank app. The switch kit is a simple set of instructions on how to switch from your current bank to Axos Bank.

Open a My Savings Account here >>

Savings rates are listed in six different tiers that range from $0 to $100,000. We’ll save you some time by not listing all six tiers since the rate is the same for all six. This might change in the future.

Note that the My Savings product is not available on the Axos Bank website. You’ll only find Axos Bank’s 0.61% APY savings account product there. My Savings is available only through the Nationwide/Axos Bank-branded website.

See the account here >>

Money Market Plus

Money Market Plus is the name of Nationwide’s Money Market Account. This account pays a top notch APY with just $1,000 to open.

You must maintain a $1,000 minimum daily balance or you will have to pay an account maintenance fee.

Right now, this account pays a 0.25% APY.

Open a Nationwide Money Market Plus Account here >>

My Checking

My Checking is the name of Nationwide’s free checking product. The account has $0 monthly maintenance fees, unlimited ATM reimbursement, and no minimum balance requirement.

That’s about as low cost as it gets.

Plus, when you combine the My Checking with a My Savings account, you get a higher yield on your savings!

Open a My Checking Account here >>

Advantage Checking

Advantage Checking is Nationwide’s reward checking product. The account has $0 monthly maintenance fees, unlimited ATM reimbursement, and no minimum balance requirement (you do need $50 to open the account), but it also pays interest! And a lot of it if you meet the criteria!

You can currently earn up to 0.90% APY if you meet the following criteria:

• Direct deposits (not including intra-bank transfers from another account) totaling $1,000 or higher each month will earn 0.45%
• At least 10 point of sale transactions per month using Advantage Checking Visa debit card (with a minimum of $3 per transaction) will earn 0.45%

Open an Advantage Checking Account here >>

Nationwide and Axos Bank do not list any fees associated with this product. However, there are certain fees that you might run into. These are listed on the Nationwide/Axos Bank-branded fee schedule:

• Visa® Debit Card Foreign Currency Conversion Rate: 1%
• Closing Fee: $35.00
• Excess Transaction or Withdrawal Fee: $10.00

Check with Nationwide or Axos Bank to confirm current fee rates before opening an account.

The APY that’s currently being offered on the My Savings account is middle-of-the-pack. But the Advantage Checking APY is one of the best that we’re seeing right now for checking accounts. Here’s a closer look at how Nationwide Bank compares.

You can visit Nationwide’s website and click on the “Banking & borrowing” menu item, and then “Savings.” This will bring you to the Nationwide/Axos Bank-branded website. You can open an account here >>

You’ll need the following to open an account:

• A Social Security number
• A valid form of ID: U.S. driver’s license or state ID
• A valid U.S. address that is not a P.O. Box

Also, you must be a U.S. citizen or resident alien.

Yes — Axos Bank is a chartered bank and deposits are FDIC-insured. There are a number of other features to protect your money, including antivirus and malware protection, 128-bit encryption, two-step authentication, automatic logout, and account monitoring.

When you sign up, be aware that both Nationwide and Axos Bank are likely to collect your information.

You can contact Nationwide Bank customer support 24/7 at 1-855-232-2967. You can also use the bank’s virtual financial assistant, Evo, to get answers to simple questions.

Remember, when you contact customer service, you’ll actually be talking to an Axos Bank representative. Axos Bank is currently rated A+ with the Better Business Bureau (BBB).

With a 0.30% APY, you’re getting a solid (but not spectacular) instead rate for a savings account. And the Advantage Checking APY of up to 0.90% rivals all the best high-yield checking accounts available today. If you already do business with Axos Bank, it might make the decision easy.

Here are a few of the questions that we hear most often about Nationwide Bank.

Do you have to be a Nationwide insurance customer to bank with Nationwide?

No, the products have always been separate and this has especially been the case since Axos Bank took over the servicing of Nationwide banking accounts.

When did Axos Bank take over Nationwide’s deposit accounts?

Axos Bank acquired approximately $2.4 billion in deposit accounts from Nationwide Bank on August 4, 2018.

What routing number should Nationwide’s banking customers use?

They’ll use Axos Bank’s routing number which is 122287251.

Does Nationwide Bank offer certificates of deposit (CDs)?

Yes, it offers several CDs, with terms ranging from 3 to 60 months.