T-Mobile announces free MONEY banking with no overdraft or ATM fees
T-Mobile has entered the banking business by launching its online banking product. It’s going after big banks in the US which charge monthly maintenance fees if you don’t keep a minimum balance. In addition, T-Mobile is offering certain customers a flexible way to deal with overdrafts. Let’s take a closer look at T-Mobile MONEY and who can benefit from it.
For starters, this is an online-only banking product which means all your banking will be done using the T-Mobile MONEY app. From here, you’ll be able to deposit checks, check your balance, transfer money, or make p2p payments. You’ll also get a Debit Mastercard for making purchases that is compatible with Apple, Google, and Samsung Pay wallets.
Compared to big bank names with physical locations, you won’t pay a monthly fee to maintain an account and there’s no minimum balance required.
Your balance does need to be above $0, though. But T-Mobile is solving a pain-point with many banks in the US – overdraft fees. If you make a purchase that surpasses your available balance, you won’t be charged an overdraft fee up to $50 into the red. T-Mobile will give you 30 days to get your account back into the black before issuing a charge. This is only available for T-Mobile postpaid customers and is an opt-in feature.
T-Mobile’s MONEY is backed by Bank Mobile, a division of Customers Bank – which is a member of the FDIC so your money is backed by the US Government. You’ll also get bi-lingual customer support available 24/7.
Finally, T-Mobile MONEY lets you earn a 4% APY for up to $3000 and 1% APY on anything above that. You can withdraw cash from a worldwide network of Allpoint ATMs and T-Mobile isn’t charging fees for using an out-of-network ATM. Of course, currency exchange and MasterCard fees for those ATMs may still apply.
You don’t actually have to be a T-Mobile customer to apply, all you need is to live in any of the 50 United States and have a social security number. You can sign up by downloading the app on iOS or Android or visit a physical T-Mobile store.
The only real downside to an electronic bank such as this one is that you can’t deposit cash to your account as easily. You’d have to get a cashier’s check and pay a fee if you really wanted to do that. But if you get paid by check or direct deposit, then it’s a no brainer.
Is T-Mobile MONEY something that interests you? Tell us about it in the comments!
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Reader comments
- Igniam
- 19 Apr 2019
- Nwx
Kenya, and the greater Eastern Africa has enjoyed such a service, via M-Pesa, for a while now. The system is convenient, fast, and simplifies transactions so much. Although to be honest, T-Mobile's version seems to have a better integration with onli...
- Anonymous
- 19 Apr 2019
- nDi
What on earth is ”account balance minimum fee” ? Never heard of such a thing in my country. Seems quite dumb.