PurePoint Financial Raises Online Savings Rate

Five months ago, I had occasion to write about Union Bank’s online division, PurePoint Financial. At that time, PurePoint Financial had unveiled its initial offerings – an Online Savings Account and four online CDs. The Online Savings Account rate was raised today to 1.30% APY on balances of $10k or more; balances less than $10k earn 0.25% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $10k.

This rate increase of 5 bps is small, but it puts PurePoint Financial’s savings account near the rate leaders of online savings and money market accounts. Only two banks are offering a higher savings account rate, and only one bank is offering a higher money market rate (with no balance cap). This 1.30% APY level has become crowded now with five banks offering this rate on online savings accounts and one bank offering this rate on a money market account. With this competition, it’s likely we’ll see more rate hikes even before the next Fed rate hike.

My February blog post contains a fair amount of information about this new internet bank, but there are couple points mentioned in PurePoint Financial’s FAQs that bear repeating:

We offer individual, joint and personal trust accounts. PurePoint doesn’t currently offer business or brokerage accounts.

How many external linked accounts can I set up?

You may link up to 10 external accounts per customer from other financial institutions to your PurePoint accounts.

What can I do at a Financial Center?

Open saving accounts and CDs Update your personal information (such as home or mailing address), beneficiary details, and other information related to your account.

The last quote about Financial Centers is quite interesting, because PurePoint Financial represents a new model of internet banks, almost a hybrid between brick-and-mortar institutions and “pure” internet banks. The Financial Centers are not “bank branches,” and as such, do not accept cash deposits. Staff members just assist customers in opening accounts and answering questions. The intent appears to be to help those individuals who are worried or uncertain about internet banks by providing a tangible resource, i.e., a building filled with people who will interact with them face-to-face.

Availability

As an online division of Union Bank, PurePoint Financial is headquartered in San Francisco and offers its product line to all U.S. Citizens and Permanent Residents. Union Bank is a subsidiary of UnionBanCal Corporation, a bank holding company formed by the merger of The Bank of California and Union Bank in the late 1990s.

Opening an account with PurePoint Financial can be done online, or at any of 15 Financial Centers located in,

Florida – Aventura, Coral Gables, Fort Lauderdale, Palm Beach Gardens, Palm Harbor, and Tampa

Illinois – Glendale Heights, La Grange, and Skokie.

Texas – Dallas, Houston (2), Plano, Southlake, and Sugar Land.

Bank Overview

As the online division of Union Bank, PurePoint Financial operates under Union Bank’s FDIC Certificate # 22826 and shares its financial history.

Union Bank/PurePoint Financial has an overall health rating of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 3.485% (excellent), based on March 31, 2017 data. The Bank has an excellent capitalization level (14.43%), the result of holding $116.12 billion in assets with $16.75 billion in equity. Please refer to our financial overview of Union Bank/PurePoint Financial for more details.

We designed PurePoint™ Financial to empower our clients to save more. And while we're a new brand, we’re not new to banking. As a division of MUFG Union Bank, N.A., we share in the rich 150-year history of serving clients in the United States. Our global parent company, Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group (MUFG), is the 5th largest financial group in the world with total assets of over $2.59 trillion.

How the Online Savings Compares

When compared to the 208 Savings Accounts tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are nationally available, PurePoint Financial’s Online Savings APY currently ranks third.

The above rates are accurate as of 8/4/2017.

To look for the best Savings Account rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our Savings Account rates table, or our Rates Map page.