Related Posts
11/17 - Rate Increase To 2.50% As Of 12/01/2022
9/22 - T-Mobile Increases Rates To 2.25% APY
9/22 - Rate Up To 2.25%
7/12 - T-Mobile Rate Increase To 1.50% Effective 7/15/22
1/26 - New Savings Account Offering?
Decent But Worrying
Let me start by saying that I have thankfully not had an issue w/ T-Mobile Money so far. I'm able to easily move money into and out of the account from various external banks and brokerages that I connected via ACH deposits.
The large number of problematic reviews had me worried as I've started to use this account more in the recent month. Again, no problems yet but I remain much more concerned than with more traditional banks.
Banks are highly regulated and have many avenues in place to address problems. These problems have plenty of additional places to hide when your "bank" is actually being run by three separate companies: T-Mobile, BM Technologies, and whichever FDIC Insured actual bank is handling the funds.
Additionally, these pseudo-banks have annoyingly arbitrary "rules" that I'm sure a traditional bank could impose but typically don't. For example, I use external accounts to move money in and out of T-Mobile because they have some goofy $3,000 limit with worse fund settlement timing (i.e. if I push the money in it's available and earning interest the next day, if I pull via T-Mobile it'll be 3-5 days before this happens). A different bank in this category has the audacity to impose this limit on funds from external institutions and actually rejected the transfer when I tried to deposit too much. T-Mobile doesn't do this yet but any limits, internal or external, vastly decrease the value and trust one can have w/ their bank.
In general customer service is a joke in this country. You will _never_ be called back and your issue will dangle until you put in the time (taken out of your life/work because of course those are the only hours they're available) to resolve it. My highest marks are reserved for banks where I never have to use customer service or in the rare case where I do and they're actually helpful and competent.
Tmo Money: Don’T Save Here
Yes, 4% is a crazy rate, and going forward, they’ll still offer it—but they are going to make you work for it.
10 debit transactions—rather than $200 deposited— will be required each month, and seems like a transparent attempt to say ‘don’t park money here’. Granted, over $3k its 1%, but using the excuse that its “too hard” for people to save $200/mo is silly.
Expect a hard time if you use your debit at month’s end to get to that magical 10th transaction. Banks are notorious for coming up with ways to do the wrong thing and quote fine print or the like.
SO Hard To Get Your Money Out After It Is Deposited
If you are thinking of using a TMobile bank account just be aware that they make it VERY hard to get your money out once it is deposited. There is a $3,000 limit to ACH transfers, going into or out of their bank. When I saw this account offer I thought "this is great, I can fund the account with the FDIC insurance limit and earn 1% on it, safely. One percent is nearly twice what the "real" online banks are now offering. But then I find that online transfers are limited to $3,000 per day, and you can only do a small number of transfers in each month. And unlike most banks, the limits are in force even if you initiate a transfer from one of your linked banks instead of through TMobile. And they accept ONLY incoming wire transfers, not outgoing. So if you put your money in, forget about transferring it out. Imagine putting in $250,000 and then only being able to get it back out by transferring $3,000 a day, and being limited to just a handful of monthly transactions. They get your money deposited, then make it too darn hard to get it out. I soooooo regret starting the account. I just made the assumption that like most online banks, TMobile would NOT limit the dollar amount of transfers that were initiated through the websites of linked banks. Do yourself a favor and don't get lured in by the 1% rate.
New Terms Letter Came Today.
I think they are moving to another bank?
So far I haven't had any problems with them. I don't do the 10 ATM charges as it's just not worth the hassle for an extra $10 a month.
This what they sent by email today.
As of today, January 26, 2022, we would like to let you know that on February 26, 2022, we are making some changes to our terms and conditions that will apply to your account. There is no action needed from you, but if you’d like to learn more about these updates, please see below for more details.
What you’ll see in the updated terms
T-Mobile MONEY Web and Mobile Services User Agreement
The following content has been added under the existing header “Relationship between You and BM Technologies, Inc.”:
Effective 2/26/2022: You further authorize BM Technologies, Inc., as your agent, after reasonable notice has been provided to you and without any further consent, to direct the FDIC-insured depository institution then holding your deposit account to transfer your deposit account and all of such depository institution's related obligations and responsibilities to an assuming FDIC-insured depository institution designated by BM Technologies, Inc. However, this authorization in no way impedes your ability to request the closure of your account if such a transfer of holding financial institutions is not acceptable to you.
Account Terms and Conditions and Related Disclosures
The following content has been added under the “Transfer of Account Balance to BM Technologies, Inc.; Other Transfer”: Effective 2/26/2022: You hereby appoint BM Technologies, Inc. as your agent for purposes of any deposit Account you may open. You specifically authorize the Bank, at the direction of BM Technologies, Inc., to transfer the full balance of the Account to BM Technologies, Inc., as your agent, so as to permit BM Technologies, Inc. to place such balance with another Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation ("FDIC")-insured depository institution. You also authorize the Bank to transfer any Account balance directly to a successor FDIC-insured depository institution as designated by BM Technologies, Inc. without any further consent on your part. Upon any such transfer, the Bank's obligations and responsibilities with regard to you and your Account shall cease, and this Agreement shall terminate.
Should you have any questions or concerns regarding this action, T-Mobile MONEY Specialists are standing by 8AM-12AM ET daily. Please dial **MONEY from your T-Mobile phone or call 866-686-9358. If you’re calling from outside of the United States, dial 414-751-6700.
Thank you,
T-Mobile MONEY
https://www.t-mobilemoney.com/en/terms.html
Data as of Q2 2022
Health Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 34444 |
| Year Established | 1997 |
| Employees | 692 |
| Primary Regulator | FED |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 1.44% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 19.3% |
| Annual Interest Income | $379.2MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $20.24B$19.66B |
| Loans | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $15.51B$16.84B |
| Deposits | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $17.03B$13.96B |
| Equity Capital | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $1.47B$1.35B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $156.5MM$125.4MM |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $28.7MM$47.1MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q2 2022vs Q2 2021 | $35.00K$35.00K |