Eastern Bank Review: Comprehensive Products, Local Service
GOBankingRates Score
Eastern Bank
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Checking Account
4.5
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Savings Account
4.0
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Monthly Fees
4.5
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Banking Experience
5.0
Pros
- A wide variety of financial services are available for personal and business customers.
- Low- or no-fee options for checking, savings and CDs.
- Eastern For Good is a unique feature of Eastern Bank's mobile app that lets customers donate to charitable causes directly from the app and track their donations for tax benefits.
Cons
- Eastern Bank's coverage area is limited to eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine.
- Savings accounts pay a low rate of interest compared to some other banks.
Eastern Bank Overview
Eastern Bank is a regional bank with the products and technology of a larger institution. If you’re in the bank’s area of eastern Massachusetts, New Hampshire and Maine, you can easily find a nearby branch. The bank also offers online banking, a mobile app, money transfer with Zelle and a full suite of banking, investment and even insurance products.
Eastern Bank can provide you with nearly all the financial services and products you might need: checking and savings accounts, credit cards, home and auto loans, retirement planning and insurance. The website even has Eastern Financial Academy, featuring educational content to help you be a better consumer of financial products. You can learn about everything from how to create and use a budget to identity protection to homeownership.
GOBankingRates has ranked Eastern Bank among the Best Regional Banks of 2023.
Key Features
The following features were factored into Eastern Bank’s score of 4.5 out of 5.
Eastern Free Checking Account
The Eastern Free Checking Account has no minimum balance and no monthly fees. You need just $25 to open one, and you can apply online in a few minutes if you’re not yet an Eastern Bank customer. If you already have an Eastern Bank checking or savings account, you can apply even faster through online banking. If you prefer, you can also apply by phone or at a local branch.
Once you’ve opened your account, you’ll get online banking, a mobile app and fee-free access to the SUM network of ATMs. You can also use Zelle to send money to family and friends.
Eastern Statement Savings Account
The Eastern Statement Savings Account has no minimum balance requirement and no monthly maintenance fee. You can open one with as little as $10, and you’ll get access to mobile and online banking. You can open an Eastern Statement Savings Account online, by phone or in a branch. The interest rate on an Eastern Statement Savings Account is APY.
Monthly Fees
Eastern Bank offers checking and savings accounts with no fees, and you don’t have to jump through a lot of hoops to qualify. You could have your checking, savings and CD accounts at Eastern Bank and never have to pay a monthly maintenance fee.
Banking Experience
Eastern Bank has a concentration of branches in a relatively small area, so it’s likely you’ll find a local branch to call your own — and a banker who knows your name. But Eastern Bank also offers the conveniences you expect from the larger, national banks, like online and mobile banking, free access to thousands of ATMs and a broad range of product and service offerings.
For a regional bank with just 110 locations, Eastern Bank can match the big banks feature for feature.
The Eastern Bank mobile app has a rating of 4.8 out of 5 stars on the App Store and 3.3 out of 5 stars on Google Play.
Comparable Regional Bank Options
It’s always smart to do some comparison shopping when you’re looking for a new bank. Here are two other options to consider.
Rockland Trust
Rockland Trust has branches in southeastern Massachusetts and Rhode Island. It offers similar services to Eastern Bank, including investing and insurance.
When it comes to CD rates, though, Rockland Trust can’t compete — it offers just APY on a six month CD, compared to Eastern Bank’s APY for the same term.
Digital Federal Credit Union
DCU is a credit union, not a bank, so you must be eligible to become a member — you can qualify by living in the area, working for an eligible employer or being a member of certain organizations. With just 23 branches, it has a smaller coverage area than Eastern Bank.
However, if you are in the area and eligible, DCU is certainly worth a look. Its savings APY goes up to a staggering on the first $1,000 of your balance, and even its lower rate on the remainder of your balance beats out Eastern Bank’s APY.
Final Take
If you’re looking for the feel of a regional bank with the power of a national one, Eastern Bank fits the bill. You can do all your banking and investing — and even get your insurance — in one place, near where you live or work.
FAQ
Here are the answers to some commonly asked questions about Eastern Bank.- Who bought Eastern Bank?
- In 2021, Eastern Bank merged with Century Bank, another Massachusetts-based regional bank. The combined entity, now known as Eastern Bank, has $22 billion in assets and 120 locations. Eastern Bankshares, the bank's holding company, is publicly traded (Nasdaq:EBC).
- Can you open an Eastern Bank account online?
- If you are not yet an Eastern Bank customer, you can open an account online, by phone or in a branch. If you already have an Eastern Bank checking or savings account and you want to open another one, you can do so quickly and easily through online banking.
- Does Eastern Bank have mobile deposit?
- Yes, the Eastern Bank mobile app allows customers to deposit checks from anywhere, at any time.
- Did Eastern Bank go public?
- Yes, Eastern Bank is a publicly held company. Its holding company, Eastern Bankshares, trades on the NASDAQ exchange under the symbol EBC.
Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Dec. 13, 2022.
Editorial Note: This content is not provided by any entity covered in this article. Any opinions, analyses, reviews, ratings or recommendations expressed in this article are those of the author alone and have not been reviewed, approved or otherwise endorsed by any entity named in this article.
To discover the Best Regional Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the top regional institutions (excluding credit unions, online banks and neobanks) with under $100 billion in total assets. To determine rankings, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors: (1) checking product minimum deposit; (2) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (3) savings product minimum deposit; (4) savings product APY; (5) Bauer rating (out of 5 stars); (6) products/services offered (auto loans, mortgage loans, credit cards, investment services and insurance); and (7) the average mobile app rating between the Android and Apple app stores. All factors were then scored and combined, with the lowest score being best. Factors (1) and (3) were weighted 0.5 times, factor (4) was weighted 2.5 times, and factor (6) was weighted 1.5 times.
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