Truist Bank Review: Affordable Opening Deposits and Low Monthly Maintenance Fees

GOBankingRates Score

4.5

SCORE

GOBankingRates Best Banks 2023 scores and rankings are objectively determined by our research/editorial team. Our scoring formula weighs several factors that differ from category to category depending on what consumers want from varying products and banks.

Quick Take: Truist is the result of a merger between two major financial institutions -- BB&T and SunTrust. It's now the seventh-largest bank in the U.S. If you live in the bank's service area, it could be a great option for all your banking needs.

• Checking Accounts
  4.8
• Savings Accounts
  4.3
• CD Accounts
  4.5
• Banking Experience
  4.5

How did we calculate this?

Truist Bank Overview

Truist Bank is the product of a merger between BB&T and SunTrust Banks that was completed in December 2019. Truist Bank currently has over 2,500 branches in over 13 states and Washington, D.C., which makes it one of the largest banks in the United States, in line with the likes of Bank of America, Chase and Wells Fargo. This is an advantage for people who prefer to complete certain banking tasks in person.

GOBankingRates has named Truist Bank as a finalist in its Best Banks of 2023 rankings.

Key Features

Truist received a GOBankingRates score of 4.5 out of 5 thanks to four categories.

Checking Accounts

You’ll find three standard checking account options, one student checking and one prepaid debit account to choose from.

The Truist One Checking account requires a minimum $50 opening deposit and a $12 monthly maintenance fee. However, there are a handful of options to waive the fee: make at least $500 in qualifying direct deposits, be a student under 25 years old, maintain a combined monthly balance of at least $500 or have a related personal Truist credit card, mortgage, consumer loan or a linked Small Business Checking account.

With this account, you’ll receive a Truist One Savings account with no monthly fee, the possibility of a $100 Negative Balance Buffer, a 10-pack of free personal checks and more rewards from your Truist credit cards. Plus, this is a rewards checking account, so the higher your account balance, the better rewards you’ll receive in the form of credit card loyalty bonuses, discounted Delta SkyMiles Debit Card annual fee, additional Truist One Checking accounts with no monthly fees and free out-of-network ATM transactions.

Next, there’s the Truist Confidence Account, which was ranked by GOBankingRates as a finalist for the Best Checking Account. This checkless account requires a $25 minimum opening deposit. The account has a $5 monthly maintenance fee, but it’s possible to have it waived by making $500 per month in direct deposits or completing 10 qualifying transactions per statement cycle. Students under 25 will also qualify to have the maintenance fee waived.

Finally, the Truist Money Account, which is a reloadable prepaid debit card, requires no minimum opening deposit and no additional bank account. You can use this account as a companion to an existing bank account and digitally transfer funds to and from the reloadable card whenever you want. The account does have a $5 monthly maintenance fee, which can be waived if you load at least $500 a month.

Savings Accounts

Truist Bank has one savings account, which pays APY, requires a $50 minimum opening deposit and has a $5 monthly maintenance fee. The maintenance fee will be waived if you have any related Truist checking product, maintain a minimum daily ledger balance of $300, are a minor under the age of 18 or schedule a recurring $25 internal transfer to the account. To help you reach your savings goals effortlessly, you can set up automatic transfers from your Truist checking account and get balance alerts to help you track your progress. 

Truist also has a money market account. To start, the account only requires a $50 opening deposit and has a $12 monthly maintenance fee. However, the fee can be waived by maintaining a $1,000 minimum daily balance. Like the Truist Online Savings account, this account pays APY, so if you’re not planning to maintain a $1,000 minimum daily balance, the bank’s savings account would be a better option to avoid the $12 monthly maintenance fee. You can also write checks directly from this account, which gives you convenient access to your cash.

CD Accounts

Truist offers CDs with terms from seven days to 60 months and an APY of across all balance tiers. For terms from seven months to 31 days, a $2,500 minimum opening deposit is required. And for terms from 32 days to 60 months, there is a $1,000 minimum opening deposit.

Banking Experience

If you need to speak to a banking representative, you can reach one Monday – Friday from 8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EST and Saturday from 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m. EST at 1-844-487-8478. The bank does not have Sunday customer service hours, but you can always access account information and complete certain banking tasks via the 24-hour automated system. You can also communicate with the bank on Twitter and Facebook. Additionally, you can visit a branch or make an appointment with a bank representative for personal banking, loans or small business needs. The bank also has apps for both Android and iOS users, which will allow you to transfer money, monitor spending patterns and pay friends and family via Zelle.

Truist Bank vs. Competitors

To get a clearer picture of if Truist Bank is what you’re looking for, here’s how the financial institution measures up to other big banks in its league.

Truist Bank vs. Bank of America

Bank of America, Member FDIC, gives its customers the option of earning higher Annual Percentage Yields on its savings accounts by becoming a Preferred Rewards member, while Truist doesn’t have a competing structure in place. However, Truist offers a savings account that has a lower minimum opening deposit, monthly maintenance fee and minimum daily balance requirement than Bank of America’s. Bank of America’s Advantage Savings account requires a $100 minimum opening deposit and charges an $8 monthly maintenance fee if you don’t maintain a minimum daily balance of at least $500.

Truist Bank vs. Chase

Chase has a much bigger branch network than Truist Bank. However, Chase does not offer a money market account and Truist Bank does. Money market accounts typically allow account holders to write checks directly from the account, while you have to initiate a withdrawal or transfer to access savings account funds.

Final Take

Access to affordable banking products and services and the convenience of banking at a branch or online are the foundation of Truist Bank. While you may be able to find higher APYs elsewhere, this bank works well for people who would benefit from a free savings account and a large network of branches.

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Cynthia Bowman contributed to the reporting for this article.

Rates are subject to change; unless otherwise noted, rates are updated periodically. All other information on accounts is accurate as of Dec. 19, 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 determine rankings for the Best Checking Accounts, GOBankingRates looked at the following factors from all banks (excluding credit unions): (1) total assets as sourced from the FDIC; (2) number of branch locations as sourced from the FDIC; (3) minimum deposit to open an account; (4) monthly checking fee ratio (percentage based on the minimum to avoid the fee compared to the monthly fee itself); (5) APY on the checking account; (6) overdraft fee amount; 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), (2 and (5) were weighted 0.5 times, and factor (4) was weighted 1.5 times.

To discover the Top Banks, GOBankingRates looked at the top national institutions (excluding credit unions) with over $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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