CIT Bank vs Marcus - Which is Better for You? (2021)
Both Marcus and CIT Bank offer great online savings accounts, some of the best available, but which is better overall for you?
We hope to give you the information you need to decide for yourself which is better for you — personally we have accounts with both CIT Bank and Marcus as while we prefer CIT Bank we wanted to test them both out before making a comparison on them.
Ultimately we’d say CIT Bank is a better choice, as they offer about the same (or within a 0.1% margin) interest rates on deposits, no fees or monthly minimums, and they also offer ATM reimbursements and banking features that Marcus doesn’t offer (as CIT Bank is a bank + savings account, while Marcus is only a savings account).
Which Offers the Best Services/Rates - CIT Bank or Marcus?
CIT Bank wins this category by a large margin — This is due to Marcus not offering many products/services beyond a savings account while CIT Bank offers a more or less full-service checking account that offers $30 in ATM reimbursements per month, no fees, and well it’s one of if not the best bank account so long as you don’t need physical bank branches to go in person to.
That works out to be between 5 and 7 free ATM withdrawals a month with CIT Bank’s echecking account no matter where you are in the world or what bank’s ATM you use — which is downright excellent, as most banks offer no free out-of-network or International ATM withdrawals, and those that do usually limit it to 1-2 withdrawals.
As for rates, both CIT Bank and Marcus are very competitive with each other, generally having the exact same rates on deposits, or within 0.1%, which is negligible (on a $10,000 deposit it’s only a $10/year difference in yield), so we would say it shouldn’t be the deciding factor between these two accounts.
If you take money out internationally, or domestically, rather than always use card then CIT Bank is likely the better bank for you, especially if you withdraw cash frequently, however if you don’t want an ‘all-in-one’ savings + banking solution and already have a decent online bank account like Schwab offers then we wouldn’t blame you for simply going with Marcus.
Which has less fees - CIT Bank or Marcus?
Both CIT Bank and Marcus are effectively no-fee, with fees only for ‘premium’ services that aren’t necessary, like outgoing wire transfers, which all banks/savings-accounts charge fees for doing. They don’t have minimum balances to maintain to avoid a fee, or management fees or anything like that.
The only differentiating factor here is as we mentioned before, CIT Bank offers a rebate on up to $30/mo in ATM fees, which is sort of a ‘negative fee,’ but Marcus doesn’t offer ATM withdrawals at all, so this isn’t really a lower-fee benefit but rather a ‘more features’ benefit.
Which is more Trustworthy - CIT Bank or Marcus?
We’d say this is a draw — Both CIT Bank and Marcus have all the standard insurance all banks do, neither participates in particularly risky practices and we’d argue they’re slightly safer than more traditional banks that deal with Credit-Cards and Mortgage loans, so they’re a good choice.
They don’t have any history of fraud, scandals, or shady business like certain other banks (Wells Fargo) have had in the past, so overall we’d say they’re both quite trustworthy and relatively safe to use for savings.
What Advantages does Marcus have over CIT Bank?
Really the only advantage Marcus has currently is that it’s interest rate is a fraction higher than CIT Bank most of the time — not always, but generally Marcus offers around 0.1% higher yield annually on deposits, or about a measly $10 per $10,000 you hold in the account per year.
Beyond this Marcus doesn’t really have any advantage to CIT Bank — maybe a slightly more ‘modern’ mobile app, but CIT Bank’s is more than suitable so we wouldn’t say this is a real advantage, Marcus’s is just simpler and ‘cleaner’ looking due to having less features available compared to CIT Bank.
What Advantages does CIT Bank have over Marcus?
While Marcus beats CIT Bank slightly in terms of rates, however CIT Bank wins in pretty much every other regard — they offer a more or less full-service bank (minus physical locations) which Marcus doesn’t offer, they offer $30/mo worth of ATM reimbursements, including international withdrawals, and they also have no fees both for their savings account + e-checking account that comes with it.
Due to the ATM reimbursements, and generally no-fee banking benefit CIT Bank offers, we’d say the slightly lower interest rate on average (0.1% or so) that they offer compared to Marcus is negligible, as every ATM fee withdrawal will save way more than the extra interest Marcus sometimes offers would provide.
Which is the Better Choice for You?
Unless you have hundreds of thousands of dollars you want to keep in a savings account then we don’t really see a reason to go with Marcus over CIT Bank unless you simply do not like CIT Bank — this is because CIT Bank just offers so much more than Marcus does, with more or less no downsides.
If you already have a no-fee bank with ATM reimbursements then there isn’t much of a benefit with going with CIT Bank though — however if those benefits aren’t already part of your regular checking account then we’d say it’s definitely worth switching to CIT Bank for those benefits. Otherwise really there’s no difference between Marcus and CIT Bank, as those are the only tangible differences between the accounts they offer.
Does Marcus or CIT Bank have a Sign-up Bonus or Promotion?
No currently neither Marcus or CIT Bank offers a sign-up bonus for new users or existing users — nor have they offered one in the past, so I wouldn’t expect they’ll announce one anytime soon. If you like their accounts just get them as there’s no telling if there will ever be a sign-up bonus for them.
