Choosing a financial institution to trust your money with can be overwhelming with all the advertisements and promises. However, evaluating a good bank is necessary to ensure that your money is protected.

Here’s what you need to consider:

Authority and consumer trust
Choose a bank that is recognised by other financial institutions and has gained the trust of consumers.

Don’t simply rely on advertisements and influencer testimonies, read up on reviews from other people who are current or past clients.

Fees and rates
Any interest your money earns is pointless if the bank simply takes it back through fees and charges.

Before opening an account, consider looking through the bank’s website, account opening documents or asking about the fees that may be charged.

Likewise, compare interest rates for similar products among different banks.

Accessibility
Consider how accessible your money is to you – at least for accounts that are not locked in.

Does the bank have branches that are accessible? Will you receive an ATM card or are transactions just over the counter? Does it have a mobile banking platform or a 24 hour customer service hotline?

Think about the different ways you may wish to access your money or bank agents and find a bank that can accommodate your preferred means. 

Safety
Only authorised deposit-taking institutions are insured by the government.

Make sure to verify that the bank you’re about to trust your money with is accredited so that you can still recover your savings (or a portion of it) should anything happen to the bank.

Dispute resolution
Some issues may arise while your money is in the bank and, without a proper dispute resolution, you may lose your money.

Consider asking banks how they process and settle client complaints, issues and disputes.

Likewise, you may look for past clients who have made complaints against the bank in online forums and message boards and ask how their issue was handled.

Explore nestegg for more tips on how to evaluate financial services providers and funds.