Axiom Bank Review

Axiom Bank is a regional bank located in Florida, but one that is revolutionizing banking by offering banking products (like checking accounts) to those that may not be able to get approved for them at a "normal" bank. This opens up a lot of opportunities for those that have been leery of banks.

Axiom offers a variety of checking products, including free checking accounts. They also offer some of the best interest rates on savings products via their partnership with SaveBetter.

Check out our Axiom Bank review and see how they compare.

Who Is Axiom Bank?

Axiom Bank is a regional bank located in Florida. They are based in Orlando. The bank has 24 retail branches, 22 of which are located in Walmart Supercenters. Axiom Bank was established in 1969. The bank has $0.7 billion in assets.

The CEO of Axiom Bank is Daniel Davis. On April 22, 2016, Davis was quoted in the Orlando Business Journal as saying the following about the bank’s potential: “It has a tremendous opportunity for growth in the coming years. We have several goals, including increasing our commercial and consumer lending. On the depository side, we are adding business deposit services, retail branches and consumer deposit accounts and services. We want to make our customers’ banking experience easier, less time consuming and less expensive, allowing our customers to focus on their own lives and businesses.”

What Do They Offer?

Axiom Bank offers a wide range of banking products including business checking, personal checking, CDs, savings accounts, mortgages, and credit cards. In this article, we’ll focus on personal checking, savings, and CDs.

Axiom Bank has five different checking accounts. Except for the Senior account, each requires a $25 deposit to open. There are also monthly services fees, but you can avoid the service fee by maintaining a minimum daily balance as shown below.

Axiom: $6.95/month fee but waived with direct deposit of $500 or 8 debit card transactions within the statement cycle.

Opportunity: $12.95/month fee but drops to $8.95 with any direct deposit.

Senior: $0.00/month fee.

Select: $15.00/month fee but waived for minimum daily balance over $1,000 with Select Checking, over $5,000 with Select Money Market.

AxiomGO: $5.99/month fee but like the Axiom checking account, the fee is waived with direct deposit of $500 or 1 debit card transactions within the statement cycle.

AxiomGO is an all-digital checking account that does not incur overdraft fees.

All checking accounts charge a $2 fee for out-of-network ATM use. Overdraft fees are $34 per item except on the AxiomGO account.

The Opportunity checking account charges a higher monthly fee than the regular Axiom checking account because of increased risk. Once the account owner has proven they are able to manage their checking without any problems, they can upgrade to the Axiom checking account and save on monthly fees. The Opportunity account does not pay any interest.

Axiom Bank expanded its ATM access nationwide to 7,934 7-Eleven locations through an agreement with FCTI. Davis had this to say about the expansion: “Expanding ATM access outside our branches and existing network allows our customers to take greater control over their money without paying fees.”

Davis continued, “Our partnership with FCTI also provides another platform to promote the Axiom Bank brand nationwide and introduce more customers to our banking model.”

In addition to its checking account products, Axiom Bank offers savings accounts, CDs, and a secured loan product that work with CDs. These are covered next.

Axiom High Yield Savings

Axiom Bank has an in-house savings account that pays 0.15% APY and requires a $25 deposit to open. The account will charge a $6 maintenance fee if a $25 minimum balance is not maintained.

However, the real solid offering is via their partnership with SaveBetter. Axiom is offering an online high-yield savings account that currently offers 2.75% APY. This account only has a $1 minimum to open, and doesn't charge any monthly maintenance fees.

You can open a Axiom High Yield Savings Account here >>

Axiom Certificates Of Deposit

The minimum deposit to open a CD is $500, and you must maintain the same amount to earn the quoted APY. Axiom Bank also states that there is a “substantial penalty for early withdrawal.” See how this compares to the best bank CD rates.

Again, the real competitive offering for CDs is with their partnership with SaveBetter. You can currently get 2.60% APY on a 7 month CD. 

Open an Axiom 7 Month CD here >>

How Does Axiom Compare?

It's hard to compare directly, as Axiom targets those who may be unbanked or have trouble getting a bank account due to their banking score. As such, it's better to compare Axiom to other second chance checking accounts.

Check out this quick comparison here:

Final Thoughts

Is Axiom Bank a good choice? If you live in central Florida where Axiom Bank branches are located and have a need for your bank to be in specific Walmart Supercenters, Axiom Bank could be a good choice.

It's also a potential option for those that have been unbanked in the past and are looking to get a bank account.

However, all of their accounts charge a maintenance fee unless you maintain certain balances. There are also fees for closing an account within six months ($25) and for allowing an account to go dormant ($15).

With so many banks now offering free checking and nationwide ATM use at no charge, there may be better options available.