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Live Oak Bank Online Banking Review 2023
Make more with High Yield Online Savings
Reviews 4
Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC
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Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC
Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC
Great
Reviews 4
Bestmoney Staff
Feb. 09, 2023
1 min read
BestMoney Staff
Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC summary
Founded in 2008 in Wilmington, North Carolina, Live Oak Bank provides personal and business banking services with a strong focus on customer service. Live Oak Bank offer a variety of small business loans as well as a competitive high yield savings account and a variety of CD terms and rates. They are licensed to offer banking services in all 50 states.
Pros
  • Full-service banking site
  • No minimum balance requirements
  • No monthly maintenance fees
Cons
  • Basic mobile app with limited features
  • No weekend customer support

Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC at a glance

4.6
Editorial score

Fees?

No fees
5.0

Security

FDIC insured, SSL/AES encryption and supports 2 factor and biometric authentication
5.0

Customer service

Customer support during extended business hours
4.0

Online experience

Excellent user friendly site with transparency of rates and full online banking capabilities
5.0

Mobile experience

Excellent mobile app with digital check deposit capability
4.0

Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC Visit Oak Bank

Advantages Over Traditional Banks

Live Oak Bank focuses on enabling its small business customers to build up their business, no matter what stage it’s in. They offer a variety of loans and services to help customers in this area.

Live Oak Bank’s online savings account is available with zero fees, with no minimum balance to open. Live Oak Bank also offers a variety of CD account terms, with competitive APY rates. You can open any of these accounts online. The process takes just a few minutes, and all you need is your Social Security Number and ID on-hand. 

Cutting-Edge Banking Services 

If you prefer a digital approach to personal financial management, Live Oak Bank offers several tools you may find appealing, including:

  • The ability to open and manage your account completely online

  • Free mobile banking app

Traditional Banking Services 

As well as its savings and CD accounts, the company offers tools and loans necessary for day-to-day small business  management. These include: 

  • A streamlined loan process for those looking to buy an existing business or franchise

  • SBA loans: Live Oak Bank has Preferred Lender Status which means that they can get you your loan faster. Live Oak Bank was awarded the top SBA lender by volume for the 2021 fiscal year. 

  • USDA loans with guidance from USDA experts. Live Oak Bank was awarded the top USDA lender by dollar volume for the 2021 fiscal year by the USDA.

Interest Rates and Fees

Live Oak Bank offers one savings account:

Account Features

Savings Account

Monthly service fee

None

Interest earned

{dynamic APY}

Minimum balance to open account

None

Minimum balance to earn interest

$0.01

Customer Service and Online Experience 

You can contact Live Oak Bank over the phone. Customer support hours are 8am-8pm (EST), Monday to Friday. 

If you’re considering taking out a business loan, there are several online calculators on the bank’s website, which will help determine how much you can borrow. There’s also a helpful section dedicated to improving online security and raising awareness of fraud.

Opening an account typically takes under 10 minutes and requires you to have your Social Security Number and driver’s license to hand. 

Overall, the bank has positive ratings online, with several reviews on various banking websites praising its personalized service and competitive APY rates. 

Mobile App 

You can download Oak Bank’s app from Google Play or the App Store. With the app, you can:

  • Check account balances

  • View recent transactions

  • Transfer funds

  • Deposit checks

Security 

Live Oak Bank offers several security features to protect your data and money. These include:

  • SSL encryption for all mobile and online banking transactions

  • Multi-factor authentication

  • Ant-ivirus and anti-malware protection

  • Fraud and threat management analytics

If you notice suspicious activities you can report them and/or forward suspicious emails to abuse@liveoak.bank.

Live Oak Bank is also insured by the federally backed FDIC program, which guarantees deposits of up to $250,000 should the company fail.

You can find out more about the bank’s security features here, and read its privacy policy here.

Summary

If you’re seeking a high return on your savings and excellent customer service, Live Oak Bank has a great deal to offer. Although we would have liked to see the bank offer 24/7 service, it does include other attractive features, including business loans and a variety of CD accounts with competitive APY rates.

Methodology

We compiled this review by visiting the company’s website and social media profile, contacting its customer service team via email, and checking online reviews.

Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC Visit Oak Bank

BestMoney Staff
Written by
Bestmoney Staff
Our editorial staff consists of writers who are knowledgeable about financial services. We specialize in simplifying the process of choosing the right provider for your needs.
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See what some costumers are saying about Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC
Live Oak Bank; Member FDIC
Great
Reviews 4
on
Excellent
25%
Bad
75%
J
james c
13 hours ago
Best customer service and rates
We opened an account about two years ago and absolutely love this bank. They have some of the highest yeilding cds and savings accounts around. Whenever we call we get excellent customer service from extremely talented real people, not machines. Thank you to all the awesome people at Live Oak Bank.
J
jrbc
4 months ago
Customer Service is inept
Customer Service is inept, you cannot rely on an answer, call back and get a different answer to same inquiry. They readily accept your incoming funds, they put up road blocks to transfer funds out. A wire out criteria is designed to discourage using a wire, making linking financial institutions and then a time/money consuming ACH as the most viable alternative. Reaching out to management—useless, no response. The above review is my opinion, based on my experience with Live Oak Bank.
R
r. mishoe
4 months ago
At the recommendation of my husband
At the recommendation of my husband, I opened an account with Live Oak. Set up the info to be able to transfer money from two accounts at two different banks (using a customer service rep). When we received an email that one of the transfers could not be funded for insufficient funds, we found the young man had linked my husband's account to my savings account and removed my husband's name from both of our joint accounts. In over 50 years of banking, we have never had such a horrendous mess to untangle with any bank. What a mess!
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john perkins
4 months ago
Live Oak Bank support is worse than useless
Live Oak Bank allow one to only have 4 external accounts to add funds or extract funds. Their system for setting up those accounts is limited in that you are only allowed a user name and password. My bank has three. A company ID as well as a User ID. That means you have to go through the process of micro deposits. Here's the first complaint. They do not tell you how to start the micro deposit process. There is a secret key. Why? Earlier this year my bank changed its name and routing number. So I found out that secret key and set up three new accounts using micro deposits. A week ago I discovered that all 4 external accounts had been deleted. After a lot of phone calls and a lot of quite useless technical jargon they had no explanation. I had go through the micro deposit routine again and the guy I was speaking to never even bothered to tell me the secret key. He was, without a shadow of a doubt, the worst representative I have ever dealt with.