MagnifyMoney 
M&T Bank was founded in 1856 in Buffalo, N.Y., and has grown into a large bank that offers personal, business and commercial banking services in several states in the Northeastern U.S.
In addition to its standard deposit accounts and lending services, M&T Bank also provides insurance products and partners with a financial advisor firm called Wilmington Advisors. Like many other banks with a large brick-and-mortar branch footprint, M&T Bank tends to offer lower interest rates on their deposit accounts.
In 2022, M&T Bank acquired People’s United Bank.
Designed for M&T Bank checking account customers, the Relationship Savings account has no fees for personal checking customers (or if you maintain a balance of $500). Like other savings accounts offered by M&T Bank, the account can provide overdraft protection and is compatible with M&T Easy Save, a feature that allows you to set up recurring transfers from your M&T Bankchecking account.
M&T Bank offers a savings account for kids called M&T Starter Savings, which has no minimum opening deposit or balance requirements. While the account is only available for those under 18, eligibility to maintain the account doesn’t end at age 18. Features for the Starter Savings account are similar to other M&T Bank savings accounts.
The MyChoice Money Market account has the highest interest rate of any savings account offered by M&T Bank — though the rates are lower than the national average for savings or money market accounts. You can earn 0.76% APY if you qualify for the introductory interest rate (by opening an account with at least $10,000 in new deposits), or you’ll earn 0.02% APY. The introductory rate applies to the first three months the account is open.
The minimum opening deposit for the MyChoice Money Market account is fairly steep at $2,500, and you must maintain that balance (or have a MyChoice Premium Checking account) in order to avoid the $15 monthly fee. Unlike many savings accounts, you can write checks on your MyChoice Money Market balance.
MagnifyMoney compiled lists of the best nationally available savings accounts, savings accounts for kids and money market accounts to help build your wealth.
M&T Bank offers two premium checking accounts: MyChoice Plus and MyChoice Premium. MyChoice Plus Checking bears interest on the balance and has no fees for out-of-network ATM use (and rebates fees charged by other banks).
There is a $14.95 monthly maintenance charge for the MyChoice Plus account if you don’t maintain an average daily balance of at least $2,500 or complete at least $1,500 in monthly direct deposits.
M&T MyChoice Premium has the highest possible monthly fee ($24.95) — and requirements to waive it — of any M&T Bank checking account, but there are some unique perks as well. There are free standard check orders, no fee for incoming wire transfers and special deposits interest rates with MyChoice Premium. Like MyChoice Plus, MyChoice Premium also bears a small amount of interest on checking balances.
EZChoice Checking is the most basic checking account offered by M&T Bank. There’s a low minimum opening deposit ($25) and no minimum balance requirements, but there’s no interest paid on the balance, and you will run into fees for using ATMs outside of M&T Bank’s limited network. Like the rest of M&T Bank’s checking accounts, you can deposit checks through the mobile app, send money with Zelle® and use digital wallet apps like Apple Pay.
M&T Bank offers MyWay Banking as an alternative to its other checking accounts. Unlike MyChoice Plus Checking or EZChoice Checking, MyWay Banking is a checkless account that has no overdraft fees. The other checking accounts offer some options for overdraft protection, but your transactions will be declined in most cases if you don’t have sufficient funds with MyWay Banking (overdrawn accounts still won’t be charged a fee). The monthly fee ($4.95) is easily waived with any account activity.
MagnifyMoney’s list of the best nationally available checking accounts can help you securely manage your money.
| Term | APY | Minimum deposit to earn APY |
|---|---|---|
| 1 year (Select Promo) | 4.00% | $1,000 |
| 1 year (Promo) | 3.00% | $1,000 |
M&T Bank offers a simple, low-interest CD for a 1-year term. At 4.00% APY, their Select Promo and Promo certificates provide a lower yield than the national average for this term. There’s a $1,000 minimum to open a CD through M&T Bank and CDs must be opened at an M&T Bank branch. M&T Bank doesn’t offer jumbo certificates, bump-up certificates or other kinds of CDs.
Learn more about the top available CD rates for various term durations.
M&T Bank has a large footprint with more than 700 branches in Connecticut, Delaware, Florida, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont, Virginia, West Virginia and the District of Columbia. More than half of those locations are in New York State. Despite having several bank branches, M&T Bank has a relatively small network of ATMs, as the bank isn’t a part of ATM-sharing agreements favored by online-only banks.
People’s United customers are transitioning to M&T Bank in 2022. Those customers are receiving updates from M&T Bank before account and service changes take place in September, when they will get new debit cards, online login details and other important information.
M&T Bank has multiple customer service support lines, and you can make appointments online for in-person banking services. There is an online banking platform and M&T Bank has a quality banking app: its rating on the Apple App Store is 4.9 stars.
Alex Cook
