16 Best Banks for Savings Accounts

DollarSavingsDirect now offers the highest annual percentage yield (APY) of any nationally accessible savings account at 3.00%. This is one of the top rates you can discover in our rankings below, and it’s more than 18 times higher than the national savings account average of 0.17% APY set by the FDIC. Even the tenth-best rate on the list, drawn from our weekly rate analysis on more than 200 banks and credit unions that provide nationwide savings accounts, pays 2.35% APY. The top savings account rates offered by our partners are listed below, followed by a list of all the greatest savings account rates available countrywide.

Best Savings Accounts:

(1) Elements Financial – 3.25% APY*
(2) DollarSavingsDirect – 3.00% APY
(3) Bask Bank – 2.75% APY
(4) CFG Bank – 2.75% APY
(5) Ivy Bank – 2.70% APY
(6) TAB Bank – 2.66% APY
(7) UFB Direct – 2.61% APY
(8) BrioDirect – 2.61% APY
(9) TotalDirectBank – 2.60% APY
(10) Quorum Federal Credit Union – 2.50% APY
(11) USAlliance Financial – 2.50% APY
(12) Fitness Bank – 2.50% APY*
(13) Northpointe Bank – 2.45% APY
(14) CIT Bank – 2.40% APY
(15) Rising Bank – 2.35% APY
(16) Citizens Access – 2.35% APY

The nation’s top savings account rates for this week are shown below in order of annual percentage yield. We evaluated the accounts based on which had the smallest minimum continuing balance in cases where multiple institutions had the same rate.

DollarSavingsDirect, Dollar Savings Account – 3.00% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $1,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: No
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: Yes

Bask Bank, Interest Savings Account – 2.75% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: Any amount
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: No

Ivy Bank, High-Yield Savings Account – 2.70% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $2,500
• Minimum ongoing balance: $2,500 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: Yes

UFB Direct, High Yield Savings Account – 2.61% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: Any amount
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: Yes
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: No

BrioDirect, High-Yield Money Market Account – 2.61% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $500
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

TotalDirectBank, Money Market Account – 2.60% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $2,500
• Minimum ongoing balance: $2,500 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: Yes

CFG Bank, High Yield Money Market Account – 2.55% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $1,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: $1,000 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None with $1,000 ongoing balance; otherwise, $10/month
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: Yes

USAlliance Financial Credit Union, High Dividend Savings – 2.50% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: Any amount
• Minimum ongoing balance: $500 to earn interest
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

Fitness Bank, Savings Account – 2.50% APY*

• Minimum initial deposit: $100
• Minimum ongoing balance: $100 to avoid a maintenance fee
• Monthly fee: None with $100 ongoing balance; otherwise, $10/month
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: No
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: No

Northpointe Bank, Ultimate Savings – 2.45% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $100
• Minimum ongoing balance: $25,000 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No (only with checking account)
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

CIT Bank, Savings Connect – 2.40% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $100
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

Rising Bank, High Yield Savings Account – 2.35% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $1,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: $1,000 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

Citizens Access, Online Savings Account – 2.35% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $5,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: $5,000 to earn stated APY
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: No
• CDs available: Yes

CIBC USA, Agility Online Savings Account – 2.32% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $1,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: One penny
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

Prime Alliance Bank, Personal Savings Account – 2.26% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: Any amount
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

LendingClub, High-Yield Savings – 2.25% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $100
• Minimum ongoing balance: Any amount
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: Yes
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes
• CDs available: Yes

First Foundation Bank, Online Savings Account – 2.25% APY

• Minimum initial deposit: $1,000
• Minimum ongoing balance: $0
• Monthly fee: None
• ATM card: No
• Mobile check deposit: Yes
• Checking accounts available: Yes in Calif., Nev., and Hawaii
• CDs available: Yes in Calif., Nev., and Hawaii

What Benefits Come With a Bank Savings Account?

Opening a savings account allows you to make the most of money held in a bank or credit union. While it’s true that some checking accounts pay interest, the vast majority do not, and even those with interest pay only a small amount.

For someone who has more money in the bank to cover the daily transactions of their checking account, a savings account offers an opportunity to transfer surplus cash to an account that pays a competitive interest rate.

Another benefit of opening a savings account is that it can help you organize your money according to your needs and goals. For example, you can use a savings account to hold your emergency fund or to collect money you’ve been setting aside for a larger financial goal, such as the purchase of a home or the future. Vacation. By keeping these funds separate in a savings account, you can easily separate them from the amount available in your checking account for monthly bills and day-to-day expenses.

Exactly how do banks profit from savings accounts?

To help in achieving their goal of creating a profit, banks provide savings accounts. A bank needs a source of funds in order to make those loans because lending money to individuals and companies and collecting the ensuing interest payments is one of the main ways it makes money.

Banks can raise the capital they require by offering checking, savings, money market, and certificate of deposit accounts in order to lend money to other clients.
Since the interest rates banks pay on deposit accounts are lower than the rates they can collect on loans, it is also a way for them to increase their capacity for profit.
As we’ve mentioned, the majority of checking accounts offer almost no interest. Additionally, the national average savings account rate is only 0.07%. Therefore, a bank makes money from the difference between the interest rate paid and the interest received whether it offers an auto loan for 5% or 6% or a credit card rate of 15% to 25%.

Can I Open a Savings Account Online?

Customers used to create a savings account at the same financial institution where they had their main checking account. And this is still true for many Americans.
The most profitable savings accounts are now accessible online thanks to the expansion of personal banking possibilities brought about by the Internet.

This is accurate in two ways. First, traditional brick-and-mortar banks now all offer internet banking services, and almost all of them permit online account opening.
Therefore, opening a new savings account typically does not need you to leave your home or travel to a bank location.

The second major development is the growth of online-only banks. These organisations provide the same safeguards for your money as conventional physical banks because they are FDIC-insured banks. However, there are no physical branches to construct, staff, run, or maintain because all transactions with an Internet bank are started and completed online. Online banks benefit from cost savings that enable them to provide greater rates on deposits than traditional banks can normally extend because they do not have to incur the costs of maintaining a physical footprint in one or more areas.

Which Bank Offers the Highest Savings Account Interest Rate?

Since banks and credit unions are free to change the rates on savings accounts whenever it serves their purposes, the top savings account rate in the nation is subject to change at any time. However, as you can see from our rankings of the highest rates, many of the finest APYs are offered by banks that exclusively operate online.
Some internet divisions of traditional banks and a few credit unions with wide-ranging, nationwide membership eligibility round out the top contenders.

You might also observe that the largest bank brands you are familiar with are not present. Three of the four largest banks in the US by assets, Chase Bank, Bank of America, and Wells Fargo, offer savings account rates that are significantly lower than the average. They don’t actively compete for deposit money because their size and business model allow them to obtain enough funding from other sources.

According to our rankings, you can be sure that these are the institutions with the highest savings account rates available in the nation, open to clients nationwide.
We don’t rank them based on their ties to sponsors or advertisers or any other factors besides APY, availability across the country, and a minimum deposit of $25,000 or less.

How Should a Savings Account Be Used?

The fact that money will not move instantly between your checking and savings accounts if your savings account is at a different bank than where you do your regular checking is a crucial factor to take into mind. Electronic funds transfers, which can sometimes be completed in a single day but sometimes require two or more days depending on the bank and the time of day you initiate the transfer, will be the only way to move money between the two parties. Therefore, everytime you need to take money out of savings, a bit extra forethought will be required.

The same applies to deposits into your savings account at a different bank made through an electronic money transfer. However, some financial institutions will also provide a smartphone app that enables mobile check deposits, the use of an ATM card, or the mailing in of check deposit envelopes.

Last but not least, up to $250,000 in deposits per person per institution are insured by the U.S. government at all FDIC institutions, including those that exclusively operate online. To ensure that all of your deposits are insured, you should take efforts to divide any deposits you have in excess of that amount across several different financial institutions and/or individuals (such as your spouse).

Possible to Open Two Savings Accounts at One Bank?

You can open multiple savings accounts at the majority of banks that provide them. How come you would want to do this? Say you want to set aside $15,000 for emergencies, but you’re also contributing money each month from your checking account to your travel fund. You may keep these two distinct financial pots visually and emotionally separate by opening two accounts, which will make it simple to monitor how much you’ve amassed toward your trip objective. Some banks even allow you to choose a pseudonym for each account.

Additionally, you might want to maintain two savings accounts at other banks. To have some extra money on hand in case you need to make an immediate transfer to checking, it can be helpful to have a savings account at the same bank as your main checking account.

However, shifting some of your money to an additional savings account can be a smart decision for earning more and also lowering spending temptations because you could be able to earn much more on your savings with a separate bank.