Best High Yield Savings Accounts – up to 5.00% APY

Here’s a list of the best high interest savings accounts. Get up to 5.10% APY with a basic savings account. There are also accounts with requirements that pay even more. We don’t receive any commissions for any of these, and ALL banks are included in this list.

Best Basic Savings Rates

Leaving money in a regular bank account will usually get you a terrible interest rate. With a little research, we can find accounts that offer competitive rates. These are all ordinary savings accounts with no hoops to jump through, and they are FDIC/NCUA insured up to $250,000.

Please verify insured status for yourself with FDIC and with NCUA before using a bank or credit union. Also please read this article about the FDIC insurance on fintech banks as well. 

Here are the best options available, rated in APY from highest to lowest:

Other Basic Options

All of these rates will fluctuate over time, and we’re constantly updating this list. There is an advantage to a bank who has a proven track record of giving good interest rates since some of the top rates might be ‘bait-and-switch’ soon to be lowered. Banks like CFG, CIT, Discover, Marcus, Ally and some others have been known to offer competitive interest rates for many years. Their rates will also fluctuate but will likely always be a good rate. See also What’s The Best Simple High-Yield Savings Account?

Another thing to keep in mind is that while most banks automatically increase your rate as interest rates increase, some don’t. We wrote data points on which do and which don’t here. Keep that in mind when choosing a bank.

Most of these are savings accounts, with a few checking accounts mixed in. We wrote about options for getting a high yield on your checking account in this post.

Alternative High-Yield Options

Best CD Rates

Nationwide CD Offers:

11 Months or Less

12-18 Months

19+ Months

Best Business Savings Rates

Requirement High-Interest (Nationwide)

Aside from basic accounts offering competitive interest rates, there are ultra high-yield options which are more involved and take time and patience to deal with. Bear in mind, all of the best options have velocity limits, sometimes it’s $5k, $10k, $15k, or $20k. You’ll never be netting more than $1,000 in annual interest from any of these accounts, and it’s usually much less than that. Someone who is impatient or doesn’t have spare time would best use a standard high-interest savings account options and forget about the velocity-limited accounts.

Below you’ll find all mega high interest accounts which are available nationwide, and in the next segment we list the regional options.

More Restrictive Options:

Requirement High-Interest (Regional)

Below are the regional accounts we’ve reviewed on the site. There are many more as well.
    Chuck
  • On September 20, 2024, 16:08
Tags: high yieldHigh-Yield AccountsSavings Account

View Comments (21794)

  • Jerome Powell is getting fired. Watch out for our High Yield savings account! The rates may be slashed in no time. Admin feel free to delete this if it sounds too political

    • Powell’s term ends May 2026, it would be foolish to create economic turmoil by firing Powell with only 10 months remaining in his term.

    • I'm pretty sure that this would have much more far-reaching effects on the economy than our high-yield savings accounts' rates.

    • They keep going down. So many better options out there. Might be time to close this one.

    • What I do if I want to keep the account it to set up recurring deposit/withdrawal for a dollar every couple months. That keeps them open and avoids any dormancy fees

      • It's been mentioned a few times on DoC that recurring transactions will not keep an account active. Please see this comment: #2097353

        I wish I could find the discussion that I recall. I thought it was either @guest_1993085 or @guest_1719855, but I'm not sure.

        • Interesting. Thanks for the heads up on that. I have several accounts like this right now but have not recieved any notices or fees.

        • I’ve mentioned it before, but I don’t remember where/when. You have to look through a FI’s deposit agreement for their dormant account policy.

          I haven’t encountered a FI where ACH transactions won’t work to avoid dormancy, so when in doubt you can just do recurring pushes and pulls from a hub.

          • I think US Bank is another one that is strict about client-initiated transactions. I once received a warning letter from them about my Savings account, even though I was doing recurring pushes and pulls from a hub.

            From account agreement:

            A dormant account is an account that has been inactive. “Dormant” is defined by state law and varies. Generally, “dormant” means there has been no client-initiated deposits, withdrawals or other communication from you about the account for the period of time as follows:

            1. after 12 months for a checking account;
            2. after 24 months for a savings account

            Common examples of client-initiated transactions to keep your account active include, but are not limited to:
            1. Non-reoccurring deposits or withdrawals made in person, online or at an ATM
            2. Response to letters received from the bank related to inactivity

          • Thank you! That's good to know. Even though I haven't had any problems yet, maybe I need to rethink this strategy to something else.

          • Yeah, that’s very strict. I didn’t notice that because I use my open USB accounts monthly. I guess I have encountered one FI where that wouldn’t work.

          • That's what I do. I have the hub set to send a dollar and withdraw a dollar every couple of months. I've never had any issue with it.

  • Not sure if it is YMMV, but here is one trick for Fidelity based on my experiments: ACH pulls initiated after 2 PM EST but before the cutoff time of 4 PM EST are credited the same day and can be invested, despite that the fund is only debited from the external bank the next business day.

    In summary, ACH push is same day, and ACH pull is same day and can double-tip interest for one or more days. This makes Fidelity an even better HUB than it already is (if you are not affected by the long hold time for ACH pulls).

    • I'm guessing it's not YMMV. I've been timing pulls this way almost daily and so far it's always worked.

      But I wasn't aware of the push double-dip An pointed out (probably because I never looked for it). Too bad we can't specify the hour when scheduling a series of DDs. LOL.

      My only quibble with Fidelity brokerage as a hub is the annoyance of linking new accounts. If it doesn't work on the first try I usually don't bother unless it's to an FI I plan to keep.

      • Thanks for adding your confirmation about the timing trick for ACH pulls, @guest_1696240.

        In terms of linking new accounts, I think Fidelity might have a block list once you fail a few times. I still haven't been able to add my LendingClub LevelUp savings to Fidelity, from asking for documents in my previous attempts to outright rejection now, but other LendingClub accounts worked fine.

        • @guest_2104583 How did you attempt the linking? I got mine linked by uploading the EFT authorization form with the Account Ownership Letter. Didn't try anything else before that.

          • I linked via account numbers. For the first two attempts, it asked for documents such as statement, I ignored it. For my third attempt, I uploaded the statement. Later Fidelity said the linking failed because there was some restriction on LendingClub's side which prevented the account from being linked. I noticed that the account name was not shown as LevelUp Savings but some other weird name on the statement (now it is LevelUp Savings). Note that this was in early days after LevelUp savings was released. So I think there were some issues at that time, but LendingClub fixed it later.

            Now when I try linking via account numbers again, it will be straight rejection. It is not that important for me to have it linked in Fidelity, so I will just leave it as it is. @guest_2104605

      • @guest_2104520 Not sure what you mean about specifying the hour... you actually want to avoid the 2-4PM window to get the desired behavior.

        • When you schedule an immediate push you choose the hour.

          When you schedule in advance you can only specify intervals and starting date.

          If you schedule pushes ahead today, for dates next month, do you still get the desired behavior? If so that's equivalent to specifying an hour outside the 2-4pm ET window.

          I've never noticed whether that happens because I never thought to look for it.

    • @guest_2104002 Also note that when you pull, you can invest, but the core positions/MMFs don't start earning dividends until the next business day. So... can't really double-dip with the core/MMF in that sense.

      • Found this:

        "When you purchase a Fidelity mutual fund, they begin earning dividends or interest on the first business day after the effective purchase or trade date, including money market funds. The core position is the exception to this, as the core begins accruing interest once funds are posted after a deposit."

        @guest_2104225 @guest_1696240

          • Thanks. Is this from some official documents provided by Fidelity, or is it based on your own tracking and calculation of the dividends earned in your Fidelity account? @guest_2104767

          • @guest_2104963 I've more or less confirmed what the prospectus states with my own tracking. However, I've also noticed that (early) direct deposits from Treasury Direct showed up around 3:50pm and did not earn the same day; maybe cause they were early deposits or maybe cause it was too close to 4pm.

          • I should clarify:

            1) A pull between 2-4pm will have a next business day posting date and the core will start earning then.
            2) A pull before 2pm will have a posting date of the same day, but the core will start earning the next business day.

      • Yep, agree that can't double-dip on the money in that sense. It can be leveraged to avoid loss of interests for ACH pulls, and now more ACH pushes on Fridays.

        • @guest_2104243 You could also buy a fund where the NAV increases almost every day, like USFR or SGOV. Not sure how well that works out overall though.

          • It is not as liquid as MMF that is auto redeemed to cash whenever you withdraw or spend it, so the decision is going to depend on your needs.

    • @guest_2104002 You might notice that for pushes, you can earn dividends up to, but not including, the next business day. So you can double-dip there too ;)

      • I did not pay attention to this. Are you saying that if I do an ACH push of $20K now which is debited from Fidelity today, I will still earn dividends on the $20K for today? Sounds too good to be true, because I think the dividends/interest is accrued daily based on the end of day balance and paid monthly. @guest_2104016

          • Thanks. Now I see this (as well as the part about MMFs start earning dividends on the first business day following the day of purchase) explained there. I guess this is tied to the once per day processing of MMF that is done after the market has closed. @guest_2104208

    • I applied and they wanted me to come in person to verify identity despite me telling them I am out of state

      • Is there an update on this? Wondering if you were able to open your account or if it's a dead end if we're out of state.

        • I can offer a DP on this. I applied on Mon 7/28 for the HY Checking. I live in Florida but very far from their service area. They qualified me for membership by making a $1 donation for me to their Naval/Marine charity. I had all 3 CBs unfrozen and chex unfrozen. My Chex score just prior to applying was 639 which is not that great. Today, 48 hours later, I hear from them that I am approved. My plan is to make this my primary everyday checking and to get the balance up and close to the $10K. They allow up to $250 in credit card funding. I checked and my Chex was run, No hard pulls on credit.

          • Hey thanks for the DP fellow floridaperson! I'm in a similar spot, pretty from from their service area. Good to know you qualified/approved despite that, and with a not great chex score.

            You don't have to count exactly, but do you have a rough idea of how many chex inquiries you might've had in the last few months? A lot of times thats more telling than the score.

            Based on your DP I think I'll try and apply sometime before I have to move OOS, I figure the extra money I'll save vs using a normal checking account is like a free yearly bank bonus anyway

          • Yeah, I think possibly having a Florida address helped. I'm in St Petersburg, pretty far from Pensacola. My recent stats are like this - 0/30, 5/60 and 7/90 days.

          • Thank you very much for the stats!

            Yeah that's pretty far, even farther than me. With those stats I definitely think I have a good shot.

      • I don't believe so...well according to Mr Google using "does pen air credit union use chex"

        • Google's AI summary is often just guessing and is wrong very often . As an example I copied your exact quote and it told me it does use chex systems.

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