The Best Online High Yield Savings Accounts
Updated List Of The Best High Interest Online Savings Account Offers and Bank Rates!
The high yield savings account and money market annual percentage yields (APY) listed below are regularly verified and confirmed to the best of my ability. However, I recommend that you personally check individual bank rates before applying. I will attempt to actively update the APY interest numbers after every major interest rate move by the Federal Reserve, but keep in mind that online savings and money market account rates do fluctuate.
For those who want to know my short list of the best online banks that offer the best yield interest rates for savings and checking accounts, here they are. All of the top online banks I list here provide very competitive online banking features and back their websites up with commendable customer support. The following are all highly recommended by fellow high yield savings and money market account seekers:
- Lending Club – Averages a whopping 9.60% APY rate of return. Lending Club is definitely a rather impressive high yield interest rate alternative to traditional online banks.
- EverBank – 3.01% APY
- Ally Bank – 1.64% APY
- Dollar Savings Direct – 1.70% APY
- WT Direct – 1.66% APY
- Capital One Direct – 1.60% APY
- FNBO Direct – 1.50% APY
- HSBC Direct – 1.45% APY
- ING Direct - 1.30% APY
- E-Trade Savings – 0.80% APY
Interest Rate Chasers and Choosing A High Yield Savings Account
There’s an interesting breed of savvy savers called high yield interest rate chasers that are continuously on the hunt for the best interest rates. However, although it is very important, I don’t think high interest rates alone should be the sole determining criteria when deciding where to do your banking. Thus you don’t need to immediately go nuts and jump ship whenever your bank drops your interest rate by a few decimal points. There are other quality factors worth taking into consideration and evaluating such as – reliability, customer service, website interface ease of use, brand name reputation, availability of brick and mortar branches, and consistent history of offering high rates. Just for the record, the vast majority of my cash is invested in the stock market, but what little cash I have is stashed in my Citibank Ultimate Savings Account. It doesn’t offer the highest APY interest rate out there, but Citibank has always offered reliable and satisfactory service, with the added convenience of brick and mortar branches. Of course, with the growth of online banking and the stiff competition among online banks for high yield banking customers, I will likely expand my high interest savings account options very soon.
The online banks listed below are sorted in the order of interest rate currently offered, starting with the highest APY. I’ve chosen to leave out some regional banks as well as several established institutions like JP Morgan Chase Bank, Wells Fargo, and Bank of America for various reasons. Many of them either offer terrible interest rates for their savings and money market accounts, or their top rates require too high of a minimum account balance to achieve (frequently more than $100,000). Below, I’ve also provided information such as the minimum initial deposit required to open an account, as well as additional noteworthy information such as whether there are fees or minimum balance requirements.
All of the online banks listed below have indicated that they are fully FDIC insured, which means all customer bank accounts are protected against catastrophic bank failure and financial loss up to a fairly substantial amount, backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. As we should all be well aware at this point in time, due to the near rock solid FDIC insurance coverage that they provide, checking, savings, and certificate of deposit (CD) accounts invested at traditional and high interest online banks are the safest places to put your money during turbulent economic times. At the same time, those looking to diversify their holdings for greater interest rate returns, but still enjoy similar semblances of protection may want to check out a number of savings account alternatives available out there.
List Of The Top High Interest Savings and Money Market Accounts
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Please let me know if there are any other better high interest online banking and savings account deals out there! I’m also interested in keeping abreast of the best CD rates in the market as well.
January 15th, 2008 at 10:11 am
Great list. I’ve been eyeing that Countrywide rate for awhile. We have our home loan with them, but with BOA buying them out I’m not sure what that is going to do to the bank. But I guess the FDIC will protect the savings accounts right?
We are going to have a small nest egg after we sell our home and I’d like it to earn as much interest as possible.
January 15th, 2008 at 8:03 pm
good list..I also saw 5.75% 10-yr cd rate listed at money-rates.com. Stupid Fed is going to ruin these rates soon.
January 16th, 2008 at 2:11 am
Erin, your account with any FDIC insured bank including Countrywide Bank is most definitely insured and protected up to $100,000 per depositor.
As for Bank of America’s buyout of Countrywide, in my opinion despite monetary trouble and even downward interest pressure due to Fed rate cuts, I don’t think their high yield rates will drop too substantially. Certain banks are known for their high rates and they’d lose even more business if they rolled the rates too far back.
January 17th, 2008 at 3:47 pm
Great list! I need to switch to a higher interest rate.
April 30th, 2008 at 7:07 pm
What about onbank vs igo, countrywide, emigrantdirect, ing, etrade, etc.? See Bankrate.com search highest interest mma/savings for others.
May 1st, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Check out Fidelity’s money market account too. I had my money in there for a while and because of the tax treatment, it earned almost double the going interest rates.
May 9th, 2008 at 12:08 am
FYI…there is a 4.50% apy money market listed at Money-Rates.com have not seen a rate that high for a while
June 23rd, 2008 at 4:47 am
Hey you should take a look at the HSBC high yield savings account. Looks like they are currently running some type of high interest 3.5 APY interest rate until August 15, 2008. Their red pig commercial is everywhere on TV these days.
I wonder if HSBC plans to extend the interest rate offer past that due date or whether it’s just a temporary summer promotion. I hope not.
June 26th, 2008 at 12:09 pm
Has anyone been able to find ATM sites for HSBC?
June 30th, 2008 at 2:40 am
HSBC brick and mortar branches and HSBC ATM’s seem to be located primarily in major cities along the west and northeast parts of the U.S. Check out this link to search for HSBC locations.
The bank has a pervasive presence overseas, but their locations seem to be somewhat limited in this country. Personally, I’m not sure if I’d use HSBC for checking purposes, but their high yield savings accounts seem to offer pretty good value.
July 11th, 2008 at 4:43 pm
You must always be cautious about using these accounts as your only investment vechile. They are a good place to park cash for the short term or in volatile markets, but longer term they will erode your wealth. Great summary here. I personally use HSBC and ING direct.
July 13th, 2008 at 12:56 pm
If you are from the greater Washington D.C. area of Baltimore Maryland, and Virginia, you might be familiar with the online high yield saving account offerings from Provident Direct bank. Its savings account rates are pretty comparable to that offered by the top banks out there like Countrywide, HSBC Direct, and even WaMu as you mentioned. They’re all like 3.50% APY at the moment. I don’t work for them or anything like that.
July 20th, 2008 at 1:22 pm
Capital One has a high-interest savings that offers 3.5% (as of July 20) if you deposit $10,000.00 or more. The adds say there are no fees, they will give you an ATM card and checks for free. Just something else to check out.
July 24th, 2008 at 12:13 pm
Are you sure Countrywide should be list as the #1 high intrest online savings bank? Yeah it’s got the highest intrest rate but you need like 10k to get that rate.. just my .02
September 16th, 2008 at 5:15 pm
ShoreBank, the bank I represent, offers a High Yield Online Savings Account with a competitive 3.50% APY and $1 minimum balance. It has 24 hour online accessibility, allows for you to link up to six of your accounts for electronic transfer, and is FDIC insured. If you would like to find out more about ShoreBank’s High Yield Online Savings Account please visit http://www.shorebankdirect.sbk.com
October 8th, 2008 at 5:10 pm
DollarSavingsDirect online bank has the highest savings account APY right now at 4%. They have great customer service.
October 30th, 2008 at 11:40 am
Hi this is a great resource. However I noticed on WT that after 60 days if you have less than 10,000 in that account it jumps down to a variable rate of 0.50%
“After the first 60 days, the APY for the account will have two tiers: (a) a higher APY for accounts with balances of $10,000 or more (variable and currently 3.31% APY); and (b) a lower APY for accounts with balances of less than $10,000 (variable and currently 0.50% APY).”
October 30th, 2008 at 11:43 am
Nevermind, I scrolled down and saw that you had posted that information already.
November 17th, 2008 at 2:18 am
good comments and info. Question; How much should I let a banks star rating affect my decision of where to bank for an online savings account? Should a 2 star bank rating with a 4.0 int. rate (Dollar Savings Direct) be a wiser banking decision than a lower interest yet higher star rating (GMAC Bank)? Is it safe? With the rocky economy how important is the star rating of a bank? Just curious on some thoughts.
December 4th, 2008 at 7:22 pm
I went with venturebankdirect.com for my online savings account. Their rate is 3.6% APY with no minimum balance. The account was easy to set up and no delay in crediting my account with my funds.
December 5th, 2008 at 1:53 pm
Why isn’t GMAC on here.? They appear to have higher rates. Are there issues regarding GMAC since the bail out?
December 17th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
Thanks for the tip Chris, I checked out Venture Bank Direct and have been happy so far. They added an online checking account which is a big plus for me. Makes for easy access.
December 23rd, 2008 at 12:32 am
what about http://www.dollarsavingsdirect.com?
December 23rd, 2008 at 3:28 pm
How did you come up a list of what you believe to be the best savings banks? I’m looking for a high yield savings account with high interest rates, with unlimited ACH transfers (since I transfer large sums of money), and with good reliability. I don’t want an online savings bank like GMAC or Countrywide or some other ones one there who may not be there tomorrow due to the credit crisis and financial troubles.
Looks like Everbank or Etrade Savings Bank above are going to be my best bet in terms of a high yield savings account. What do you think?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:35 pm
Can a non-profit orginization apply for high interest bearing account in any bank in this List Of The Top High Interest Savings and Money Market Accounts above?
January 14th, 2009 at 7:47 pm
RSB,
Of course, simply open the high yield savings account or money market account with your business ID top start up a business account.
February 11th, 2009 at 7:22 pm
Back to the non profit question…
We have a non profit that does work in Africa. We are looking for a place to stash our small endowment- so far the high yield on line savings banks we have checked with have rejected our application b/c we are considered a business. Any suggestions???
February 23rd, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Here’s an update on Countrywide Bank: in Dec. 2007 the rate was 5.3%, then each month there after it was: 5.14%,4.26%,4.63%,4.12%,4.03%,3.9%,3.72%,3.58%, I guess you can see where this is going, last month at the end of Jan 2009 it was 1.17%. I’m looking to transfer my funds to a higher yeilding bank. Countywide did, however, have very good on-line transfers of funds between banks, all electronic.
February 24th, 2009 at 1:46 am
iGo Banking
This has not been a good experience for me. The online application process was easy enough; the e-mail progress updates were helpful. They did a soft credit pull to verify my identity and then posted the trial deposits and withdrawal to my account successfully. Then out of the blue they stopped the application process and asked for substantial additional information via snail mail. I’ve opened many online bank accounts before and have never been put through the hoops like with this bank. My credit is excellent, so that was not the issue. I have since canceled my application with iGo and have decided to open an account with another bank, and there are countless others to choose from. This wasn’t worth my effort. I hope this information is helpful to you.
March 11th, 2009 at 4:01 pm
ING rates have been down recently, need to switch to GMAC, I guess?
March 13th, 2009 at 7:08 pm
A caution regarding iGo Banking: Easy to get money into it, hard to get money out of it.
The bank has crazy, confusing restrictions regarding withdrawals from its internet savings account.
For example, you’re (no surprise) welcome to deposit all the money you want into the account. But you are limited to withdrawing only $50,000 a month; any money north of that is held hostage by iGo.
Not an issue to you? Well, you also can withdraw only $15,000 per day. And the bank charges for some withdrawals.
The bank also takes days to get around actually doing the transfer–it withdraws the money and stops paying interest, but it takes days for the money to show up in the bank receiving the transfer.
The bank’s customer service is the worst of any online bank I’ve dealt with. So proceed with caution before banking with iGo.
March 16th, 2009 at 3:44 pm
The best rates always seem to be through clearskyaccounts.com
I switched a lot of my spare cash to them about 6 months ago and they have ALWAYS been in the top 3 for interest rates. Their customer service is good although I will say it took them a little while to get the account set up initially and transferring money into or out of the account can take up for 48 hours but when everyone else’s interest rates are sitting around 2.5% theirs are over 3.0% so I’m pretty happy with where my money is. They’re part of chesapeake(SP?) bank which has been well established for many years and seem to be very attentive to their customers needs.
March 19th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Teresa: I don’t know if you’ll get this, but ING Direct offers business savings accounts now, and the interest rate as of today is 1.5%. The one thing that they require is a link to a business checking account, and of course the paperwork proving that you’re a business.
I’m personally hesitant to switch from ING, but those other rates are looking REALLY good. I’ve been so happy with their customer service and their OPT-IN privacy policy (they won’t share your info unless you tell them it’s ok). Shore Bank rates are looking good today (2.8%)… any other experience other than the rep from Shore Bank?
April 1st, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Hi All,
Thanks for all the great information to read. I have been doing a lot of research myself, trying to find not only a great rate but a stable bank. Currently I’m using ING but as of lately their 1.6 percent isn’t looking so great. I investigated Doralbankdirect.com and 1stconstitutiondirect.com. Each of them had a 5 and 4 star rating from that bank rating site. Currently Doral offerst 2.25% APY and 1st constitution 2.95% for 3 months then 2.5% adjustable. Anyone have any information on them or any thoughts!
Thanks
J
May 2nd, 2009 at 1:00 pm
Have you guys tried out Lending Club…the link’s near the top of the blog post. 9.05% APY is just astounding. Yes it’s not an online bank per se, but looks like if you stick with the highest rated loans, its good as golden. Has anyone tried to see if this Lending Club site can be used as a high yield savings account replacement in larger dollar quantities. Like I’m not talking about just a few thousand dollars invested into Lending Club loan assets…but like into the six figures.
Only downside is that LC’s pretty strict on who they accept into their little club!
May 7th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Tanza-I have a Lending Club account. It’s not an online bank but more like a P2P (peer to peer brokerage account) that matches loan investors with loan borrowers. It requires you to do a bit more work than a traditional bank account but the interest rate you can get is definitely much higher than that of high yield savings or CD deposit. They say 9% yield annually is average and that looks about right. I guess your LendingClub rate of return really depends on how much risk and how much you are willing to bet. If you are conservative, it may be less, but if you are more aggressive, you may be able to get a much higher interest rate yield on your Lending Club loans. Overall, I’ve had a good Lending Club experience as a lender. I feel good about loaning money to people who need the funds and as an investor, I get a good rate of return. I’ve only lent about $1000 so far but I may increase the amount if things continue well for me. But yes, they are rather stringent on who they accept as an investor. You have to meet a certain income threshold to qualify. Prosper is another P2P…I don’t have an account with them but I’m not sure, but I hear that they are no longer accepting investors? Correct me if I’m wrong. Good luck
May 7th, 2009 at 12:16 pm
1.99% May 07, 2009.
May 21st, 2009 at 9:27 am
Shorebank offers high yield savings accounts. Currently 2.05% APY
May 21st, 2009 at 10:05 am
High yield savings account rates are not that great these days. Has anyone tried out these new high yield CHECKING account rates? They seem to be much higher than even savings account, money market accounts, or cd rates. Only downside is that they frequently have maximum caps…like $10,000-$50,000…and they have high debit card usage requirements (like 5-10 or so transactions a month). I use my reward credit cards for all purchases so this debit card requirement is a bit hard for me to deal with.
But this just means you really can’t use the high interest checking accounts as your savings account equivalents for the long haul. Plus you never know where these interest rates are headed and they are likely to fluctuate or disappear as promotions are pulled.
May 26th, 2009 at 12:40 am
Ally Bank is the new bank in town. Actually Ally Bank is the bank formerly known as GMAC Financial. GMAC Bank is revamping its old image into Ally Bank to attract new customers and shed its old crippled Detroit auto maker image. I guess they are trying to send the message that they are your ally or something like that.
But regardless, their high yield savings account rates are pretty good and so are their CD rates. Their best CD rates are pretty high compared to competing banks. Not only do they have classic CDs, they also have these new no penalty CD accounts that allow you to withdraw your money and put it anywhere without a fee! Right now the CDs with Ally are 2.50% APY. Check the CD and savings account rates out
May 26th, 2009 at 2:34 pm
Clear Sky Accounts looks pretty decent. Clear Sky bank accounts are offered by Chesapeake Bank. Right now they offer something like 2.05% APY for all high yield savings accounts. Even their high yield checking account offered the high 2.05% APY interest deal for balances in excess of $25,000. According to the website, Clear Sky Accounts are totally paperless and completely online, and fully FDIC insured.
May 30th, 2009 at 1:28 am
Ally Bank is def worth a good review. It’s one of the, if not the best bank right now in the market offering the best rates. They’ve been advertising hard on TV and on the web lately.
1 year classic CD’s are 2.80%,
Online savings accounts are 2.25%,
and free checking money market accounts are 1.90 % APY.
Of course, this is all assuming that Ally Bank, despite the name change, has overcome the problems of its former GMAC Bank self….let’s home it’s not another repeat of Washington Mutual, an online bank that pushed hard in the marketing arena but ultimately failed and went bankrupt (eventually getting bought out by Chase Bank).
May 31st, 2009 at 8:38 pm
Ally Bank is my new online bank. I just transferred funds from my defunct Countrywide Bank account (now run by Bank of America) to Ally Bank. Opened a high yield savings account. Ally’s money market account looks good but the rates weren’t as high and I don’t really need checking writing privs. Good savings account features with lots of CD rate offers to pick from. Let’s hope this bank survives the subprime mortgage mess!
June 1st, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Ok I just came across while browsing BankRate that there are numerous high yield savings account banks that i’ve never heard of before. Places like Discover Bank, AIG Bank, E-Loan Bank, and heck even Met Life Bank (with Snoopy). I had no idea Discover Cards even had its own bank. And AIG Bank?? Aren’t they bankrupt already. Are these online banks reputable and stable? Not sure they are worth the risk since they don’t even offer the best interest rates. Should unstable banks with tarnish brands be offering the highest rates to attract new customers?
June 2nd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
I live in the Washington DC area where Chevy Chase Bank used to dominate the region with its huge ATM and retail banking presence. Now that they’ve been bought out by Capital One Bank, Cap 1’s now got the upper hand in terms of market share in the DC area.
In my review of Capital One, the company’s existing banking features are more in depth than Chevy Chase but I preferred Chevy Chase’s community and localized customer service reputation. Hopefully, the management at Capital One will leave Chevy Chase’s pluses intact but port over their high online rate accounts. Chevy Chase Bank was notoriously terrible in terms of its rate offerings. .25% APY for a savings account…are you kidding me?
Capital One’s high yield savings accounts and money markets are decent, albeit a bit shabbier than others in the interest yield department. Capital One CD rates need to see some improvement as well
July 14th, 2009 at 8:30 am
Why has ING gone down from 1.50 % to 1.40 %?
July 28th, 2009 at 12:28 am
ShoreBank Direct High-Yield Savings Account is now offering 2.15% APY* (2.13% Interest Rate), effective Tuesday, July 28, 2009. ShoreBank’s ABA/Routing Number is 071004226.
August 10th, 2009 at 4:00 pm
I don’t understand Bankrate.com’s ratings. When you are looking for the highest interest savings accounts they exclude some of the bettter paying banks. Why is that? Are they really honest about their ratings or bais? depending on what? I noticed for instance that they show other banks as top interest payers on online savings, while excluding Shorebank who ia paying a higher interest. Why is that?
September 30th, 2009 at 12:00 am
Yoo hoo, VentureBank has been shut down — just click on their website.
October 5th, 2009 at 2:04 am
All balances on Lending Club are NOT FDIC insured, nor are they insured by Lending Club. If 100% of your loans default, you are guaranteed to lose 100% of your balance. I’m not sure why one would compare the Lending Club rate with FDIC insured bank rates. Apples to oranges.