Growing up you were probably taught how important it was to save your money. Maybe it was your parents or a friend or teacher who convinced you to save. Most people just use the same bank their parent’s used, or they open a savings account with a local bank because of the convenience. Brick & mortar banks are often the worst banks to use for your savings. They usually charge fees, have minimum balance requirements, and have very low interest rates. Due to inflation, money in a savings account actually loses value over time, even with the interest. If you don’t want to risk it all and invest all of your savings, it is important to find a savings account that can keep up with inflation or at least come close.
In the last two weeks of March 2021, many banks lowered their rates because the Federal Reserve lowered their rates. Read my post on the Fed lowering rates here.
After browsing through 25 different national savings accounts, I found what I believe will be the top 5 savings accounts of year. It was difficult narrowing down the best savings accounts but you can’t go wrong with any of these choices.
1. Ally Bank – This online savings account very competitive at 0.5%. Ally Bank stands out with their great customer service, $0 monthly fees, and $0 minimum balance requirements. In addition, they offer great tools to analyze your spending and they offer an interest checking account that can automatically round up your transactions to the nearest dollar and transfer the difference to your savings account, similar in concept to the Acorn investing app. They could be a one stop shop for all of your banking needs as they also offer mortgage and auto loans along with Ally Invest, a brokerage account. Check out Ally Bank here.
2. Yotta Savings – This is an innovative savings account that encourages you to save by entering you into a daily lottery with a chance to win up to $10 million each week. They essentially made saving fun and gave an incentive no one else offers. With a base interest of 0.2% and a variable effective interest (based on winnings), you can earn as high as 3% interest on your savings. I personally have averaged a very high yield of 1.2% over 3 months. Yotta Savings gives you a lottery ticket for each $25 you save. If you sign up with Yotta using the Invite Code HYDERFT, you will receive 100 free tickets when you make your first deposit. Join Yotta Savings here.
3. Discover – Discover is one of the top banks for millennials with their low interest personal loans, 5% cash back credit cards, student and home loans. They offer online checking and high yield savings accounts including money markets, CD’s, and retirement accounts. Their online savings account currently has a rate of 0.4% APY with zero monthly fees and a $0 opening deposit requirement, making it a very accessible bank. Check out Discover here .
4. Vio Bank – This bank offers a high yield online savings account with a 0.66% APY with a minimum deposit of $100. If you opt for paperless billing, there are $0 monthly fees. They do however charge fees if you want to withdraw your money more than 6 times per month. While Vio doesn’t offer a checking account, they do offer CD’s and there are very few banks that offer over 0.5% interest APY in their savings accounts, making this the top choice for guaranteed high yield savings. Check out Vio Bank here.
5. Citi Bank – Citi Bank has the most financial products with several types of checking and savings accounts, CD’s, investing accounts, and more. Their online savings account offers 0.5% APY just like Ally Bank. The reason why they are number 5 on this list is because their products are confusing and some of their accounts have fees and minimum balance requirements. They have too many choices in my opinion. Citi Bank’s Citi ElevateSM basic savings account has no fees IF linked with a checking account and IF you maintain a balance of $5000 or more in your savings. If you are a high earner, Citi Bank may be the fit for you. Check out Citi here.
Note: These interest rates are subject to change. There are banks that offer similar, if not higher rates, but they also charge monthly fees or have very large minimum balance requirements. Along with the interest rates, monthly fees, and minimum balances or deposits, my evaluation also included the usability of the website and app, the features offered with the account, and other products offered by the bank.
Affiliate Link Notice: This post contains affiliate links, which means I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you if you decide to purchase or sign up for a product through my referrals. While you can sign up through any other means, it would help support the blog if you sign up through my links. Thanks.
