Don’t miss out on free money. Today’s best savings accounts make it easy to earn 5% or more

Key Findings

Do you have extra money in a bank account that pays little or nothing? You’re missing out on one of the best earning opportunities of the last two decades: high-yield savings accounts. are paying almost record rates.
The best tariff in the country Pibank 5.50% APY, just below the 20-year peak of 5.55% seen in April.
Two finalists –Newtech Bank And Openbank— offer 5.25%.
Want more choice? Our daily ranking of the best savings accounts includes eight more options with yields of at least 5.00%.
It’s easy to move some of your funds into a high-yield savings account and put your free money to work for you.

The full article continues below these offers from our partners.

Earn 5.00% to 5.50% with 11 of the nation’s best savings accounts

Prices for high yield savings accounts The rate rose to its highest level in more than 20 years last spring, peaking at 5.55% in April. This was thanks to the Federal Reserve’s aggressive rate hike campaign in 2022-23, which aimed to lower 10-year rates. inflation. Although the Fed has since cut the rate, you can still earn very close to your peak savings rate.

Pibank is the place where you can earn today’s highest rate. This is 5.50% Pibank Savings An account can be opened with any starting deposit (even without initial funds). It also has no minimum current balance requirement and does not charge a monthly maintenance fee. Although Pibank is relatively new to the US, it is owned by conventional Intercredit Bank, which has been FDIC insured since 1984.

Besides Pibank, two other accounts pay stellar leading rates. Both Newtech Bank And Openbank offer a second rate of 5.25%, and neither has a consistent minimum balance requirement. But these aren’t the only great options. Our daily ranking of the best high-yield savings accounts includes eight more options that will allow you earn 5.00% or more. Using any of these 11 best accounts will take you to the elite level of savings.

We update our best savings account rates daily

You can find more information on all the best high-yield savings accounts by visiting our daily overview of the best APYs. We review rates from more than 100 federally insured institutions every business day to keep our rankings current.

Best Rates on High Yield Savings Accounts – November 5, 2024

To qualify for our ratings, a bank or credit union must be federally insured by the FDIC or NCUA.

If you think that having savings at another bank will be difficult, don’t worry. Internet banking makes transfers between banks extremely simple. And although the transfer process takes one to three days, you can handle it without moving. All your savings to a new account. Instead, keep a small reserve at your primary bank so that you can immediately transfer to a check if necessary.

Will savings account rates fall?

Savings accounts have variable rates, meaning the bank or credit union may change your interest rate at any time and without notice. One of the main factors that determines how institutions set savings account rates is Federal Reserve base interest rate, federal funds rate. While banks and the Fed are not moving in the same direction on their rates, they are generally moving in the same direction.

Unfortunately for savers, the Fed began a series of expected rate cuts, starting with a significant 0.50 percentage point cut on September 18th. Further cuts are expected in 2024 and 2025, and possibly even in 2026. Every Fed cut that occurs will put downward pressure on savings account rates.

But it’s good to have some perspective. Even if, say, best savings account rate will fall from 5.50% today to perhaps 4.50% by the end of the year – or even 3.50% by the end of 2025 – still historically high yields. You can easily see this in the chart below, which shows that back in 2022, before the Fed’s rate hike campaign, APY highest paid the national savings account was only 0.70%.

What about today’s best CD prices?

If you can commit to leaving some of your savings alone for months or years, now is the time to open one of the nation’s bank accounts. best certificates of deposit (CD)as they also pay historically high rates. While APY is enabled new CDs will decline along with the federal funds interest rate, and the CD you open now will have a guaranteed return that you can hold until the CD matures.

Right now you can lock your rate down to 5.50% with best six month cdor up to 5.00% from best CD for 1 year. For terms of 2 to 5 years, maximum CD rates range from 4.00% to 4.50%, providing a rate guarantee that will last at least until later. 2026 and until 2029.

But hurry if you want to open the CD! As with savings accounts, CD rates will decline as a result of any new rate cuts from the Fed, with another rate cut widely expected on Thursday. Therefore, it is best to lock in the guaranteed CD speed as soon as possible.

Daily rankings of the best CDs and savings accounts

Please note that the “top rates” listed here are the highest nationwide rates that Investopedia has determined in its daily research of rates from hundreds of banks and credit unions. That’s a far cry from the national average, which includes all banks offering certificates of deposit with this term, including many large banks that pay meager interest. So the national averages are always quite low, while the top rates you can find out by shopping around are often five, 10 or even 15 times higher.

How we find the best CD discounts and rates

Every business day, Investopedia tracks rate data for more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer certificates of deposit and savings accounts to customers across the country and determines daily rankings of the highest paying accounts. To be included on our lists, an institution must be federally insured (Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks, NKUA for credit unions), and the minimum initial deposit in the account must not exceed $25,000. He also cannot indicate maximum The deposit amount is below 5000 US dollars.

Banks must be available in at least 40 states to qualify as nationally available. And while some credit unions require you to make a donation to a specific charity or association to become a member, unless you meet other eligibility criteria (for example, you don’t live in a certain area or work a certain job), we exclude credit unions. unions with a donation requirement of $40 or more. To find out more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.