Are you earning the most from your savings and money market deposit accounts? Savings and MM accounts are the foundation of a strong financial plan, providing you with financial stability as you work to achieve your goals. There are many banks and credit unions that offer savings and money market accounts. This article aims to help you find the highest interest rates for this type of deposit account.
Table of Content
Top 10 Best High-Interest Savings Accounts for July 2020
Since the last update, most of the banks have dropped from their rates and stabilized around the 1% level. Here is our most updated list with an indicator showing rates that went up (⇑) and ones that went down (⇓).
| Bank | Rate (APY) | Notes |
| CIBC Agility™ Online Savings Account | 1.15% ⇓ | $0.01 minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| Live Oak Bank | 1.15% ⇓ | No minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| Ally Online Savings Account | 1.10% ⇓ | No minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| BMO Harris Bank Platinum Money Market Account | 1.10% ⇓ | $5,000 minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| Marcus by Goldman Sachs | 1.05% ⇓ | No minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| HSBC Direct Savings | 1.01% ⇓ | $1 minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| UFB Direct Money Market Account | 1.00% ⇓ | No monthly maintenance fees with a $5,000 balance, otherwise the fee is $10.00 per month. Minimum opening deposit of $5,000.$25,000 minimum to earn the highest interest rate. |
| Citizens Access Online Savings Account | 1.00% ⇓ | $5,000 minimum. No maintenance fees. |
| CIT Bank Savings Builder | 0.95% ⇓ | $100 minimum to open an account plus, $100 minimum single deposit per month to earn the highest interest rate.Get up to $300 bonus when you open an account. |
Alternative Options to Savings and Money Market Accounts
In addition to high yield savings accounts and money market accounts, here are some alternatives that may work for you:
| Option | Description |
|---|---|
 | Certificates of Deposit: Another option to high-interest savings is certificates of deposit. There are CDs with a term as short as 3 months and as long as 10 years. Generally, longer-term CDs pay more than savings but require a long-term commitment. |
 | High Yield Checking Accounts: Generally, there are more restrictions around high yield checking to be eligible for the best rate. However, it may be worthwhile if you can meet the requirements. |
| Lending Club and Prosper | Lending Club and Prosper are social lending sites where you can invest in 3-year and 5-year loans with as little as $25 per loan. The interest rate you earn depends on the quality of the loan (based on borrower’s credit rating, loan amount, loan length, etc.) Currently, Lending Club claims “Our 11-year track record represents average historical returns of 4–8% per year” and Prosper claims “Historical Returns of 5.3% on average”. IMPORTANT: Please note that there are unique risks associated with social lending. |
 | Discount Brokers: Many discount brokers offer a money market account that acts as the default account for funds deposited into your brokerage account. It usually pays some interest (not as high as an online savings account), but a brokerage account also gives you access to other investment opportunities, e.g., income investing in dividend-paying stocks. |
If you know a bank that offers a higher rate than the ones above, we’d love your insight in the comments.
Frequently Asked Questions and Answers
What is the best way to choose a savings account?
When selecting a savings account, determine the features that are most important to you. For example, you may order the features as follows: high-interest rates, excellent customer service, low fees, and a good reputation.
Are online savings accounts better than a traditional one?
Online savings accounts are more popular each day. Typically, you have to complete most of your transactions online or using the ATM, since there may not be brick and mortar locations in the “real” world. In exchange, you enjoy a higher interest rate than average and pay lower fees.
How does FDIC insurance protect savings accounts?
When selecting a bank, make sure that it is FDIC insured. The federal government offers this insurance to participating banks, and it protects your money (up to $250,000 per depositor at each banking institution) against loss if the bank goes out of business.
What does the FDIC deposit insurance cover?
FDIC insurance covers all deposit accounts, including savings accounts, money market accounts, certificates of deposit (CDs), and checking accounts.
Please review the information associated with each offer before you sign up. Rates and conditions change constantly, and I have reported what I believe to be the most accurate information at the time the article was updated.
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Pinyo Bhulipongsanon is the owner of Moolanomy Personal Finance and a Realtor® licensed in Virginia and Maryland. Over the past 20 years, Pinyo has enjoyed a diverse career as an investor, entrepreneur, business executive, educator, financial literacy author, and Realtor®.
How much does $30,000 make a difference in terms of choosing a savings account versus a money market account? This is really just my emergency fund in case anything happens?
Man this was a really good compilation of guides towards interest rates. The only time I chase rates is when helping people fund CDs since online account rates change so much. This one is going to delicious.
Wow…this is really great, up to date list of the best online savings information. I will surely bookmark all these sites. Again thank you for this well thorough researched work.
Great roundup.
Not sure if I’m the only one, but I’m willing to go with a bank that doesn’t have the highest rate if it’s easy to use, trustworthy, and has the features I need.
This was great to know the details about online Banking. They give details about interest rate about various banks. So that it is easy to know the highest interest rate. Beyond that if they give about extra information about the bank. It was helpful everyone.
Thank you,
Thanks for the updates. I’ve been with gmac/now ally for a year and luckily it’s almost always near the top of the list.
I’m just wondering what bank offers this “12% & 18% annual compound interest rate for savings” that Dave Ramsey glorifies? Highest I’ve found is 4.51apy, big difference from 12 or 18 percent? What’s he talking about, what bank???
Just as an FYI- The credit union I belong to has a special checking account that offers 3% interest up to $25,000. There are a few requirements, direct deposit, debit card use and online bill pay, all of which I had already been using. At the moment, I keep more money in my checking than my savings just to rack up the interest.
I am a little confused with how much ill have in a savings account at ally after one year with depositing 3k. From the calculator on the site it says ill have 3,038? What about the the daily compounding why dont they calculate that?
awesome site.im finding a lot of useful info.im 29 and taking the plunge into the investment world.im mainly considering the brokerage houses (scottrade,tradeking,etc.) but things in this article such as peer2peer, and particularly everbank, really caught my attention
Pinyo, just wanted to say what a great site you have! I’m SO glad I came across it. You have lots of info that other comparison sites don’t have. BTW, we opened an AMEX savings account and are very pleased. We were with ING for years, but the continual drop in interest rates prompted us (well, me, since I do the finances 🙂 to change. Also, this is the first place I’ve heard about Sallie Mae. Don’t want to chase rates, but their Upromise deal is interesting. Maybe open a second account? Sorry to babble, just wanted to say good… Read more »
Great list of savings accounts! For those starting to save with very little money, SallieMae is a great choice. They have no minimum initial deposit and no minimum deposit thereafter. That’s nice for those who want to save, but don’t have an initial $1500 and can’t put $25 or more in on a monthly basis.
Pinyo, I would like your opinion. I’ve got quite a bit of money from selling my house. Currently, like Ann McD, my credit union offers only .10% for my savings account but a high 4.51% interest on my checking account. Is it safe to move over $10,000 into my checking account just to receive the good interest? Are there any downsides to doing this? I would sincerely appreciate your advice. Thank you.
Capital One is potentially #1 on your list (or at least #2 with an asterisk). In addition to the 1.35% base rate, they pay a quarterly bonus of 10% of interest earned on accounts with a minimum balance of $15,000. This raises the effective rate on such accounts to 1.485%. (I’ve just switched over from HSBC, after confirming with them that they have no current plans to meet this very strong competition.)
Tried American Express which as a very competitive rate and a good customer service. Plan to try Smarty Pig. Is there somebody who have tried their service? It offers the highest rate in the market so far this month.
Remember the highest interest rate is not always the best deal, there can be fees to cancel which can eat up all of your profit.
I want to make the best financial decisions for my family. I began using the Upromise card about a year ago and have now accumulated some savings (not much) … is it a good idea to open a savings or Certificate of Deposit with SallieMae, or is there a better option.
Pinyo, It is great that you also expose your readers to some of the Alternatives such as Lending Club and Prosper. These are fantastic assets but certainly not an equivalent to a bank savings account. It is a very active strategy that can pay far higher rates of return quite safely IF: 1) You put in the research (there is a lot of data to crunch- DO NOT RELY on someone’s analysis of risk especially the guys selling you the loans (Good advice when you are buying ANYTHING but especially investments). LC and Prosper are great companies but their credit… Read more »
My current APY at my bank is .50% and it hasn’t gotten me much of anywhere in these past few years. Thanks for sharing this information. I actually chose my savings account because I already have a checking account with this bank (TCF Bank). I will definitely be looking into Ally & Discover.
Thanks for sharing this list. With so many banks out there, it is really hard to compare one from the other.
Some online banks restrict the amount you can withdraw during a time period. For example, Discover limits to $100,000 per 30 day rolling period. The Bank may change these limits at any time with notice if required by law. You may want to keep your deposits below these limits.
I visited Bank of America, Chase, TD, Capital One, and Astoria Federal for checking or savings accounts with good i retest rates. I also have an amount larger than $25,000. The best rate I found just to earn interest was Capital One with 1% with their High Yield Free Checking account. I’m suprised that there werent any better offers. Did I miss any good opportunities Pinyo?
Pinyo, in your comments earlier you mentioned that someone consider investing in TIPS to beat inflation, and that it is government-backed. What is TIPS?
Also – I keep seeing mentions that there are credit unions that are giving a 4.5% return on savings. Any idea what CU’s they are?
Thanks, what a great site!
These “returns” are a big joke…on us, of course. 1%?? Oh, yeah. Cost of living 4% Golly bob howdy, I just lost 3% of my savings in a year! And yet, these very same banks have plenty of money, billions, to build or buy new rip-off banks. The greed in this country boggles the mind.
Thanks for sharing your list. We should learn as much as we can about the various financial industries before deciding which one to choose. It will help us a lot for our financial security and future.