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CNBC
cnbc.com › cnbc select › banking › the best high-yield savings accounts of january 2026
The best high-yield savings accounts of January 2026
2 days ago - As of early 2026, the best high-yield savings accounts are offering rates in the low-to-mid 4% APY range, down modestly from early and mid-2025, when top rates were more consistently in the mid-4% range and even reached 5% or higher. By late 2025, yields had already begun to ease as expectations of Federal Reserve rate cuts grew. In a rate-cutting environment, banks typically reduce the returns they pass on to savers.
People also ask

What's the difference between a high-yield savings account and a traditional savings account?

The main difference between high-yield savings accounts and traditional savings accounts is that high-yield savings accounts offer higher interest rates, which in turn allow your money to grow faster. Also, unlike traditional savings accounts, high-yield savings accounts are generally offered by online banks without physical branches.

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cnbc.com
cnbc.com › cnbc select › banking › the best high-yield savings accounts of january 2026
The best high-yield savings accounts of January 2026
How do online savings accounts work?

While online savings accounts offer some of the highest APYs, it's also more tedious to access your money than banking at a brick-and-mortar institution, since you'll usually have to transfer to a checking account to use your money. This is arguably a good thing if you're trying to grow your emergency savings, since you won't have easy access to the account.

While it may seem nerve-wracking to have limited access to your savings, one of the big reasons to put your emergency fund into a high-yield account is to watch it grow. The higher your account balance is, the more money you will earn in compound interest over time.

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cnbc.com
cnbc.com › cnbc select › banking › the best high-yield savings accounts of january 2026
The best high-yield savings accounts of January 2026
How often can I take money out of a high-yield savings account?

It used to be a rule that you could withdraw or transfer cash from a high-yield savings account up to 6 times per month without paying any fees. This rule has ended, however, and it is now up to each bank's discretion to choose how often savers can withdraw. Most banks have stuck to this six-times-per-month rule, while others let you make unlimited withdrawals at no cost.

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cnbc.com
cnbc.com › cnbc select › banking › the best high-yield savings accounts of january 2026
The best high-yield savings accounts of January 2026
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/personalfinance › best savings account
r/personalfinance on Reddit: Best Savings Account
August 31, 2016 -

I'm sure this is a FAQ but I didn't see anything on the wiki about it, maybe I was looking in the wrong place. Anyways, I'm trying to find the best savings account. Seems like a lot of people invest rather than save when they have a lot of money. I don't have a lot, but I would like to know which one will give me the most bang for my buck. I probably won't be able to add to the account much for about 15 months (besides an initial amount of about 1k), but I would still like a place to dump excess cash to keep it out of sight and out of mind and continue to collect interest.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r › PersonalFinanceCanada › comments › hnmeih › best_high_interest_savings_account_in_canada
r/PersonalFinanceCanada - Best High Interest Savings Account in Canada?!
February 27, 2017 -

Wanted to find out which was the best savings account for beginners like me. I currently have $10000 in my RBC savings account but I looking to move this money into an account that is more rewarding. I know tangerine has a promotion for 2.5% interest for the first five months but after it drops to 0.25%. Any tips would be great!

Find elsewhere
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Reddit
reddit.com › r › PersonalFinanceCanada › comments › aonqtn › best_saving_account
r/PersonalFinanceCanada - Best saving account
September 10, 2015 -

I am looking to move my savings from TD to any bank which provides a good interest rate. After some research, I see Tangerine is the best option.

As their TFSA provides 3% for 1st 6 months, following that its 1.25%. No additional fees. If needed, I can move money from their saving accounts to my other bank checking account with no fees.

Are there any other better options I might have overlooked. I have the sum of 25,000$ which I won't be needed in the next few years. I don't have any debts, and a stable income. I was looking at the option of investing them in stocks/bonds but I don't want to lose this money in trading I have a separate small amount for it. If ppl have better options than putting in a high-interest savings account I would love to hear them.

Thanks

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/themoneyguy › what is the best high yield savings account right now?
r/TheMoneyGuy on Reddit: what is the best high yield savings account right now?
December 7, 2025 -

i’ve been thinking about moving some of my savings into a high yield savings account lately. i’ve always stuck with a regular savings account but with rates so low i feel like my money is just sitting there not doing much. this would be my first time trying a HYSA so i’m a bit cautious.

for those who’ve used high yield savings accounts before what was your experience like when you first switched? did you notice a real difference in interest compared to a standard account or did it barely feel worth the change? what kind of things should i watch out for before opening one like minimum balance, fees, withdrawal limits, online vs physical bank?

also does it matter if the bank is online only or has branches especially for people who might need cash withdrawals sometimes? and is HYSA better suited for emergency funds or short term savings rather than long term investing?

i’d really appreciate honest stories especially if you started small like i am thanks 🙏

Top answer
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As long as you add the institution to your bank and reciprocally, you can get money quickly. Branch vs online really doesn’t matter. I have Citi for one HYSA. There are limits on transferring out, so you might need to wait. I also have money with Raisin, which has many FDIC banks in its network. I am currently getting 4.1%, but rates fluctuate between banks. Most of mine is with Fidelity, which I use for investing and for spending. Moving money is fast. Long term is held in SGOV (3.9%, which I can get within a day. If I wanted more liquid, I’d use FDLXX (3.56%). Don’t get too hung up on picking the best rate…getting into something more than what you currently have is the best move. A 0.4% difference is $40 on $10,000…not worth chasing the yield.
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I’ve been using capital one for years if not decades. It maxed around 4.5% a year or so ago and has been steadily going down to 3.4% as of today. I’ve never been to a branch and don’t even know if they have branches to be honest. Everything is online. I have all of my savings in capital one and I keep a checking account for bills at Chase. If I ever need access to the money, it’s a simple electronic transfer to my checking that takes a couple days to land. I use cards for everything so I’ve never been in a position where I needed a large sum of cash on hand. If you get their performance savings account, there are no annual fees but there may be a minimum balance you have to keep in the account for that I cant recall at the moment. I’ve never been charged a fee. I would gladly recommend this savings account for your emergency fund. It worked very well for me and I’ve earned a ton of interest over the years. I wouldnt go as far to say I made more in interest than I would have in the market, but hey, almost zero chance of losing any of my money like there would be in the market so I’ll gladly take that. I have investments aside from this account anyway.
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Reddit
reddit.com › r/personalfinance › "what is the best savings account?" seems to get asked quite frequently so i thought i would share my experience attempting to answer this. warning: long post. spoiler: it's ally
r/personalfinance on Reddit: "What is the best savings account?" seems to get asked quite frequently so I thought I would share my experience attempting to answer this. Warning: Long post. Spoiler: It's Ally
April 7, 2014 -

I’ve had a bit too much time on my hands as of late so Ive taken to a new obsession: finding the perfect bank. My initial foray lead me to seeking out the perfect checking account. After a brief stint with Simple (you can read more here) I settled on Charles Schwab. Although Schwab is nearly perfect, I realized it was lacking in one thing: a high-yield savings account. Oh, it does have a savings account with that exact name, the Charles Schwab High Yield Investor Savings account, but the actual interest rate is somewhat laughable, a paltry 0.12%. I then focused my obsession on finding a savings account with a more acceptable interest rate. Granted, current interest rates, even on CD’s, are a pittance of what they used to be, but I became determined to make my money work for me.

I turned to nerdwallet.com, bankrate.com, and personalfinance.reddit.com to see what my options were. I quickly realized there were an abundance of choices, so I first needed to narrow down exactly what I was looking for. My ideal savings account had three requirements. First, it needed the highest interest possible (duh). Next, I didn’t want to deal with max-deposit caps, to retain maximum usability so accounts like the Barclay Dream Account (0.95% APY) were ruled out. Lastly, I didn’t want to have to work for my interest, ruling out some credit unions which offered high interest rates if there were a certain amount of deposits / withdrawals a month.

With these constraints in mind, a few front-runners became apparent: Synchrony Optimizer +, Capital One 360, and Ally. So with that, the Savings Account Throwdown began.

Synchrony Optimizer + (0.95% APY)

From my research, Optimizer Plus was the clear front runner in regards to interest, so I decided to start there. I couldn’t find anyone with any actual experience with this bank, but I couldn’t avoid the lure of the high interest rate. The signup process and first deposit was simple. Upon signing into my account for the first time, it became clear the the reason their interest rate was so high is because they skimped on everything else. The website was severely lacking, in terms of features and polish. It was the definition of bare-bones. Which is a shame, as its your only option since they don’t offer an accompanying app (so much for check deposit). But who cares about polish when your bank account can generate all that sweet cash (ok, pennies) off the high interest.

I wanted to test out making some deposits and withdrawals to see how smooth the process was, so after my account was cleared and the ACH was set up, I made my first deposit which went smoothly. The next day, I made a withdrawal and everything came screeching to a halt. I got a notification that my account was locked. So I called the support and got connected to a very friendly girl who explained that my recent change of address had raised a flag. Ill spare you the long story, but after spending hours on the phone both with her and her manager, then her colleagues and their managers (after promised call-backs never came), during a week of attempting to unlock my account (and gain access to the money I had justdeposited), it became clear that something wasn’t right with them. On my final phone call, I was told my account was finally unlocked. I made the person wait on the phone while I attempted a withdrawal which yet again which (surprise) failed. It was at that point that I realized even if I ever got access to my account again, I had lost all faith that this wouldn’t happen again. I can’t afford to go weeks without access to my savings account. I told them to cancel my account and transfer my money (which I finally received a week later).

Interest: 5/5

Customer Service: 1/5

Website: 2/5

App: What app?

Security: 3/5

Capital One 360 (0.75% APY)

After my awful experience with Synchrony, I was leery to try just any savings account so I wanted to try something that was well-known. 360 gets a lot of accolades, and Mint keeps telling me to set up an account. I asked someone to send me a referral and I was up and running. I would be lying if the $25 sign-up bonus wasn’t the main reason I joined (which will probably be way more then I will earn in interest this year anyway so Im already ahead!).

It quickly became apparent that the 360 website was lightyears ahead of Synchrony and seemed designed to work with Mint (which would explain their multitude of ads all over the site). They make it extremely easy to set up auto-transfers (what they call “automatic savings plans”) as well as goals (i.e. “save for a car”), which go nicely with accompanying Mint features. They also support (and encourage) setting up multiple accounts (up to 25) so that each goal can be segregated into its own account. Its perfect for someone trying to save money (that’s why you have a savings account, right?). If you are an ardent Mint user, its a dream. Its clear 360’s focus is on saving for the future, which leads to one minor quibble: their phone support is great and super helpful but they refer to you not by your name, but instead call you “Saver” as in “Hello, Saver, how can I help you today?” Its just….weird.

The security of the site is one thing I’m torn on. One feature I really like, and wish more sites would adopt, is the ability to create read-only access codes you can use with specific sites (cough Mint cough). What I don’t like is that they do not support passwords. Rather, whenever you login you type in your username and then click a 6-digit code into a virtual keypad. In addition to being less secure (I prefer 20-digit random passwords for all my important sites), it means logging in is really annoying and won’t work with programs like 1-Password. I would also love if they supported 2-Factor Authentication but I can’t have everything, can I?

Their iPhone app is also pretty nice. It gets the job done, although it is a bit cluttered as it has buttons all over the place for features I don’t have access to (such as checking). But it gets the job done.

One other bonus for Capital One 360 that is worth mentioning is that, unlike most other High-Yield accounts, they actually have physical branches which means when you need to actually deposit cash, you can.

All in all, 360 is great. If you use Mint, its perfect. But my thirst for the perfect savings account wasn’t quenched. Onto the next one.

Interest: 3/5

Customer Service: 4/5

Website: 3/5

App: 3/5

Security: 3/5

Ally Bank (0.87% APY)

Ally is another bank that kept popping up as a promising option so that seemed like a good place to go for my next bank. After setting up my account (which was easy, as I came to expect), the first thing I realized was that they take their security seriously. They have 3 awesome features that I really like. First, they allow long and complex passwords. Second, they offer (rather, require) 2-Factor Authentication, a feature I have been dreaming of for my bank accounts. Last, and my favorite, is that they ask you to choose a secret question and answer. Normally, banks usually have you choose a secret word they can ask to authenticate you so when you call, if you don’t say the correct word, they will lock the account. Ally takes it one step further and allows you to choose the question that will prompt your secret word. It doesn’t add any extra security but can lead to hilarious consequences. As a result, whenever I call into support now, they have to ask me: “What are you wearing?” (Eugene Mirman fans will appreciate this).

So before I have even logged in, they have me sold. Above all else, when it comes to my life-savings, Security is something I take seriously. Upon actually logging it, I was greeted with a pleasant website. They didn’t skimp on polish. The site is easy to navigate and well designed. One feature I really like is how easy they make it to reach support. On the top, they offer the current wait time to reach someone via phone (I never saw it longer then 3 minutes), as well as a button to reach chat support, which has become my favorite thing ever, since banking with Schwab, since I hate talking on the phone.

The App is equally well designed (the best designed app I have used apart from Simple) and allows you to quickly accomplish anything you would need to do, from transfers to check deposits. No excessive features here.

It seems like I might have actually found my perfect savings account. I can’t really come up with a complaint about them so far (granted I have only had them for a week). My only criticism I can come up with (and I am reaching) is that they don’t offer the Mint-oriented features like access codes that 360 offers.

Interest: 4/5

Customer Service: 5/5

Website: 5/5

App: 5/5

Security: 5/5

TLDR: Ally wins, unless you are a hardcore Mint user and don’t mind sacrificing a tiny chunk of interest in favor of convenience.

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/personalfinance › what are the best high-yield savings accounts in 2021-2022?
r/personalfinance on Reddit: What are the best high-yield savings accounts in 2021-2022?
April 27, 2020 -

Hey guys, I am an Air Force vet, 25 years old and am banking with USAA currently. I currently have a sizeable amount of stock to where I am comfortable building an emergency-fund (lol I know I should have done this first). This in mind, I want to build a full 6 months emergency fund and put it in a high-yield savings account (I haven't consulted my bank yet to see their rate).

So with this in mind, what do you guys recommend? What banks are offering the best ROI-interest rate for savings accounts? Is there another easily liquid-able way to place my money where I'd get better returns? (not index funds because I don't want to NEED my money and conveniently the market is down during that time).

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Reddit
reddit.com › r/personalfinance › best savings account 2021
r/personalfinance on Reddit: Best savings account 2021
September 2, 2021 -

Hello,

I’m looking to get an idea on the general consensus of the best high yield savings account in 2021 (Ally vs Vio vs etc?). Due to an ongoing recession etc, many banks and institutions changed terms and agreements for their high-yield savings banks lowering it extensively.

This, however, did not really affect me as I’m stupid. Currently, I have my money parked in BofA savings account with a, whopping, interest rate of .01%. I am now looking to move all my money a high yield savings bank. I will put about $40,000 initially and $550-ish bi-weekly and am also a college student for 2-3 more semesters if the options expand.

It seems like the general high-yield savings bank is from .5% to .6% . Some of the banks, at least of bankrate.com, I don’t recognize. This account would only be used for direct deposits and to pay 4 cc. I would prefer to also have a debit card, for months of more spending (I’m very frugal, live with my parents).

Will the interest rates eventually return to prepandemic rates?