The Capital One 360 Performance Savings Account offers a competitive 4.35% APY (annual percentage yield), while not charging maintenance fees or requiring a minimum account balance. The benefit of high-yield savings accounts, such as this one by Capital One, is that savers can earn much higher yields than on a typical savings account while still having access to the cash should you need it in a pinch.
Annual percentage yields (APYs) and account details are accurate as of January 4, 2024.
Capital One 360 performance savings account interest rates
Capital One offers a flat 4.35% APY on all the cash in a 360 Performance Savings Account. You don’t need to maintain a set balance before you can earn the maximum interest rate. While this isn’t unusual, some competitors have different tiers, requiring you to maintain minimums to earn various rates.
Overview of Capital One 360 performance savings account
You don’t need a minimum deposit to open or keep this type of account at Capital One. There aren’t any monthly maintenance fees to budget for and very few fees overall that could drag your savings down. Fees that could apply include:
- Outgoing domestic wire transfer: $30
- Cashier’s check: $10
Because this is a savings account, not a checking account, there are some limits, such as no overdrafts and a limit on monthly transaction limits. The interest your account earns will always begin on the business day after you make a deposit for non-cash transfers, whereas cash deposits start on the day of deposit.
Learn more:Best no-fee savings accounts.
How much can you earn?
The longer you keep your money in a savings account, the more it can grow thanks to the power of compound interest. Capital One’s APY compounds, and is credited, monthly. Exactly how much you can earn will depend on the deposit size and how long you keep it there.
Here’s an example of different deposit amounts earning 4.35% APY over a few years.
In real life, both the interest your money earns, and the amount you have in the account, will likely change over time. But the idea is that more money and more time equals lots more interest earned. Even if you have only a small amount of money to save, you can still put your money to work for you.
How Capital One compares
The national average deposit rate is 0.46% as of December 2023, which makes Capital One’s 4.35% pretty enticing. Yet this doesn’t mean that Capital One is necessarily offering the best interest rate available. Typically, the rates Capital One offers in its high-yield accounts are competitive but not the highest.
Here are a few financial institutions offering higher savings rates.
Nevertheless, Capital One banking customers may choose to forgo higher rates at other banks. One rationale: you want your checking account and savings account to be linked.
How do you open a Capital One 360 performance savings account?
You can use your phone, tablet or computer to open any Capital One 360 account. Whether you’re already a Capital One customer or not, you can use the app or the Capital One website to apply in as little as five minutes.
You’ll need two forms of identification, like your driver’s license, passport, Social Security card or birth certificate, plus proof of residence (which could be your driver’s license if the address on it is where you live now).
Other savings options at Capital One
If you want to stick with Capital One but have a higher earning rate or more flexibility, here are some options that could help you ‘have your cake and eat it too.’
Capital One 360 certificate of deposit (CD) — You earn a guaranteed amount of interest on a deposit over a set amount of time, as long as you don’t pull money out early. Capital One 360 CD rates start at 4.35% for 6-month terms, and go as high as 5.25%, with no minimum deposit requirement. If you want to compare, here are the best CD rates.
Capital One 360 money market account — Earn 0.80% APY while making unlimited transfers and withdrawals. There are no monthly fees and no minimum balance requirement.
Capital One’s Kids savings account — Start your child learning about deposits with this joint account, which has a 2.50% variable APY and no fees or account minimums.
About Capital One
Founded more than 25 years ago, Capital One is now the tenth largest bank in the U.S. by assets, which is impressive given that it doesn’t offer residential mortgages. It does offer a wide range of financial products, from credit cards and auto loans to checking and savings accounts.
Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs)
Interest rates on savings accounts have been low for more than a decade because the Federal Reserve slashed rates to help the economy grow out of the Great Recession. Rates recently have picked up as the Fed tried to quash inflation, but banks are slow to pass those gains onto consumers. “Banks are not incentivized to reallocate the yield they can currently earn on your savings back to you,” said Rubin Miller, chief investment officer at Perspective Wealth Partners.
Savings accounts are best used to park money that you’re likely to use within a couple of years. They’re great for major periodic expenses like vacations and holiday gift giving, as well as having a rainy day fund for things like car repairs. But they’re not going to make you rich.
“Savings accounts are not wealth-building accounts,” said Todd Christensen, education manager at Debt Reduction Services.“Wealth-building is best done with investment securities and real estate,” said Christensen.
There are many different savings accounts that consumers can choose from. To make your search easier, Miller recommends keeping an eye on interest rates. “If you are going to keep excess cash there, you want to choose a reputable, low-friction bank with a high yield savings rate,” Rubin noted, “That should be 3% or more currently.”
