Interest rate hikes over the past few years have been a saver’s delight, but your return can vary based on where you park your savings.
Your best bet for snagging the highest rate is an online-only personal savings account, which even beat the average rate on a one-year Certificate of Deposit (CD), according to the Banking Landscape report released Thursday by finance site WalletHub. That study analyzed nearly 2,700 deposit accounts.
And if you need regular access to your money, rates at credit union checking accounts are 65 times higher than those at regional banks, and they charge lower fees.
Credit unions can offer higher rates because of “their small, local, and nonprofit nature, which results in lower overhead costs,” said Alina Comoreanu, WalletHub senior researcher.
Here are more banking trends and tidbits to help you get the most out of your cash:
Learn more: Best current CD rates
Where are the highest savings interest rates?
Online savings accounts continue to beat their brick-and-mortar counterparts by a wide margin. Their rates are 4.9 times higher than their branch-based counterparts and 3.7 times more than traditional checking accounts, WalletHub said.
A few banks recently lowered their online rates. But with the Fed remaining in higher-for-longer mode on interest rates, most online banks should keep their online savings and money market rates steady, said Ken Tumin in his Bank Deals Blog earlier this month.
After three consecutive months of hotter-than-expected inflation, economists lowered their forecasts for rate cuts this year to between zero and three from as many as seven at the start of the year.
“A run-of-the-mill online savings account,” yielding 3.84% annually is roughly 24% more than the average 1-year CD of 3.09% annual percentage yield (APY), WalletHub said.
Magic number:The amount of money Americans think they need to retire comfortably hits record high: study
Where are the best checking accounts?
Credit unions have the lowest fees, highest rates and most features, WalletHub said.
On average, they’re 47% cheaper than checking accounts from small banks and 75% less expensive than those from national banks, it said. They also have roughly 1.6 times more features and their rates are 8.1 times higher, on average.
“Credit union members are also shareholders, which means that profits are returned to members in the form of better rates and lower fees,” Comoreanu said. “This is in contrast to banks, which aim to generate profits for their stockholders.”
To save money, consider electronic statements wherever you bank. The cost of receiving a paper statement grew by 8.95% over the past year, WalletHub said.
Where are the highest CD rates?
Again, credit unions win across all maturities, from three months to five years, WalletHub said. National institutions were the lowest across the spectrum.
Regional banks were second with the best rates in shorter maturities (three months to one year), but community banks ranked second for two-, three- and five-year CDs.
Specialty checking accounts
They’re 87% more expensive than branch-based personal checking accounts and 5.6 times more expensive than online-only personal checking accounts, the report said. Their interest rates are generally 66% lower than personal accounts and have 68% fewer features than online-based personal accounts.
“Small business owners who aren’t looking for business-specific features should gravitate to personal banking options whenever possible – much like with credit cards,” WalletHub said.
- Student checking accounts have the lowest fees, making them 73% less expensive than their general-consumer counterparts. “But lower fees come at a cost,” WalletHub said. Interest rates offered to students are 84% lower than those for the general population.
Medora Lee is a money, markets, and personal finance reporter at USA TODAY. You can reach her at [email protected] and subscribe to our free Daily Money newsletter for personal finance tips and business news every Monday through Friday.
