10 Best High Yield Savings Accounts in 2020

Sometimes you need to park cash in a bank account for a period of time. Perhaps you are saving for a new car or to buy a new house.

Or maybe you just want to store some cash in your emergency fund so that you are prepared when the unexpected happens.

If you’re still using a big bank savings account, chances are you’re losing out on the interest you could be earning with a higher-paying account.

Below are the best savings accounts we have found with the highest yield.

Note: We have ranked these accounts by yield but in some circumstances, we factor fees or minimums into the equation.

The Top High Yield Savings Accounts

Choose a high yield savings account that fits with your lifestyle and doesn’t leave money on the table.

1. CIT Bank

What we like:

• Daily compounding interest
• $0 Maintenance fees
• Mobile app and deposit

Heads up:

• $100 minimum to open the account

CIT Bank has their Premier High Yield Savings that currently earns one of the highest interest rates in the nation. The account doesn’t have any maintenance fees and you can easily check balances and make deposits via the mobile app.

You need at least $100 as your initial opening deposit to sign up.

In addition to the Premier High Yield Savings, they offer various CDs, including Jumbo CDs and a high yield Money Market account.

CIT Bank Money Market account also earns a high interest rate and is a great way to earn even more interest on your money.

2. Synchrony Bank

What we like:

• No minimum balance
• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit
• Free ATMs that have a Plus or ACCEL logo
• Mobile app and deposit

Formerly known as GE Bank, Synchrony Bank is another bank to consider for its high-interest savings. In fact, Synchrony consistently pays one of the highest interest rates on this list.

The account is free to open and maintain, and you can easily track your deposits and see your transactions through the mobile app.

Synchrony Bank offers perks for opening an account based on your balances and length of time you’ve been a customer. The benefits are based on a tiered status, similar to credit card rewards, and starts from Basic to Diamond.

Here are the tiers:

• Basic: Less than $10,000
• Silver: $10,000-$49,999.99
• Gold: $50,000-$99,999.99
• Platinum: $100,000-$249,999.99
• Diamond: $250,000+

Depending on which status tier you’re in, benefits include:

• Complimentary identity theft resolution services
• Discounts for travel
• Receive up to three free wire transfers per statement cycle

The Synchrony Bank website is very easy to navigate and features a handy savings calculator that will give you an idea of how much you can save.

3. Barclays Online Savings

What we like:

• APY among the highest in the nation
• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit to open

British-based international bank Barclays also has an online savings account that has a high APY, no minimum balances to open and zero fees to maintain it each month.

When you visit the Barclay Online Savings website, you can take advantage of a free resource called Savings Assistant. This tool helps you calculate how much you’d like to save based on a particular goal, how much you can contribute each month, and how much that savings goal costs.

I tested it out and put in “retirement” as the goal, with $1,000,000 as the cost and a monthly contribution of $2,000. When I hit “calculate,” it said I’d need to save for 29 years and 10 months to reach a million. (Obviously, there are way better options to save for your retirement, outside of only having a savings account!)

If you want to trust the name of a big bank like Barclays but want a competitive rate for savings, this is a great choice.

4. Marcus by Goldman Sachs

What we like:

• 7-day a week customer service center
• $0 Maintenance fees
• Named Best Standalone account for savings by Money Magazine

Investment banking company Goldman Sachs joins this list for a solid online savings account called Marcus savings account, and has no fees and requires a minimum deposit of $0 to open.

They have a simple savings calculator on their website that shows you how much interest you’d earn with them vs a big bank.

For example, I put $10,000 with a recurring deposit of $100 on a weekly basis. In five years, I would make $1,761, instead of the national average (another name for big banks), which would yield $334. That’s a difference of $1,427.

5. American Express® Personal Savings

What we like:

• High APY
• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit

American Express® Personal Savings High Yield Savings Account earns one of the highest online bank interest rates and has no monthly fees and no minimums. They offer convenience and flexibility by allowing you to easily link your existing checking accounts seamlessly and allow you to link up to three accounts.

Similar to Discover’s site, American Express has a very thorough website that covers a ton of questions and details, like what to expect when linking your external accounts to your American Express® High Yield Savings Account.

However, they don’t readily list any fees that are associated with the account on their website, as Discover does.

Their customer service is offered 24 hours a day, 7 days a week.

6. Capital One®

What we like:

• No minimum balance
• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit to open
• Great for tracking goals (digital tools, apps)

Heads up:

• Outgoing domestic wire transfer fee: $30
• A statement copy charge of $5 per statement may be charged for statements generated within the last 2 years

Capital One® 360 has a savings account that earns a highly competitive interest rate on all balances and doesn’t charge a maintenance fee or balance requirement to keep the account open. You can open up to 25 accounts between the savings account and their Money Market account.

This means you can easily set up your savings subaccounts based on your goals.

For example, you may have three savings-based goals, including a holiday fund, vacation, fund and emergency fund and automatically deposit money into all three each month automatically from your checking account.

Capital One® 360 also has locations in many large cities that are a hybrid of a bank, cafe, and workspace. You can go there and learn more about their products and services, get a cup of coffee and hang out.

7. CIBC Agility

What we like:

• High APY
• $0 Maintenance fees

Heads up:

• Minimum opening deposit/balance $1,000
• No ATM availability

While CIBC Bank’s APY on their savings only applies to their minimum balance of $1,000, they still have a lot of competitive features.

The interest rate is in line with other online banks mentioned here.

They’ve also got some great checking account options, including an HSA checking account.

8. Discover Bank

What we like:

• No minimum balance
• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit to open
• Mobile app and deposit

Heads up:

• Excessive withdrawal fee: $15 (you’ll get charged if you take money out of your account more than six times a month)
• Wire transfer fee: $30

Like many of its credit card products that have great rewards and perks, Discover Bank offers a robust savings account that easily keeps up with the competition.

Their savings account has an APY that’s in line with the other high-yield savings accounts mentioned here, with no minimums to open and no monthly fees.

In my opinion, Discover stands out and is worth considering because of their easy-to-use, information-packed website that tells you right on the homepage what fees are involved with opening an account.

They also have a savings account guide that gives you an overview of what to expect if you open an account with them.

9. Ally Online Savings

What we like:

• $0 Maintenance fees
• $0 Minimum deposit
• Free ATMs at Allpoint®, plus get up to $10 reimbursements per statement for non-Allpoint® ATMs
• Mobile app and deposit

Heads up:

• Excessive withdrawal fee: $10
• Outgoing wire transfer fee: $15

I’m impartial to Ally Bank because I have an online savings account with them. Their APY is competitive with the other banks on this list, and I think Ally Bank has a lot to offer, including really competent customer service agents and a simple, user-friendly website.

Make deposits via electronic transfer, mobile check deposit, direct deposit, or mail. You can also link up to 20 external accounts to your savings account.

Ally has solid customer reviews and has many bells and whistles, such as being able to connect Alexa to your account so you can easily ask what your balance is in your savings and other accounts, such as checking or money market.

10. Alliant Credit Union

What we like:

• Competitive interest rate
• $5 account minimum to open but they reimburse you
• 80K+ ATMs in-network

Heads up:

• Interest rate is for balances of over $100
• No maintenance fees if you choose e-statements
• Paper statement fee: $1 per statement
• Domestic wire transfer fee: $25

Alliant Credit Union has its High-Rate Savings that gives you an attractive return on your money, although their current rate is lower than most of the other banks listed here.

In order to avoid monthly fees, you need to select eStatements, and you can make deposits and withdrawals at thousands of ATMs nationwide, which is convenient when you need to make a cash deposit.

You can open up to 19 supplemental accounts to set your savings goals and the initial deposit is $5, but you get it back from them.

They were also given awards for the best savings account from NerdWallet and Wallethub, with plenty of positive reviews from customers too.

Summary

As you can see from the list, many of the savings accounts offered by the most competitive banks are similar in APY, have no fees and even provide you with calculators to determine how much you need to meet your goals.

Is a reputable name brand important to you? If so, you might want to go with Barclays, American Express or Discover. But, if you want stellar customer service that’s U.S.-based, try Ally Bank.

What’s the most important thing to you when it comes to a savings account? Leave a comment and let us know.