If You're Not Earning Two Percent Interest on Your Savings, You're Doing It Wrong

The stock market has been in a slump since October, but if you’ve been socking money away for a rainy day in an old-fashioned savings account, some good news has quietly bubbled up while you were busy freaking out about your pot stocks.

As the Federal Reserve stands poised to raise its benchmark interest rate in December, now is actually a good time to have money stashed away in a savings account. “Savers can—and should—be earning returns that are competitive with inflation. With interest rates on the rise, top-yielding savings accounts and money markets earn 2.25 percent,” said Bankrate chief financial analyst Greg McBride.

Two percent interest may not seem like much, but if you have even $1,000 in savings, that works out to an extra $20 a year. That’s more than enough for a round of beers for you and a friend—or maybe even two rounds if you find a good happy hour deal. If you’re of the mindset that every bit counts, as we are here at FREE, then it’s worth moving your money out of a savings account earning rock bottom rates and into one that is at least keeping pace with the current inflation rate.

To help you figure out where to put your hard-earned cash, we found 11 banks with at least a two percent annual percentage yield on savings accounts as of Monday, Nov. 19. We only included banks that require $1,000 or less to open an account. Many have no minimum deposit requirement at all. (For a list of credit unions with high savings rates, see our earlier story on them.)

It’s still wise to keep an eye on sneaky fees. Some banks charge you a monthly fee if your balance falls below a certain amount or if you make more than six transactions a month. What’s more, while rates are rising now, that doesn’t mean they’ll be this high forever. Banks are not above promoting high teaser rates to get new customers then quietly lowering rates a few months later. But as long as the Fed keeps raising its benchmark lending rate, as expected in December, higher interest rates for savings accounts should be in the cards for the foreseeable future too.

All banks listed below have a minimum deposit of $1,000 or less:

Ally Bank
2% annual percentage yield with no minimum deposit

American Express National Bank
2% annual percentage yield with no minimum deposit

CIBC Bank USA
2.16% annual percentage yield with a $1,000 minimum deposit to their Agility Savings Account

CIT Bank
2.15% annual percentage yield with a $100 monthly deposit

HSBC Direct Savings
2.01% annual percentage yield with $1 minimum to open account

Live Oak Bank
2% annual percentage yield with no minimum to open account

Marcus by Goldman Sachs
2.05% annual percentage yield with $1 minimum balance

MySavingsDirect
2.35% annual percentage yield with no minimum deposit

Salem Five Direct
2.05% annual percentage yield with $100 minimum to open account

Synchrony Bank
2.05% annual percentage yield with no minimum deposit to open account

Vio Bank
2.27% annual percentage yield with $100 minimum to open account