NerdWallet’s Top 10 High Yield Savings Accounts for the Digital Age

The rumors are true: savings account interest rates are at an all-time low. Just looking at big bank accounts, you might well think that your best course is the tried-and-true mattress method. The numbers would bear you out: the national average is below 0.10%. But don’t give up on high-yield savings accounts just yet. You can earn up to 10 times the national average just by looking online.

If you bank online, you give up the ability to physically walk into a bank branch and talk to someone. But you can easily manage your account online, or speak with a customer service rep by phone or chat. You needn’t be Mark Zuckerberg to maintain an online account.

Read on for our list of the highest-grossing online savings accounts. Looking for an account with a brick-and-mortar bank instead? Check out our tool to find a high yield savings account closer to home.

Ally Bank | Online Savings
	No minimum deposit, no monthly fees Scan and submit your deposit with Ally eCheck Deposit
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.84%

Besides being a pretty shade of purple, Ally’s online banking system has some of the best perks in the business. In addition to sending checks by mail, you can scan and upload them yourself with Ally eCheck Deposit, or just take a picture with your smartphone and deposit the check via Ally’s mobile app. Ally also lets you link to an unlimited number of external bank accounts, just in case you happen to have, like, ten. No judgments here.

American Express | High-Yield Savings Account
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.85%

The personal savings products at American Express come with a nice, clean website that’s easy to navigate, plus you can open an account with as little as one dollar. If you already have an American Express card, they may even be able to expedite your application process for your new savings account.

Bank of Internet USA | High Yield Savings
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee Deposit checks instantly from the comfort of your home or office
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.61%

If you hate entrusting your checks to snail mail, Bank of Internet is a great option. Like Ally, Bank of Internet allows customers to deposit checks to their savings account via home or office.

Barclays | Online Savings
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee Deposit checks either through the mail or remote deposit capture from your home PC or mobile phone
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.90%

The British banking giant, Barclays, launched an online bank for U.S. customers in May 2012. Their savings account rate is currently one of the best in the nation. There’s no minimum balance requirement or monthly fee, although they reserve the right to close your account if you have less than a $1 in there in excess of 180 days. You can make deposits via online transfer, snail mail or remote deposit capture using your smartphone or computer. It’s also worth noting that their overdraft fee is fairly reasonable at $5 per item, although we hope you never have to learn from experience.

Capital One 360 | 360 Savings
	No minimum balance, no monthly fees Use a mobile app or computer to deposit checks from anywhere with CheckMate
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.75%

ING Direct, famous for having one of the first online high-yield savings accounts in the nation, is now a part of the Capital One family. You can expect the same level of service and low fees that ING Direct proudly featured. Although they no longer have the highest rate, the savings account still has nifty perks. Our favorite? You can split your account into multiple sub-accounts, give them names like “Christmas Fund”, and transfer money to them automatically. This is perfect for the highly organized super saver.

CIT Bank | CIT Savings
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee Balances over $25,000 earn a higher rate of interest Open as a Custodial Account to save money in a child's name - portions of the contributions are tax-free
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.90%

CIT’s savings account offers a tiered interest rate structure, so while their regular yield is already competitive, you can boost your interest earnings even more if you can maintain $25,000 in the  account. At that level you’ll earn a whopping 1.00% interest.

Discover | Online Savings Account
	No minimum balance, no monthly fees Manage your account online or via mobile app
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.80%

Discover makes it easy to manage your savings account and Discover card online. You can access both from the same mobile app, too. We also appreciate the ease with which you can set up automatic money transfers from non-Discover accounts.

EmigrantDirect | American Dream Savings Account
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.50%

As the online presence for Emigrant Bank, EmigrantDirect embodies a patriotic spirit with their American Dream Savings Account. Anyone can easily join online to start earning competitive yields on their savings, free of minimum balances or monthly fees.

FNBO Direct | Online Savings
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee Send and receive money using your FNBO Direct accounts with Popmoney
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.85%

An FNBO Direct savings account is as simple as they come – no minimum balance or monthly fee, and just $1 will open a new account. Plus, you can use Popmoney to send payments to friends or family members.

Sallie Mae | High-Yield Savings Account
	No minimum balance, no monthly fee 10% annual match on Upromise earnings
Monthly Fee	Minimum Balance	APY
$0.00	N/A	0.85%

The Sallie Mae savings account already has one of the top rates in the nation, but it gives you an even better value if you’re saving for college. If you have a Sallie Mae Upromiseaccount, which is a cash back education rewards program, you can link it to your savings account to be eligible for a 10% match on your earnings. Sweet!

Why bank online?

Online banks save a ton of money on personnel and maintenance costs because they have no physical branches. The result is more money for you. Better yet, online savings accounts are surprising easy to maintain. You have to manage your account online, but you can access your money 24/7 and transfer it between accounts anytime. You can’t talk to a representative in person, but they’re always available online or over the phone. And, if you need to withdraw money or deposit checks, you can always do that via mail, usually for free. By federal law, you’re limited to six withdrawals a month with any savings account, online or otherwise, so you won’t need to worry about that much. Thus, if you’re tech-savvy, an online savings account is incredibly convenient.

Should you open a savings account?

A savings account is a good place to set aside money you might need to access quickly, but ideally would like to save. A savings account is great for building an emergency fund, for example, or setting aside money for a large purchase or vacation. At many banks, you can link your checking account to a savings account to make easy transfers, or transfer money automatically from one account to the other, but that doesn’t mean you’ll get a good interest rate. It pays to shop around.

Traditional wisdom holds that if you’re hoping to earn the maximum amount of interest on your savings, you’ll be happier with a CD or money market account, which require that you leave your investment alone for a set amount of time, often several years or more, to get the best rate. In normal times, both of these accounts give higher interest rates than savings accounts. But now, interest rates are so low that many CD’s don’t clear the 1% APY mark. Since CD rates are so low, why lock yourself in?