[Update May 2022: Following the FED’s rate hike on May 4, Bask Bank upped the APY on their high yield savings account yet again to the current 1.25%. This is up from 0.80% APY prior to the FED meeting. See more below.]
With so many online savings accounts to choose from, it can be difficult to decide where to park your cash.
Fortunately, Bask Bank has two noteworthy online savings accounts for consumers to choose from. These are:
- Interest Savings Account
- Mileage Savings Account
The Interest Savings Account is Bask Bank’s newer product and comes with a very competitive yield. As of May 2022, it has an APY of 1.25%. It also comes with zero minimum balance requirements and has no monthly maintenance fees.
If you’d prefer to have your interest paid in miles rather than dollars then you can opt for the Mileage Savings Account.
The account pays AAdvantage miles instead of interest, giving you one mile for every dollar you deposit in a year, plus any bonus you manage to snag (Bask currently offers three).
Bask Bank is an online-only institution, launched in January of 2020, that has a lot to offer for frequent flying individuals on American Airlines and savers looking for a competitive yield.
In this post you'll learn:
Interest Savings Account
Bask Bank introduced their interest savings account on February 9, 2022. The account is FDIC-insured through their parent company – Texas Capital Bank.
The account has no monthly balance requirements to earn the advertised APY and comes with zero monthly maintenance fees.
The rate is variable and can change at any time without notice.
Bask Bank Interest Savings Account
| Min Balance | APY |
| $0 | 1.25% |
To put this yield into perspective, the current national average for a savings account sits at just 0.06% APY, according to recent FDIC data.
This APY puts Bask Bank’s Interest Savings Account among the best high yielding savings accounts on the market currently.
Mileage Savings Account
With Bask Bank’s Mileage Savings Account you earn American Airlines miles (or AAdvantage Miles) rather than interest – to the tune of 1 mile for $1 deposited.
Normally, frequent flyer miles are awarded on the spending side rather than savings. Customers are used to racking up miles when making certain purchases or booking flights with their credit card, but this account turns that model upside down.
With Bask Bank, the more money you save, the more miles you earn—no strings attached. It’ll keep your AAdvantage account active with a steady trickle of miles, plus you can earn unlimited miles and never have to worry about spending on a particular travel card or making purchases you don’t want through an online portal.
Keep in mind that like any other savings account, the rate of miles earned per dollar is variable and therefore subject to change at any time without notice. Miles are given based on your average monthly balance per month.
How Are Miles Calculated and Deposited
According to NerdWallet, a single American Airlines mile comes out to a value of about $0.01. This means that for every $100 you save, you will nab $1.00 worth in American Airlines Miles at the end of the year.
Miles are earned every day that your account is active with funds in it. Miles are deposited directly into your AAdvantage account monthly.
If you’re a member of the American Airlines loyalty program but aren’t yet familiar with it, AAdvantage miles can be used on many different expenses. From upgraded flights to merchandise, they can be used to pay for just about anything related to travel through American Airlines.
American Airlines also partners with hotels and rental car agencies, and frequent flyer miles can be put toward these expenses as well. Redeem miles at any time—they’ll expire after 18 months of inactivity, but this expiration period resets every time Bask makes another deposit into your AAdvantage account, so you probably won’t need to worry about this.
How to Set Up a Mileage Savings Account
To open an account with Bask Bank, you’ll first need to be a part of the American Airlines frequent-flyer program. If you are not, this account will be of little use to you.
Assuming you are a member and you want to earn points via saving rather than spending, then click on the orange “open an account” button in the upper right on the Bask Bank website.
From here it will be a 4 step process that finalizes with transferring funds to the account.
The whole thing can be completed in minutes. The steps are as follows;
- Get started. You’ll need an email address and mobile number.
- Submit application. Here you’ll need things like your name, social security number, birthday and address.
- Create Login. Simple login creation (username and password).
- Transfer Funds. There’s no minimum deposit requirement or ongoing monthly balance requirement, but there are bonuses associated with deposits. We discuss this further down.
Bask Bank Customer Support and Consumer Sentiment
The Bask Bank website is clean and simple and about as easy-to-use as it gets. Customers leave high marks on review sites for the ease of use of its online interface.
The negative remarks generally revolve around the miles that are rewarded. Many customers point out the fact that this account – for all intents and purposes – is just a 1.0% APY savings account. However, if you’re able to cash in on any of the three bonus offers (and depending on your deposit size) you can still beat that 1.0% APY mark.
If you struggle to set up or service your account, you can contact customer service at (833) 260-4320 or customersupport@baskbank.com.
The phones are open Monday through Friday from 7:00 AM to 10:00 PM and Saturday from 8:00 AM to 5:00 PM Central Standard Time.
Because Bask Bank does not have any physical branches, you will need to open your account and manage your finances online or through the mobile app. This can be downloaded through the App Store or through Google Play.
About Bask Bank
Bask Bank is a division of Texas Capital Bank (member FDIC) which has been around since 1999 and has been a long-standing partner of American Airlines.
Texas Capital Bank was also a pioneer in digital banking back in the late 1990’s. To create Bask Bank, they leveraged both their digital banking expertise and their strong partnership with American Airlines.
Final Thoughts
If you’re a long standing American Airlines traveler, in need of a savings account and dissatisfied with the current interest rate environment, then a Bask Bank account could be right for you.
Just remember, you’ll probably need to be eligible for at least one of the three bonus offers to make this account compete with some of the top APYs out there through traditional online savings accounts.
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