Online Savings Accounts

SmartyPig Savings Account – Up to 2.25% APY

Lauren Graves
September 28, 2022

[📌 Update September 2022: Despite being a rate leader when rates were low last year and in early 2022, the SmartyPig savings account by Sallie Mae hasn’t been able to raise their rates quickly enough to keep up with many of the top yielding, FDIC-insured online savings accounts on the market today. See rates below.]

Sallie Mae might be known best for its private student loan operation, but did you know they also sell competitive deposit products – and have been since 2005?

Sallie Mae Bank was named a top bank of 2020 by GOBankingRates for its rewarding and accessible savings accounts. Sallie Mae deposit products — which include savings accounts, money market accounts, and CDs — have fairly high interest rates without any of the tedious restrictions or fees associated with many banks.

Among Sallie Mae’s suite of FDIC-insured deposit products, the SmartyPig savings account is a particularly popular choice.

The SmartyPig savings account has unique set of tools and generous APY (annual percentage yield) that benefit savers who fit one of the following profiles:

new savers,
individuals that need to get into the habit of regularly saving,
people with financial goals that could use some help with organization and/or motivation,
people who want to earn a competitive interest rate.

If you’re considering the SmartyPig Savings Account, you’ll want to read our comprehensive review of their product, its tool set, the current rates and potential bonus offers.

SmartyPig Interest Rates + Account Details

The interest earned from your SmartyPig account compounds daily and credits monthly. Your funds are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per individual or $500,000 per joint account. See the table below for current rate tiers.

SmartyPig Savings Rates

Balance	APY
$0.01 – $2,500	2.25%
$2,500.01 – $10k	2.25%
$10,000.01 – $50k	2.15%
$50,000.01 +	2.10%

APY = annual percentage yield

To give the yields above some perspective, the national average for:

a savings account sits at just 0.17% APY,
a money market account sits at 0.18% APY
and an interest checking account sits at a paltry 0.04% APY, according to FDIC data.

That said, following the FED third consecutive rate hike of 0.75% this summer on September 21st, some of the top yielding online savings accounts and money market accounts are now approaching the 3.0% APY mark.

The account comes with no minimum opening deposit requirement or minimum balance requirements. Plus, you’ll never be charged monthly maintenance or low balance fees.

There are also zero penalties for failing to meet a savings goal by the target date you’ve set. If this happens, just log-in to your account and change the target date. You may also transfer the sum to a different goal.

Once a goal has been reached, automatic transfers put toward that goal will be halted, but you will still earn the advertised rate on your sum.

Account transactions may not exceed 6 per statement cycle, per federal regulation D. Excessive withdrawals will not be permitted, but you will not be charged for attempting them. Just avoid them so that your account is not closed.

Account balances may not exceed $250,000 unless direct deposits over this maximum are automatically made, in which case greater balances will be accepted.

What is SmartyPig

SmartyPig is a free online, high-yield savings account available through Sallie Mae Bank.

It is FDIC-insured up to the federally allowed limit of $250,000 and available to any U.S. citizen over the age of 18 with a social security number and an external account that can fund it (more details on eligibility requirements below).

Advertised as an online “piggy bank,” this nontraditional savings account is intended to help you save for various achievable financial goals. It does this by giving you a user-friendly platform through which you can organize your goals and track your progress. The key features of this account that enable your savings to build are:

Automatic transfers. Once you’ve set up a new savings goal, say for a downpayment to a car, you then set up automatic transfers from your external checking account that slowly seed this initiative.
Fantastic APY. The money that gets auto-transferred to fund your goal earns a phenomenal APY that sits well above the current national average for a savings account.

The philosophy behind this account is that concrete goals are easier to save for than saving just for the sake of saving, which can feel daunting and at times unrewarding.

How to Open a SmartyPig Account

Opening a SmartyPig savings account is simple and painless.

Just visit the SmartyPig website (note this is a separate domain and not the Sallie Mae website) and click “Start Saving” in red on the home screen.

From there, go through the 4-step registration process that will ask you for your personal information, social security number, and driver’s license number.

As soon as your account is ready to go and your chosen external account is linked, you can fund it with as little as a penny to begin earning interest and creating savings goals.

Schedule monthly or biweekly recurring contributions from your external account into whichever goal(s) you choose.

Almost anyone qualifies for a SmartyPig account. You just need to be at least 18 years old and have an external checking or savings account that you can use to fund your Savings Goals. You also need to be a U.S. citizen, resident with a social security number, or permanent U.S. resident alien with a green card or social security number to open an account.

If you have issues setting up or servicing your account, call customer service at (811) 751-6884 during their business hours of 8 AM to 8 PM Eastern Time Monday through Friday or send a secure message through the Message Center (if you already have an account).

Setting Up SmartyPig Savings Goals

What makes the SmartyPig account unique is the savings goal feature. A simple interface that allows you to set up specific goals and then fund them in an ongoing and manageable way.

These goals are flexible and can be tweaked or canceled at any time, and money can be moved between goals as you please. The balance of your entire account will earn interest regardless of your progress toward goals or how many goals you have set up.

Each distinct savings goal must be for at least $50 but not greater than $250,000. Recurring contributions, which may be monthly or biweekly, need to be equal to at least $10 but not greater than $50,000. You need to link 1 and only 1 external funding source, either a checking or savings account, to fund this account. This account is not a bank but a savings vehicle that earns interest and is not meant to replace a savings or checking account.

SmartyPig Bonus Offers

SmartyPig Savings Accounts have a few other perks built in that many savings accounts do not, including opportunities for referral bonuses and a bonus redemption program through Amazon. Refer a friend to SmartyPig and earn a reward of $10 once they successfully open and fund a new savings account.

SmartyPig is partnered with Amazon, which makes it possible for you to order Amazon gift cards valued anywhere from $5 to $500 using SmartyPig funds. This isn’t an exceptional offer but it would allow you to save some time if an item you’re putting money towards is available for purchase through Amazon.com. This would simply allow you to buy it instantly once your goal is reached rather than having to wait for a transfer to your external funding account to post.

Citi Accelerate Savings – Now 2.20% APY!

Lauren Graves
September 27, 2022

[📌 Update September 2022: Citibank increased the APY (annual percentage yield) on their Accelerate Savings account again this month – this time only by 0.20% APY. This is the first rate hike of August for the Accelerate account. It now provides a yield of 2.20% APY (up from 2.00% APY to start the month). The account comes with a minimum balance requirement of just $1, however you may need to meet some requirements to avoid a monthly fee. Read more below.]

Citibank, the retail banking division of Citigroup, kept their high yield “Accelerate Savings” account competitive during the low rate environment we had for the last few years. It held the line at 0.50% APY for roughly 2 years while the national average was just ~0.06% APY for a savings account and ~0.11% APY for a money market account for the majority of that period.

Today, in a rising interest rate environment, they have struggled to maintain their rate leadership as other online savings accounts have caught up and surpassed them. See where they stand among the top online savings accounts today.

Related: Citibank’s CD rates, while currently lower than what you can find with online banks, have the highest yields of all the big banks (Wells Fargo, Chase, Bank of America and US Bank).

Citi Accelerate Saving Account Rate + Details

Prior to setting up your Citi Accelerate Savings Account you’ll need to first open one of Citibank’s 6 banking packages and meet some monthly requirements to avoid fees. Keep in mind there may be fees on both the checking side AND the Citi Accelerate Savings side if criteria isn’t met.

Below are the 6 packages to choose from. All come with the Citi Accelerate Savings Account:

Citigold – For high net worth clients. In order to have a Citigold Account Package, you must have at least $200,000 across eligible linked deposit, retirement and investment accounts. There are no monthly service fees for Citigold clients on the checking or Accelerate Savings side.
Citi Priority – Also tailored to higher net worth individuals or joint account holders. Package includes a regular or interest checking account and Citi Accelerate Savings Account upon opening. Must maintain a combined average monthly balance of $50,000+ in eligible linked deposit, retirement and investment accounts to avoid a $30 monthly service fee.
The Citibank Account – Package includes a standalone Citi Accelerate Savings Account upon opening. Link to a regular or interest checking account and maintain required balances to help avoid monthly service fees. Must maintain a combined average monthly balance of $10,000+ in eligible linked deposit, retirement and investment accounts to avoid a $25 monthly service fee.
Citi Elevate Account – Package includes an interest checking account and Citi Accelerate Savings Account upon opening. To avoid a $15 fee on the checking side, you’ll need to keep a monthly balance of at least $5,000. If your Citi Accelerate account is not linked to your checking account you’ll need to maintain a $500 average balance in it to avoid a $4.50 monthly fee.
Basic Banking/Access Account – Package includes a standalone Citi Accelerate Savings Account upon opening. To avoid a $12 monthly service fee, you must either make one qualifying direct deposit AND one qualifying bill payment per statement period OR maintain a combined monthly average of $1,500 in linked accounts. As with the Elevate Account, if your Citi Accelerate account is not linked to your checking account you’ll need to maintain a $500 average balance in it to avoid a $4.50 monthly fee.

Who’s eligible for the Citi Accelerate Savings Account?

The Citi Accelerate Savings account is only available in select markets, however this market has expanded since Citi launched the account. As of September 2022, residents in all states except New York and select markets in Florida and Illinois are eligible.

Citi Accelerate Saving Rate

Account Package	APY
Citigold Private Client	2.20%
Citigold	2.20%
Citi Priority	2.20%
The Citibank Account	2.20%
Citi Elevate Account	2.20%
Basic Banking	2.20%
Access Account	2.20%

To put the 2.20% APY yield into perspective, the current national average for a money market account and a savings account sit at just 0.18% APY and 0.17% APY, respectively, according to recent FDIC data.

That said, some of the highest yielding variable-rate accounts from FDIC-insured online banks and nationally available credit unions are now topping 2.75% APY.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Interest is compounded daily and paid to your account monthly.

Accessing Your Money

Citi customers have free access to more than 65,000 ATMs as well as 723 branches here in the United States alone. There are also plenty of online options to access and manage your money.

Citibank has taken pride in building industry-leading digital banking products and tools. In 2018 Citibank was named (again) as the “World’s Best Digital Bank” by Global Finance.

Once you have your username and password, you can login anytime, anywhere to your account here.

You can also download their native app(s) on IOS or the Google Play Store.

The app has over 2.9 million user reviews on IOS and holds a 4.9 star rating out of 5.

The app has over 848,000 user reviews on Google Play and holds a 4.7 star rating out of 5.

Depositing Funds

There are a number of ways to deposit funds into your Citi Accelerate Savings account. These include:

ATM deposit
Direct Deposit
Check by Mail
Electronic bank transfer
Local Citi branch
Mobile Deposit
Wire transfer

Funds from Citi savings account deposits are typically available immediately if made before cutoff times around 6-7pm EST. Any deposit made after this time is generally available the next business day.

Withdrawing Funds

Cash withdrawals can be made in the same way you make deposits. These include:

ATM withdrawal
Local Citi branch
Electronic bank transfer
Wire transfer

Keep an eye on your account minimum requirements before withdrawing funds to avoid the aforementioned fees.

Barclays Online Savings Account – Now 2.00% APY!

Lauren Graves
September 27, 2022

[📌 Update September 2022: Barclays online savings account had another rate increase this month of 0.20% APY. The account now provides an APY (annual percentage yield) of 2.00%. This is up from 1.80% in August and up from 1.40% APY in July. Read more below.]

Although London-based, Barclays Bank has been around since 1690 and services just shy of 50 million customers worldwide, the online-only division was established in the US in 2003.

Barclays online deposit product suite is simple – with just an online savings account and a few standard term CDs.

In this review we will cover the variable-rate online savings account. It comes with a higher than average yield and no fees or minimum balance requirements.

You won’t be able to do all of your banking in one place with Barclays as they do not offer a checking account or ATM card, but if you’re comfortable managing your savings digitally in the interest of earning better interest, Barclays online savings account might be a good fit for you.

Barclays Online Savings Account Details + Current Rate

Barclays has only one savings account, the Barclays Online Savings. This account offers a solid APY of 2.00% currently and has no minimum deposit requirements to open the account. Once the account is open there are no minimum balance requirements to maintain to avoid fees or account closure. To get paid interest, however, you will have to maintain an average daily minimum balance of just $1.00.

Interest is compounded daily and credited monthly to your savings account or an external account.

Barclays is a member of the FDIC, so all accounts opened with them are insured up to $250,000 or $500,000 for joint accounts.

Minimum Balance to earn interest	APY
$1.00	2.00%

To give this offer some context, the current national average for a savings account sits at just 0.17% APY, according to FDIC data.

How to Open the Account

You’ll need a few basic things to get started with your account. Here is the information Barclays will require:

Name
Address
Date of Birth
Phone Number
Social Security Number
Occupation

Funding the Account

Barclays will also ask for the necessary bank information of where you will be transferring funds from. For this, you will need:

your current bank account routing number
your current bank account number

As with many online banks, you will need to verify two small test deposits that Barclays credits to your account before funding it. If you are making your initial deposit via check you can use $0.00 for these fields. Just be sure to mail your check in asap.

You can deposit funds via any of the following methods:

you can set up direct deposits,
make remote deposits through the app or website,
transfer funds electronically through an ACH transaction,
or mail a check to the following address: Barclays P.O. Box 4538 Carol Stream, IL 60197

Once your online savings account is open, you can easily transfer funds to other accounts and other banks for free (though you will have to wait 2 – 3 business days for these to go through). You can do this up to six times per month without incurring fees per Federal Regulation D. For each transaction after that, you’ll be charged $5.

The other fee to potentially look out for is the $5 non-sufficient funds fee, which is still significantly lower than what most banks charge. For more information on fees, continue reading below.

Fees

As mentioned, the account comes with no monthly maintenance fees and no monthly balance requirements. That said, depending on what actions you intend to take with this account, there may be some associated fees.

Barclays Online Savings Fees

Type	Fee
Excessive Transaction	$5 each after the sixth
Stop Payment	$0
Cashier’s Check	$5
Returned Item	$5 each
Non-Sufficient Funds (NSF) Fee	$5 per item
Statement Copy	$0.50 per statement
Express Mail/Rush Delivery Charge	$25
Legal Documents	$0
Account Research	$0

Please note that Barclays does not accept wire transfers at this time.

Banking Experience

Barclays has ATMs, but you won’t be able to access them if you’re an online-only customer because the Barclays Online Savings account does not come with an ATM card.

There is also no U.S. branch network. To access your funds, you’ll have to transfer them to another account or cash out checks. And remember, Barclays does not offer a checking account at this time.

So what do US consumers have to say about this online institution?

Reviews are very mixed.

Until recently, customers have generally been satisfied with their experience with this bank. Out of 220 reviews on DepositAccounts, the bank earned a 4-star customer rating. Out of 472 customer ratings on ConsumerAffairs, the institution earned about 3.2 stars. Finally, on WalletHub, Barclays scored a 3.8 out of 24.2 thousand user reviews—overall, the bank is rated somewhere between 3 and 4 stars out of 5. (Keep in mind, however, that some reviews are of the global company and not of the online, U.S.-based retail bank alone.)

In normal environments consumers seem to be satisfied with this bank, especially for its interest rates and the ease of use of its digital platform. But in the past few weeks, amidst the panic of COVID-19 and the worrisome financial situations of so many Americans that have resulted, Barclays has received an outpouring of overwhelmingly negative reviews.

As customers seek help in the form of mortgage relief, advice, answers, and more, Barclays has allegedly become flaky and unpredictable. Many users have reported unexpected account closures and freezes and countless customers are unable to reach customer service representatives at all. Though this might not be the typical Barclays experience, you’ll want to decide for yourself whether Barclays is a bank you can trust using this information.

image credit: https://apps.apple.com/us/app/barclays-us-savings/

As for Barclays mobile apps (US version for online savings account), they score a 3.5 out of 5 on Apple’s App Store and just a 1.8 out of 5 on Google Play. It’s worth noting that the US versions for the online savings account score much lower on usability than their UK counterparts which both score above 4.5 out of 5.

CIBC Agility Savings Account – Now 2.32% APY!

editorial staff
September 27, 2022

CIBC (Canadian Imperial Bank of Commerce) is one of the “big five” banks of Canada and is headquartered in Toronto, Ontario.

The institution was formed by the largest chartered bank merger in Canada’s history in 1961 when the Canadian Bank of Commerce (founded in 1867) merged with the Imperial Bank of Canada (founded in 1873).

Today, CIBC holds roughly $770 billion in assets and brings in $18.7 billion in revenue (as of 2020) with operations spanning the globe.

For U.S. based customers, CIBC has an offshoot called CIBC U.S. which is headquartered in Chicago, Illinois, but backed by the 150 year-old Canadian bank.

CIBC U.S. has a noteworthy variable rate savings account called the “Agility Savings” that features a spectacular APY of 2.32%.

This account can be opened online by anyone in the U.S. that has a valid ID and is 18 years of age. To see if this account is right for you, continue reading our review below.

CIBC Agility Savings Account APY + Details

To open the CIBC Agility Savings account you must make an initial minimum deposit of at least $1,000, but once the account is opened interest is earned on all balances above $0.01.

CIBC U.S. is member FDIC and all consumer deposits are federally insured up to the applicable limits.

Savings Rate

Min. Deposit	Min. Balance	APY
$1,000	$0.01	2.32%

To put this yield in perspective, the current average for a savings account sits at just 0.17% APY and the current average on a money market account sits at just 0.18% APY according to the most recent FDIC data.

Interest is compounded and credited to your account monthly.

Per federal regulation D, this account is limited to 6 transactions per monthly statement cycle. If you exceed this amount CIBC will charge $10 for each subsequent transaction. No external transfers can be made either within the first 90 days of opening the account.

CIBC U.S. Fee Schedule

Depending on the actions you take with your CIBC Agility Savings account you may encounter some fees from time to time.

Below is a complete outline of the fees CIBC imposes for various account activities (or inactivities).

CIBC Fee Schedule

Activity	Fee
Statement Copies	$5 each
Stop Payment	$5.00
Hold Mail Fee	$25 per request
Stop Payment	$30
Automatic transfer from one account to another to cover overdraft	$35.00 per item, max $175.00 day
Overdraft fee (item paid)	$35.00 per item, max $175.00 day
Returned deposited item fee (chargeback)	$10.00
Account research	$25.00 per half hour, $25.00 minimum
Account closed within 90 days of opening	$25
Dormant account fee	$5 per month with a max of $60 annually

You can read more about CIBC U.S. deposit account disclosures and terms of service here.

How to Open the CIBC Agility Savings Account

The Agility Savings account can be opened online in minutes!

As mentioned this account is available to anyone in the U.S. that is 18 years old or older with a valid ID, internet connection and $1,000 for the initial deposit.

Here’s how to open the account in minutes.

To open the account, navigate to the CIBC U.S. Agility Savings landing page here and click “Apply Now.”
From here it is a 4-step process that starts with your personal information. Fill in the required personal information and then click “Continue.“
Read and accept the account disclosures and click “Continue.“
Fund your account. This will require the routing number of your current bank and the bank account number you’ll be transferring the funds from.

What information do I need to have handy?

Driver’s license or government issued ID.
Home address, phone number and email.
Social security card or number.
Existing bank account routing number.
Existing bank account number with at least $1,000 in the account.
Employment information.

Managing the CIBC Agility Saving Account

As mentioned the account can be managed completely online through the web or their native IOS or Android app. CIBC has multiple apps available for download. You will want to download the CIBC US mobile banking application to manage your Agility Savings account.

The mobile banking app by CIBC has mixed reviews, averaging 3 stars out of 5 on IOS (up from 2/5 stars in March 2022) with only 3 ratings at the time of this writing and 2.7 stars out of 5 on Google Play (down from 4/5 in March 2022) with over 175 reviews.

App Features:

View account balances and recent transactions
Transfer funds using their person to person payment system. Send funds with just a phone number or email.
Transfer funds between CIBC US accounts.
Mobile check deposit
Check status of deposits
Pay bills electronically
Schedule future bill payments
Contact representative for assistance
Locate branches and ATMs

CIBC Agility Online CD Rates

CIBC currently offers 5 online “Agility” CDs with terms ranging from 9 months to 30 months. They currently come with impressive yields when compared to the national average, but the yields are tiered based on deposit amount. Depositing $25,000 or more will get you a higher rate. See all rates and deposit requirements below.

CD Term	APY
9 months	1.30%
9 months ($25k +)	1.35%
12 months	2.96%
12 months ($25k +)	3.01%
18 months	2.91%
18 months ($25k +)	2.96%
24 months	1.60%
24 months ($25k +)	1.65%
30 months	1.70%
30 months ($25k +)	1.75%

To put these yields in perspective, the current national average for a 12 month CD and a 36 month CD sit at just 0.60% and 0.66% APY, respectively.

All CIBC online Agility CDs come with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

PayPal Savings Account – Now 2.15% APY!

editorial staff
September 23, 2022

[📌 Update September 2022 – PayPal raised the APY (annual percentage yield) on their newly launched online savings account again this month. The account now provides a yield of 2.15% APY (up from 1.80% APY earlier this month) See more details below.]

The financial technology company PayPal hardly needs any introduction with over 400 million users worldwide and over $25 billion in annual revenue; they’ve been a household name since their founding in 1998.

What you may not know is that they just launched their highly anticipated high yield online savings account in May of this year and it currently earns an impressive APY of 2.15%.

The account also has no minimum deposit requirements, balance requirements or monthly maintenance fees of any kind.

To learn more about PayPal’s online savings account continue reading our review below.

PayPal Savings Account Rate + Features

The PayPal Savings account is 100 percent digital. You can download their app here and start saving immediately.

The account has no minimum deposit requirements or monthly balance requirements and all balances are eligible for the advertised rate.

The rate is variable and can change at any time without notice.

PayPal itself is not a bank, however your deposits are FDIC-insured through their partner Synchrony Bank.

APY

Minimum Deposit	APY
$0	2.15%

To put this yield into perspective, the current national average for a savings account and a money market account sit at just 0.17% and 0.18% APY, respectively, according to recent FDIC data.

The best high yield online savings account rates are a hair above 2.20% APY at the moment, but if the FED makes another major rate hike this September, as most economists expect, then rates could heat up even further.

Money Management

Managing your money is straightforward with the PayPal app. You can transfer funds from your bank account or current PayPal balance into the savings account.

From the app you’ll also have access to the following:

Get your paychecks up to 2 days early when you set up direct deposit.
Mobile check cashing. Cash a physical check to your account from your phone.
Set up bill pay. Pay your TV, utilities, internet, phone bills, etc from the app.
Set up auto-save features and savings goals. Move money from one goal to another if priorities change.
Get a PayPal Cash Card. No fees or credit checks required. Can be used anywhere Mastercard is accepted.
Add cash with the app or Cash Card at 100k+ stores across the US, including Walmart, CVS, and 7-Eleven
Buy, sell and hold cryptocurrencies.

PayPal Savings Account FAQs

If you still have questions about PayPal and their newly launched online savings account, don’t worry we’re here to help. Here are some of the most commonly asked questions by consumers and our responses below.

Is PayPal a Bank?

No.

Peter Thiel, the founder of PayPal, has stated that PayPal is not a bank because it does not engage in fractional reserve banking. Essentially meaning the company does not engage in the act of borrowing and lending their customers’ funds.

Federal Regulators also reiterated this notion back in 2002, stating that PayPal is not a bank and shouldn’t be regulated as such.

That being said, PayPal has dipped their toe into banking products like this online savings account. In the past, they have also tested out money market accounts, lines of credit and even a debit card, which is still offered as the PayPal cash card.

Are PayPal Accounts Insured by the FDIC?

Yes, by proxy.

While PayPal itself is not a bank and is not FDIC-insured, the accounts they offer are through their partner Synchrony Bank (FDIC# 27314).

Final Thoughts

As far as FDIC-insured online savings accounts go, this newly launched PayPal account is quite competitive. The yield is roughly 12x the national average and is among the highest yielding savings accounts anywhere in the US.

Plus the fact that the account has no maintenance fees, minimum deposit requirements or monthly balance requirements to earn the high rate makes it available to a large swathe of people.

Bask Bank Review – Now up to 2.53% APY!

Lauren Graves
September 20, 2022

[📌 Update September 2022: Bask Bank has one of the highest yielding online savings accounts at the moment with an APY (annual percentage yield) of 2.53%.

This is up from 2.20% APY to start the month of September,
up from 2.02% APY to start the month of August and
up from 1.61% APY since July.

Bask Bank’s online savings account was the first to breach the 2.00% APY mark around July 20th. 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 August 2022, it has an APY (annual percentage yield) of 2.53%. 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.

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	2.53%

To put this yield into perspective, the current national average for a savings account sits at just 0.17% 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.