<br><div><aside class="gnt_em gnt_em__fp gnt_em_vp__tp gnt_em__el" aria-label="Video - Your savings account may be making you lose money"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Once upon a time, banks rewarded customers who opened savings accounts with stuffed lions, canvas totes – and interest. Lots of it.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Those days are gone. The <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/03/27/banks-increasing-savings-cd-rates-svb-crisis/11539186002/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">average savings account</a> now yields <a target="_blank" href="https://www.fdic.gov/resources/bankers/national-rates/index.html" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">about 0.45 percent</a> annual interest, according to the FDIC. Rates remain stubbornly low for savers even as banks charge ever-steeper rates to borrowers: The prime lending rate -- the interest that banks charge their most creditworthy customers -- <a target="_blank" href="https://fred.stlouisfed.org/series/PRIME" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">stands at 8.5 percent</a>, its highest mark in two decades.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">As a rule, savings-account interest rates rise and fall with the prime rate. The more banks earn from borrowers, the more they can afford to reward depositors. When the Fed raises rates, banks tend to respond <a target="_blank" href="https://www.bankrate.com/banking/federal-reserve/federal-reserve-impact-on-savings-accounts/#:~:text=Savings%20account%20rates%20are%20loosely,stay%20competitive%20and%20attract%20deposits." data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">by paying more interest on their "high-yield" savings accounts</a>.</p><aside aria-label="advertisement" class="gnt_m gnt_x gnt_x__lbl gnt_x__al"/><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">But that system has broken down in the last 18 months. The Fed raised the benchmark Federal Funds Rate from effectively zero to <a target="_blank" href="http://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2023/07/26/fed-interest-rate-hike-live-updates/70463418007/" data-t-l=":b|e|k|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" rel="noopener">over 5%</a>, a two-decade high. Banks did not follow suit.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">“The banks have not kept up,” said Jeff Farrar, a certified financial planner and managing director of Procyon Partners in Connecticut.</p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p"><strong>Learn more:</strong> <a target="_blank" rel="noopener" data-t-l=":body nav (cd)|e|auto spike click:6|${u}" class="gnt_ar_b_a" href="https://www.usatoday.com/money/blueprint/banking/cds/best-cd-rates/">Best current CD rates</a></p><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Why not try to attract new customers and their money?</p><figure class="gnt_em gnt_em_img"><img class="gnt_em_img_i" style="height:440px" fetchpriority="high" data-g-r="lazy" src="https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2023/07/11/USAT/90dc692f-3570-4626-8096-d6a568049d18-AP_Bank_of_America_Junk_Fees.jpg?width=660&height=440&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp" srcset="https://www.usatoday.com/gcdn/presto/2023/07/11/USAT/90dc692f-3570-4626-8096-d6a568049d18-AP_Bank_of_America_Junk_Fees.jpg?width=1320&height=880&fit=crop&format=pjpg&auto=webp 2x" decoding="async" alt="Once upon a time, banks rewarded customers who opened savings accounts with stuffed lions, canvas totes – and interest. Lots of it. Those days are gone"/></figure><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">Because big banks are flush with deposits. That is partly a result of the pandemic and federal stimulus campaign, which encouraged the nation to save. And it’s partly consumer inertia. Bank customers trust the big brands, and they tend to stay put.</p><h2 class="gnt_ar_b_mt">Customers don't change savings accounts</h2><p class="gnt_ar_b_p">“We found that, on average,...</p></div> <style> .wrapper { text-align: center; } </style> <div class="wrapper"> <a class="button" href ="https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2023/09/24/savings-account-interest-rates-best-in-years/70922540007/">Read more <span>➤</span></a> </div>
