Interest rate hikes over the past few years have been a saver’s delight, but your return can vary based on where you park your savings.
Your best bet for snagging the highest rate is an online-only personal savings account, which even beat the average rate on a one-year Certificate of Deposit (CD), according to the Banking Landscape report released Thursday by finance site WalletHub. That study analyzed nearly 2,700 deposit accounts.
And if you need regular access to your money, rates at credit union checking accounts are 65 times higher than those at regional banks, and they charge lower fees.
Credit unions can offer higher rates because of “their small, local, and nonprofit nature, which results in lower overhead costs,” said Alina Comoreanu, WalletHub senior researcher.
Here are more banking trends and tidbits to help you get the most out of your cash:
Learn more: Best current CD rates
Where are the highest savings interest rates?
Online savings accounts continue to beat their brick-and-mortar counterparts by a wide margin. Their rates are 4.9 times higher than their branch-based counterparts and 3.7 times more than traditional checking accounts, WalletHub said.
A few banks recently lowered their online rates. But with the Fed remaining in higher-for-longer mode on interest rates, most online banks should keep their online savings and money market rates steady, said Ken Tumin in his Bank Deals Blog earlier this month.
After three consecutive months of hotter-than-expected…
