Last year, after looking through some data, I made the bold proclamation that CFG is the best high yield savings account for keeping up with increased interest rates. That article has stood the test of time, though some people still don’t like them due to their low ACH push/pull limits.
- Read: What’s The Best Simple High-Yield Savings Account?
- Read: Best High Yield Savings Accounts – up to 5.00% APY
I found this comment from reader Rad useful as a mini blogpost rating the top banks and so I thought to post it with minor edits. (Thanks Rad for the helpful analysis!) Feel free to chime in below with your own thoughts and favorites.
- CFG is consistently at or near top rates-wise. That’s the first go-to. (Their ACH is very limited and slow, so you have to use external ACH push in and pull out generally for any but very small amounts.)
- After that or if you need good ACH functionality CIT is a good option, especially if you value ability to easily transfer funds in and out (fast transfers with no real limits), free wires, and more. CIT is usually close to top rates-wise; for example, right now their rate is 4.85% vs 5.03% with CFG.
- First Foundation also is near top. Now also 4.85%. 100K ACH limit, but slow at 3 days. You might opt to use external ACH instead.
- And Primis has also proven to be good, even without the grandfathered 5.1% rate – 4.77% is still solid. Again there are ACH limits of 100K in/5K out, so you might need to use an external ACH source. Primis is also unique in that the offer the same high rate (5.1% or 4.77%) on their checking account, with unlimited transactions, free checks, etc.
- These would be the four top choices. And if you need a fifth option, another one almost as good as CIT for easy ACH transfers ($1M in/$100K out), Comenity Direct “Bread” is also a fine choice. Not as good on rates, but usually they’ll be fairly close to the top rates (right now they are at 4.65%).
It’s not so much the low ach limits (you can call and get them raised). My issue is that when doing an ach push from cfg they debit this amount immediately, then hold the funds five days before transferring. This is in an era when I have various accounts that ach transfer next day. In today’s climate you are losing 5 days of interest at +5 percent which is substantial. You may be able to pull from a different bank and get around this faster. Cfg is only a good bank if you leave money in and pay bills out of the account imo.
Can someone explain “use external ACH push in and pull out generally for any but very small amounts”? How do I use external ACH to push in and out?
Link the account to another bank account, e.g. to your regular checking account, and then push funds from your regular checking account to this account and pull that way as well.
Anyone know if CFG savings imposes the 6 times a month withdrawal and deposit limit? Just checking to see if it can be used as a regular account. Most of the high interest savings banks have a cap on the number of withdrawals. Thanks!
Anybody have First Horizon 5.38% money market saving? You have to open the account over the phone or in person, checking account is also required
Just got turned down by CFG Bank due to a Chex System denial. Credit score avg for the last 10+ years has been above 800 and no bounced checks in 30+ years. Pulled a Chex System report free of charge with denial and it has zero negative info. Only had 4 bank account openings in 20 years. What a bunch of malarkey.
I had the same problem. They took about 10 days to make their minds up too. Waste of time.
Currently Wealthfront is offering 5.05% interest for up to $250,000 if you sign up for a referral link – this is a 0.5% increase over their standard rate, the 0.5% bump is for 3 months but you can extend for endless 3 month periods by referring someone else (spouse, parent, friend). My referral is here if anyone is interested: [removed] (def helps me, but in all honestly I’ve been keeping my money in Wealthfront and 8 week T-bills).
i really thinking of opening a Laurel Road saving at 3.80% apr.
i already have their loyalty checking account.
my plan is put most of my money on this saving account, and if i need a few thousands in a hurry,
i just transfer the money from saving to checking, then write a check
How about the :
Vio Bank 4.85% Apr
All America / Red Neck Bank 4.81%
Weren’t those 2 banks Note Worthy ?!!
Submitted an application for CFG yesterday. Still no word from them yet.
Luckily, CFG is 15 minutes away from me. I brought in a form to deposit my monthly interest into an account elsewhere.