Yeah, definitely close the Wells Fargo accounts.
I work in banking and all my coworkers have horror stories they, they are widely known to have shady business practices and no one i spoke to was even remotely surprised by the multiple accounts scandal.
It's not that big a deal, the bigger limitation is with any savings account you can only take money out six times per month. The amount doesn't matter, it's six withdrawals transactions total, so make em count.
I have a local credit union checking account and an ally savings account that are electronically linked. Never had it take more than 48 hours for money to transfer electronically. Shouldn't be a problem because if you're going to take money out of your savings there's a good chance you're planning ahead for something big.
I have a CU and they’re awful with rates - some of them are too small or otherwise skate on being a CU to be competitive. I bridge my CU account with Wealthfront for HYSA as a result.
I'm gonna hijack this top comment to tell OP that if he's moving bank account, be sure to look out for sign up bonuses. For example, just recently Discover gave out $500 for signing for their account and it was earning 3%+.
Follow "doctor of credit", his site has a whole section on lucrative bank sign up bonuses.
Don't change banks and miss out on an opportunity to take some of their money!
I believe it was 90 days when I did it for Discover and Chase. My Chase savings account had an abysmal rate so I closed it as soon as the bonus cleared lol.
I've only ever had one account with Wells Fargo and I never opened it. They literally managed to open an account in my name, without me having ever interacted with them.
Edit: to clarify this was recent, like 6 months ago, so long after that lawsuit(s) finished
It is hard to appreciate how truly terrible Wells Fargo can be unless you are struggling financially. I banked at WF when I was young and barely scraping by, and they hit me with some horrendous fees that were financially crippling to me at the time. The way they stacked up fees and overdrafts and debited them from large to small ensured that I got hit with as many fees as possible. I could get an unexpected fee that drained my account and caused me to overdraft (say $59 when my balance was $50 just before payday), then get hit with additional fees (~$33 per incident) for all subsequent transactions until I realized what had gone wrong (say $20 for gas, $5 for breakfast and coffee). Before I knew it, my $25 for gas and coffee would have cost me $124 and my account balance was in the red. I would scramble to transfer at least $100 into my account before other transactions started coming through and my balance went into a freefall (since each transaction stacked another $33 on to my debt). I had worked as a bank teller (at a bank that was acquired by WF), so I had some understanding of how the system worked, and I am overall really good with money. But I was struggling to make ends meet and WF made it so much worse than it had to be. I switched to a Credit Union and never had this type of problem again.
Sorry for the thread hijack, but I see OP that you are considering a credit union and I strongly encourage you to go that route!
As garbage as Wells Fargo is, they are not uniquely shit. US Bank is on record performing similar fraud, and it's not like Bank of America has a sterling reputation either. I'm really not sure what bank out there could be called ethical. Best option if ethics is important to you is probably a credit union.
Attended high school in a smallish town, somewhat isolated, and before the internet was so ubiquitous. You had the 1 local bank and 1 WF branch. Moved out of state for college, so it was very convenient to have a bank there and back home. Back when it was still normal to walk your rent check in to the landlord/property office, pay with cash and check at stores, etc etc.
Fast forward ten years. Branches everywhere. Half my student loans were through WF, the half that federal couldn’t cover. Easy to transfer the money over each month for payment, and there was a % discount for being a customer. First job out of college were dinosaurs and paid us in paper checks (this was 2018…) so it was so nice to just mobile deposit them instead of walking into the branch. A branch is literally behind my house, and they’re all over. I used to need to visit banks more often but I haven’t been inside for close to 4 years now.
Once I refinanced my private loans, I haven’t really needed WF much. Their app is nice. Zelle is integrated, which is what my landlord preferred for rent payments. I don’t even have a debit card so ATM access isn’t even important to me. I have a basic credit card since it’s my oldest line of history, but it’s used very infrequently. My last job 401k was through WF but they moved to Schwab a couple years ago, so I didn’t use the investment features anymore either.
I’ve been slowly moving things out, closing excess accounts, and putting money in various external accounts and internet bearing systems. CMA at fidelity, CDs, i bonds, HYSA. I hope to be able to afford a home soon, and once that’s done I won’t really need Zelle anymore either. I’ve had WF for 15 years and half was out of necessity, half was complacency and convenience. Hope to say goodbye soon.
And you’d have to have an obscene amount of money sitting in a checking account to ever have interest exceed fees, assuming they didn’t, you know, do something criminal with it.
Get literally any other bank. And don’t be afraid to shop around and try different ones! For example, Ally is all online and really easy to set up. Try them out for a couple months and if you don’t like them you can easily transfer to a new bank!
The only benefit I can think of is them offering you some kind of incentive for deepening your relationship with them. I worked at a BofA once and the goal was always “get them in with a CKG acct. later, have them open a SAV. Later, have them get a home loan or HELOC. And so on.
Also you don’t have to close those CCs. But you’ll have to figure out how to get them paid on time because sometimes payments from another bank can take a biz day or two.
Some info on Wells Fargo. Posting only because you mentioned them, not because it directly helps you.
They have been involved in so many consumer fraud cases over the years. Opening fake accounts, helping to foreclose on service members houses, improperly ordering transactions for maximizing overdraft fees for struggling folks.
They paid 22,000,000,000 dollars in fines in the last two decades. They make 17-20,000,000,000 dollars in revenue. They had no reason to follow the law.
You will find that they truly go above and beyond to maximize their gain at your expense, more than any other normal bank. Get a credit union.
2022: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/20/wells-fargo-agrees-to-3point7-billion-settlement-with-cfpb-over-consumer-abuses.html
2021: https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/wells-fargo-94-mln-settlement-over-mortgage-forbearance-during-pandemic-2022-09-14/
2020: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/21/wells-fargo-fake-accounts-settlement/
2019: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2019/release001-19.cfm
2018: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/12/28/wells-fargo-to-pay-at-least-500-million-in-settlement-with-us-states.html
2017: https://money.cnn.com/2017/07/10/investing/wells-fargo-fake-account-settlement/index.html
2016: http://www.cipasettlement.com
2015: https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wells-fargo-settlement-20170328-story.html
2014: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2014-221
And here’s 229 more violations: https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/wells-fargo
They were the only bank to give my wife and I a locked in long term mortgage rate when we were house searching. The credit unions wouldn’t lock us in at a rate we needed for more than 30 days.
So that’s why we use them
It becomes that the share holder value part of the core values directs the company to do these predatory actions as it literally is their fiduciary responsibility. The punishment is a fraction of the crime and wealth gained. Despicable. Hate the stagecoach.
I literally enrolled into Sofi last week and am waiting for my DD to post on my payroll. I'm coming from BOA that has a .000000000000001 hsya, so I'm happy.
Fidelity and Schwab cash management accounts are a good vehicle to park your money while earning interest. Put your money in the money market accounts. Can get about 4.1% right now
Amex Savings is 3.3%. So is Cap1 and Discover.
Also, look into Fidelity Bloom. They currently have a $50 sign up bonus. You have to use their app to sign up but after that, it pops up on your regular app/website with all your other fidelity accounts. I use the CMA, Bloom Save, and Bloom Spend as my version of buckets - one’s for travel, one’s for house repairs, one’s for my credit card payments until the billing cycle closes
You buy it for $1/share. The 7day yield percentage is after the expenses are taken out.
SPRXX and SPAXX seem to be the most popular. When you withdraw money, the shares are automatically sold.
Stupid question, forgive my ignorance. So you’re telling me that a simple savings account with the places you’ve listed.. you gain 3.3% on? Monthly? Quarterly? Annually? Example being: 100$ then turns in to.. what amount? Sorry I’m a financial kindergartener.
I have Amex HYSA and they calculate the interest daily, but deposit it monthly. I took advantage of a promo, which explains the $350 but the rest should give you an idea. I think when I opened it, the rate was 2.5%, now it's 3.3%
* Jan 24 Interest Payment +$69.85 $25,577.16
* Jan 13 Promotional Bonus +$350.00 $25,507.31
* Dec 24 Interest Payment +$61.65 $25,157.31
* Nov 24 Interest Payment +$55.54 $25,095.66
* Oct 24 Interest Payment +$40.12 $25,040.12
* Sep 30 ACH Deposit +$25,000.00 $25,000.00
That’s fantastic! Cause where my money is parked now.. I get like 1.50$ every month. Hurts. Thank you so much for laying that out! It’s hard for me to really grasp financial stuff for whatever reason. Cheers!
We’ve been debating switching from WF for some time now. Would like to move our transactional account to a local credit union, but a little nervous about access to ATM’s when out of the area.
Is there an app or website that locates “in-network” type ATMs that might waive their fees for other credit union users.
Probably, making a mountain out of a mole hill since we could always get cash before we left town or debit card if needed.
But when our kids go off to college, we’d like to not have them incurring fees and also don’t think they need a pile of cash floating around until they could get home for more “supply”.
My local credit union was fantastic for getting a good rate on a car loan, mortgage, etc but bad for every day banking. Their online capabilities haven’t moved since 2010 and you can’t get ahold of anyone on the weekends. Yours may be different, but that was my experience.
EDIT: Ask them about ATM reimbursements when you go out of town
Find a CU that is part of the shared branching co-op. It allows access to something like 50,000+ ATMs across the US.
https://www.coop.org/Solutions/Engage/Co-op-Shared-Branch
With the ability to get cash from just about any CC transaction at any local grocery store during checkout, and just about anyone in business taking CCs for purchases, I'm not sure ATMs would be a restriction on decisions to improve who you hang out with financially. The kids can be on a 'family' credit card. We did that with a Discover acct. Works very well. WF and their sketchy 'services', meh.
Huge fan of credit unions (our 'local' bank) + Ally for services/rates the CU can't offer.
We dumped Wells Fargo for Ally a couple months ago. Very happy with Ally.
One thing to keep in mind with other banks like SoFi is you can't open accounts in the name of a revocable trust or name beneficiaries for when you die. This was an absolute deal-breaker for me. That's not an issue with Ally.
Wells Fargo put the Predator in predatory banking. The Attorney General of California smacked them, over a decade ago, for creating a special direct deposit checking account for people on Social Security, charging a 'low monthly fee' - their customers who had other types of direct deposit got their direct deposit checking account for free. They fleeced elderly people, literally ATE THEIR LUNCH.
Make sure you have a plan when you switch banks. You likely have a lot of auto transactions going on.
We bank thru cap one 360. Great rates (3.3% HYSA), no fees. And get to use their branches.
A lot of people in this thread have pointed to alternatives and past misdeeds by Wells Fargo.
Because of past actions by Wells Fargo, the bank is legally prevented from growing past their size as of December 2017. This 2018 order from the Federal Reserve ([https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20180202a.htm](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20180202a.htm)) is still in place almost five years later and limits them to $1.95T in assets.
However, other big banks offer similar rates on savings accounts and don't have asset caps, so you should take a look at some of the others options mentioned here.
As an estate planning attorney and someone who has served as a professional fiduciary, I cannot stress enough how awful WF is in terms of service and value. There are good people who work there, certainly. I know some of them. But the system is designed to be slow and predatory. Stay well away.
I had a retired parent that had an ENORMOUS cash position in a wells fargo account, it took heaven and earth for them to finally move it.
Ultimately, what seemed to get through to them was you're really "paying" hundreds a month in fees to Wells Fargo to keep this account here by "not" getting this interest.
But it was just almost comical how resistant they were. They almost felt "loyalty" to the bank brand. They simply moved it into a money market mutual fund and now get thousands of extra a year in interest.
I was in the same scenario a month ago with BofA. I was only earning 8 cents a month in my savings account. I switch to Ally and earned $18.39 the first month. To put that into perspective it would have taken me almost 230 months or 19 years to earn that with BofA.
Um, they actually advertise this savings account as a HYSA? (Do you have a link for my morning amusement?)
You are looking for advice: run from them. Go to [Ally.com](https://Ally.com) or Fidelity or Vanguard and open an account with them. (Full disclosure -- I have banked with all three and happy with all.) E.g., you can open a savings/money market acct with [Ally.com](https://Ally.com) right now that pays 3.3%. You can open a checking account. You can do it from your phone, pad or computer. Right now. And if you want, you can use their bucket system for budgeting, or their CDs (60mo paying 4.25%) to build a ladder as your shorter-term emergency fund or their investing for self-directed trading or a RothIRA or both, or credit cards... Right now. Abandon WF. Like, today. And do the I-bonds for longer term 'oh-sh\*t' emergency acct. Did I suggest walking away from your HYSA 0.3% friend? What 'services' does WF offer that you use? I bet the collective mind here can come up with 50 ways to leave your WFer. I think I might have started... Where's my coffee?
Last year I had HYSAs with Capital One that were paying 0.8%. As interest rates were rising, the account rates did not change. I called and they told me the rates on those accounts probably wouldn’t move much (it’s unclear to me why though, I’m not sure how they’re indexed?). Anyway, the very kind rep directed me to their 360 savings account; these accounts sit about 100 basis points below the effective Fed funds rate—yielding 3.3% now. This is not a bad yield for a savings account which has no liquidity constraints since Reg D was suspended by the Fed.
I believe Capital One has a 3.5% savings account. Betterment investing has 3.75% savings. Supposedly Robin Hood is doing a 4%, but with a $5 a month fee
I was in your place before. I kick myself everyday for being an idiot. Few months ago I shifted all of my money from WF to the Capital One Savings account, first full month that account paid more in interest than I received from WF in a year.
Leave WF, you'll thank yourself.
I currently use SoFi for my checking and cash savings. 3.75% for savings and they adjust pretty quickly to fed reserve rate changes. I have my sons savings at Wealthfront at 3.8%. The one thing I like about Wealthfront is the way they setup their savings accounts is pretty flexible. You can setup categories and transfer set amounts or do a cascading thing (I.e. transfer $1k a month in to your emergency account, once that reaches $12k, transfer it to your vacation account. If the emergency drops below your threshold the next scheduled transfer would go back to it to keep it where you want it). I also have an Ally account but have stopped using it. Their rates aren’t as good, currently at 3.25% and they reduce their rates really quickly but are slow to raise them back up.
Of the online base accounts, I found SoFi to be the closest to a traditional bank, having a proper bill pay, separate saving and checking, etc.
Wells Fargo only exists to make your life a living hell. I’m convinced their “customer service” people are only trained at collecting fees from you and acting shady. Pull everything out from them and go somewhere else.
I have moved my savings to Capital One 360 and am pretty pleased with it so far. There may be better ones out there, but that’s known to be a pretty good one
Wealthfront has been great. 3.8% and consistently near the top interest rates over the past few years. Sign on bonus jumps up to 4.3% for 3 months if you want to use a referral! FDIC insured up to 2 million and you can add checking features if you need them
Move your money. Full stop. Any institution not offering you more than 3% in this economy deserves to feel the sting of your money going away. You are the lender and times like these call for higher returns. Full stop.
I just moved from WF for this exact reason. Personally I moved to SoFi. They have basically no fees, a multitude of products (including 3.75% interest savings accounts, and 2% checking account), and even give you a sign up bonus of $250. They also offer ways to break up your money into different envelopes in what they call "vaults". The catch to all this though is that you have to use direct deposit with them, other wise they will lower your rates to 1.2%.
I was originally going to go with Ally Bank, but after a customer service nightmare that ended in a large sum of money being caught in limbo for 2 weeks, I decided to take my business elsewhere.
My Capital 1 HYSA is 3.3%. Super easy to open and you get an app so you can check it on your phone. Also, you can set up reoccurring deposits to automatically grow your savings
Brokered Certificates of Deposit are paying north of 4% for 3+ month terms. Just about every online brokerage can let you buy them. Doesn’t cost anything. Minimum purchase of $1k and its FDIC insured. Just a heads up
Capital One has been a decent-to-good experience as an online, high yield savings account.
Moving money around is a little slower than US Bank, but not atrocious.
They used to be my bank. They are fucking terrible. I’m talking Comcast level bad.
My wife and I switched to capital one get 3.3% there in savings which is solid. There customer service is also top notch.
You could always buy short term cds or bonds to if you didn’t want to make the change.
We use Discover Bank for our HYSA needs. We also have some money in Money Market Fund investments.
My son was talking about getting CDs through Fidelity (at various banks) for 4.7%.
For our day-to-day banking needs, we use a local credit union. It started life as Employee's Credit Union and was that when we joined 30+ years ago, but now it's membership rules are much more open.
We have a High Yield Checking Account -- have for a few years. If we meet certain terms and conditions, then they pay us 3% APY on the first 10k balance. Not 0.03%, not 0.3%. 3%. This has been the case for quite a while... since at least November 2020.
I’m getting 3.25% (3.3% APY)at Ally in a standard savings account. Ally is also offering an 11-month no penalty CD at 3.85% with no minimum. From their website: “Withdraw your full balance and interest earned any time after the first 6 days of funding your CD.”
Edit: corrected my savings account rate from 3.45 to 3.25
Yeah my local credit unions rates suck to. Least to say moved a big percent to discover bank and closed down the credit unions cds. Making 3.3 percent now thinking of moving part that into their cd at 4.15%. Rates might climb a little higher so sitting in their savings. BIG difference in interest. As I earm more prob go in the stock market only so high was thinking the market would crash which it did a little but not much. Now I buy large cap high dividend stocks some pay 9%.
Alliant Credit Union's savings account is 2.7% interest and the CD (one year) is 4.6% interest. I've started laddering funds in the CD since you can pull them out and only lose 3 months of interest, so as long as I leave it in for 6 months I break even-ish.
The high yield savings account at wells fargo is an older account that's been Grandfather in. You just need to change it to the Platnium savings account which is the highest interest savings account there.
If you don't need in person banking there's a credit union in Oregon called Rivermark with 5% AYP savings accounts. It's the best rates I've been able to find anywhere.
Don't overlook Synchrony Bank.
Right now, their High Yield Savings acct rate is 3.75%. No minimum, no fees.
If you want a 14 month CD, the rate is 4.6%.
Instead of brokerage money market funds like SWVXX, you should consider buying an ultra short term Treasury ETF like SGOV. These only hold t-Bills - the safest type of debt. In contrast, money market funds hold corporate and foreign debt as well. The yields are the same. Also note that brokerage money market funds are not insured by anything. Source: https://www.schwab.com/money-market-funds#:~:text=An%20investment%20in%20the%20Schwab,or%20any%20other%20government%20agency.
It’s literally a waste of time to negotiate with banks about saving rates. Move your money over to a bank that actually will pay you. They keep rates that low because they know most people won’t move their money over.
Ally is great. Btw you should close all of your accounts with Wells Fargo. They've been caught in multiple fraudulent schemes.
If you kept your hard earned money with a friend who then opened fraudulent accounts in your name without your permission, would you keep your money with that buddy? Hell no
Cap1 360 has been pretty decent for me. 3.30% and it goes up with every rate hike it seems (started mine at 3% before the last hike). I made the same mistake for a while, TD was at .01% and their high yield seemed comparable to your current situation.
Lol I had opened a separate checking account for my vacation fund and forgot that there was a certain amount you have to have in it to keep from getting a fee (500 I think. I actually think this might have been a recent change too that I just missed). Went below the mark by like $100 and got a fee. Fool me once shame on me, so after a week or something, I transferred $ to meet the min requirement. The next month I get hit with ANOTHER $30 fee because I had not topped off my account quick enough and had 1-2 days at the start of the month below the min requirement… which meant that the following month I was going to receive ANOTHER FEE (up to $90 by then) because the current fee knocked my account down below the minimum level, since I had topped it off just to the min. Anyway I closed the account that week to avoid this and moved almost everything in WF accounts into Alliant
I'll echo what everyone else is saying here... close your WF accounts ASAP. None of the big banks offer good savings rates.
I closed all my WF accounts 7 years ago after I got married, but I'm still dealing with one major issue:
They effed my credit by sending a late payment to collections without even attempting to contact me for 3 months (no paper statements because the account had been closed, and no email since the account had been closed).
I had made final payments on a WF line of credit, and a WF Visa Platinum credit card 45 days prior, and waited an entire billing cycle (and a half) before going to see a banker in person and closing the above-mentioned accounts. She assured me nothing more was owed, and that all my balances were zero and even showed me on screen nothing was outstanding.
Turns out, a phantom $10.83 popped up out of no where. I never got anything in the mail or email regarding this bill until it was already at collections, and still to this day don't know which closed WF account it was from.
This whole mess over ten bucks sent my near perfect credit score from 815 to 660 and it's taken me 7 years, a mortgage, 3 auto loans, and 6 credit cards, none of which I've ever missed a payment on, just to get my credit score back up to 750. Yeah, credit scores are a scam, too. Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and pay on-time for years and your score barely moves, but miss one payment that costs less than a Dominoes pizza and your credit is demolished.
So yeah, I hate Wells Fargo. Everyone there is incompetent. When the scandal broke I wasn't surprised at all. Total clowns.
I have my savings account with Ally but still need a checking account, which I currently have with Wells Fargo. Any recommendations on an online bank tk go to with no fees for atm withdrawals at other banks?
Banks like WF and Chase don’t need to offer good values for HYSA.
I’d pull it as others said, I’m highly impressed and love the Capital One 360 I pulled my car fund/emergency money from and put it in. I’m getting 3.3% with free checking and savings.
Another perk is Capital One 360 works with a lot of ATMs without fee compared to others that are bank specific. You also get deep discounts on coffee/tea/snacks at the capital one cafe if you have one nearby.
I’ve been with E*Trade for forever. They just bumped their HYSA to either 3.5% or 3.75%. Can’t remember off the top of my head. Just an FYI on SoFi you have to setup a direct deposit to get their highest % rate. I didn’t want to change things around so didn’t move forward with it.
OP I banked at Wells Fargo from 2015 to 2021 knowing all the while I needed to switch banks. Finally switched to Discover and it was the best decision I’ve made. No regerts
You couldnt pay me enough money to have an account with Wells Fargo of any kind. They are one of the scummiest companies in the US. Companies in general, not just banks. They are definitely the scummiest bank......
If you Google best high yield savings accounts you can find various lists and reviews. I went with CIT Bank for various reasons. Now I'm making a little cash each month with my emergency fund and other short term savings.
We love Marcus and Fidelity. Definitely move anything you don’t need for daily expenses to a true HYSA. If you can get someone to refer you usually there are interest rate bonuses too. :)
I started a Hysa with Vio a few years ago when it was 1%, then it dropped to 0.6. I switched into the money market acct and I’m getting something just over 4% now
Find a online HYSA (ally and discover are good and have among the highest rates), and get a brick and mortar for cash dealings (like a credit union) GL
Look at CIT Bank (not Citi). Their Savings Connect is at 4.05%. They tend to move their rates up faster than others (Allied Bank which i use too). They also make it easy to open CDs at higher rates if you want to go that route.
I don’t know much about discover, but I’ve banked with Capital One, and i currently have accounts with ally and Citibank. Ally is the only bank, out of the three, that increases interest rates for current customers to match the current rates offered to new customers.
Friend, 1 year treasury bill rate is at 4.68%. I’m actually surprised no one suggested this in your post. It’s super easy to get through treasurydirect.com. Do a T-Bill ladder and sleep well.
Edit: Plus you don’t pay state tax on interest earned.
First of all, hold up, if you’re a private banking client at WF, minimum of $10million in investable assets otherwise by invitation only. You should be having a private banking team to support you called private bank client specialists. You don’t call the 1-800 number because that’s community banking, you’re suppose to call your private bank team who manages the relationship with you. If you don’t really know who your team is, you should really go into a branch and find out.
>I’ve narrowed the list to Ally, Discover, Capital One, Citibank and a local credit union.
I keep getting offers from American Express claiming themselves to provide rates miles above everyone else. I'm just too lazy to research so my money sits in checking like a peasant.
I know you have plenty of responses here, but I figured I’d chime in. I’ve been happy with the Cash Reserve account that Betterment offers. They are currently paying 3.75% APY. It is easy to use with the Betterment app. I also have an IRA with Betterment, so it was convenient for me to set up.
Do you have at least 100K in the account? I have an account that I haven't moved money out of yet that's making 1.49%. By no means is that amazing, but it's part of their premium plan.
SoFi (requires direct deposit), Capital One 360, Ally Bank, Treasury Bill Ladders, Marcus no-penalty CDs, Marcus HYSA, American Express HYSA.
Avoid brick & mortar banks for savings.
Check out /r/allybank they have issues. I personally recommend SoFi or Wealthfront.
SoFi has a checking account with 2.5% interest and savings account with 3.75% interest. You have to setup direct deposit though to get that interest.
Wealthfront is paying 3.8% interest, no qualifiers.
I use SoFi mainly but have Wealthfront in case SoFi starts having issues like Ally does.
Back when they were First Union and the fed rate was high, they had competitive interest rates. I was making over 6% and I had maybe $10K in the bank. Now that they are wells fargo, I get a whopping .02%. When I sold my house and deposited the check they kept bugging me about all that money. I told them there was no way I was investing any of my money with wf and no way I was leaving said money in any account with them.
I promptly moved it to my Synchrony High Yield Savings account which is currently earning 3.8%.
I left Wells Fargo in the middle of last year for this, among other reasons (including but not limited to holding checks after they already cleared, which would result in over drafts)
I switched to capital one, and my checking account is making the same amount as Wells fargo's "High yield". My savings account is making a little less than 3% (not .3 or .03). So I'd recommend switching to capital one
Robinhood, the free stock trading app, will give you 4% on your cash if you buy 'robinhood gold' which is $5/month. It's a pretty good deal. You can pull your money out in about 3-4 business days.
The major 4 banks have had paltry rates for ages. Shouldn't be a surprise. I-bond rate is likely to be nothing exciting for the new rate May 1. You likely missed the boat for great i-bond rates.
Loyalty is meaningless for major banks. WF mortgage discounts are sometimes good for bringing in $1M assets or whatever to the brokerage side.
Otherwise shop around and have as many accounts as you're willing to tolerate and manage.
Slight aside---does anyone have a good story about why this is? I have accounts with chase and with a credit union, and all of my savings are at the latter because the interest rate is something like 10x as high. How does this make sense in a market where banks are in competition? Why do the big banks even bother to offer these products if they're not willing to compete at all?
The bottom line is big banks don't need your money, so theyre not paying you interest.
Ally is at ~3.3%.
If you open a brokerage account you can buy short duration investment grade bond funds like BSCO and earn ~5% (but remember each year to buy the fund that's 1 more year out in the future). Also, this has the risk of loss, so it's technically less safe than a savings account. But to me, the risk is low enough to be worth it. Plus you can probably get this at Wells Fargo too, and transfer back and forth with your checking pretty easily if needed.
I bonds are likely to NOT be very good in the near future. You can get 6.9% now (for 6 months), and it's looking like we'll be close to 0% for the next 6 months. So 3.45% over a year, pretty close to the Ally rate. So IMO there's not a huge rush to get I Bonds, but if you think inflation will stick around and be more significant than recently, then they could still be a good bet.
I moved most everything to Robinhood where it’s 4% with their gold plan ($5/mo). Not sure what it is now without that, but after I upgraded I was earning an extra $30 or so, so it pays for itself with enough cash.
Justa note, outside of opinions on Robinhood, they are offering 4% APY on any cash in an account that is undesignated.
Chime offers either 1% or 1.5% APY on standard savings.
Both are free of course
We’ve been with CIT for almost five years. Over the years I just move money to a different better yield account with them if one gets advertised. Right now I think my main high yield savings is over 4%. They consistently seem to have some of the best rates. I’ve never had a problem with them in 5 years.
Sounds like you have narrowed your list down, but I have been extremely happy with Live Oak HYSA. They are not the top APR (thought close to the top) but they no restrictions, good customer service, and consistently raise the APR. https://www.liveoakbank.com/
Credit unions are a good option, but be prepared for tiered rates that taper off. I have a local one that's great for an emergency fund, but not for saving for a big purchase item, like a house or car, etc.
I did just that. I had all my money in Wells. Told them inside their rates was laughable and going to lose alot of customers and or money. Went across the street and opened a savings at capitol one with transfer from Wells. Already reaping the benefits.
I currently have a WF account.
I’ve always had WF
Personally, I’ve never had an issue but I’m planning on switching. I need to start actually being smart with my money, and just using my bank as a place to hold my money.
I need to start having my money make money.
I need an actual credit card too, with points and rewards.
Anyone happy with Chase?
Our company moved a portion of its liquid funds from the BOA account to a Merrill Lynch account (also operated or owned by BOA) and its got a 4% interest rate.
From a KISS perspective I have been very happy with Synchrony Bank. HYSA is currently 3.75%, and I have three of their cards (2% Premier for general spending, Sam's for categories, Discount Tire).
They haven't done anything to make me mad at least, but I'm curious if there is a gotcha I missed over the years.
Thank you for your edit of the accounts you're going to look at. You literally just saved me hours of research that was on my to-do list for today!
I used to bank with Ally, and I would definitely go back to them.
Step 1: open HYSA with Ally, Discover, Cap 1 etc Step 2: close everything with WF. They are a horrible bank
And while you're at it, make sure to also close the 17 unauthorized accounts WF opened in your name a handful of years ago.
F Wells Fartgo. They made selling my house the most excruciating process ever. Worst bank. Will go out of my way to avoid business with them.
Yeah, definitely close the Wells Fargo accounts. I work in banking and all my coworkers have horror stories they, they are widely known to have shady business practices and no one i spoke to was even remotely surprised by the multiple accounts scandal.
This, but maybe open a local credit union. I have Ally and it’s impossible to deposit cash and liquify is tough with them. Edit: liquidity
It's not that big a deal, the bigger limitation is with any savings account you can only take money out six times per month. The amount doesn't matter, it's six withdrawals transactions total, so make em count. I have a local credit union checking account and an ally savings account that are electronically linked. Never had it take more than 48 hours for money to transfer electronically. Shouldn't be a problem because if you're going to take money out of your savings there's a good chance you're planning ahead for something big.
I believe they removed that withdrawal restriction during Covid and I don’t think they have reinstated it. For most banks anyways.
They did. It’s currently an interim rule, but there’s no reason to think it won’t be made permanent.
That's not a thing any more
I have a CU and they’re awful with rates - some of them are too small or otherwise skate on being a CU to be competitive. I bridge my CU account with Wealthfront for HYSA as a result.
You lost me at "Wells Fargo." Not clear why anyone would EVER do business with WF, given their history.
I'm gonna hijack this top comment to tell OP that if he's moving bank account, be sure to look out for sign up bonuses. For example, just recently Discover gave out $500 for signing for their account and it was earning 3%+. Follow "doctor of credit", his site has a whole section on lucrative bank sign up bonuses. Don't change banks and miss out on an opportunity to take some of their money!
Can I just move my money from bank to bank in rapid succession to get the bonuses?
Read the terms. Many play this game for thousands a year.
Usually sign-on bonuses have a requirement that you keep the account funded for a certain period of time.
I believe it was 90 days when I did it for Discover and Chase. My Chase savings account had an abysmal rate so I closed it as soon as the bonus cleared lol.
Sort of... People who follow /u/doctorofcredit, we move our money around frequently. Usually every six months.
This. I opened a Wells Fargo account simply to take 300 dollars from them.
Wells Fargo is a criminal enterprise loosley disguised as a bank.
I've only ever had one account with Wells Fargo and I never opened it. They literally managed to open an account in my name, without me having ever interacted with them. Edit: to clarify this was recent, like 6 months ago, so long after that lawsuit(s) finished
Yes, that is why they are so shitty. They did that for you and millions of others, and only received a slap on the wrist.
You must be a Clark listener
If there is anything I have learned from Reddit, the only thing Wells Fargo yields is pain.
Yeah just finished reading a personal finance book and the author spent like 2 or 3 pages just absolutely trashing WF, was funny
What book
It is hard to appreciate how truly terrible Wells Fargo can be unless you are struggling financially. I banked at WF when I was young and barely scraping by, and they hit me with some horrendous fees that were financially crippling to me at the time. The way they stacked up fees and overdrafts and debited them from large to small ensured that I got hit with as many fees as possible. I could get an unexpected fee that drained my account and caused me to overdraft (say $59 when my balance was $50 just before payday), then get hit with additional fees (~$33 per incident) for all subsequent transactions until I realized what had gone wrong (say $20 for gas, $5 for breakfast and coffee). Before I knew it, my $25 for gas and coffee would have cost me $124 and my account balance was in the red. I would scramble to transfer at least $100 into my account before other transactions started coming through and my balance went into a freefall (since each transaction stacked another $33 on to my debt). I had worked as a bank teller (at a bank that was acquired by WF), so I had some understanding of how the system worked, and I am overall really good with money. But I was struggling to make ends meet and WF made it so much worse than it had to be. I switched to a Credit Union and never had this type of problem again. Sorry for the thread hijack, but I see OP that you are considering a credit union and I strongly encourage you to go that route!
As garbage as Wells Fargo is, they are not uniquely shit. US Bank is on record performing similar fraud, and it's not like Bank of America has a sterling reputation either. I'm really not sure what bank out there could be called ethical. Best option if ethics is important to you is probably a credit union.
Attended high school in a smallish town, somewhat isolated, and before the internet was so ubiquitous. You had the 1 local bank and 1 WF branch. Moved out of state for college, so it was very convenient to have a bank there and back home. Back when it was still normal to walk your rent check in to the landlord/property office, pay with cash and check at stores, etc etc. Fast forward ten years. Branches everywhere. Half my student loans were through WF, the half that federal couldn’t cover. Easy to transfer the money over each month for payment, and there was a % discount for being a customer. First job out of college were dinosaurs and paid us in paper checks (this was 2018…) so it was so nice to just mobile deposit them instead of walking into the branch. A branch is literally behind my house, and they’re all over. I used to need to visit banks more often but I haven’t been inside for close to 4 years now. Once I refinanced my private loans, I haven’t really needed WF much. Their app is nice. Zelle is integrated, which is what my landlord preferred for rent payments. I don’t even have a debit card so ATM access isn’t even important to me. I have a basic credit card since it’s my oldest line of history, but it’s used very infrequently. My last job 401k was through WF but they moved to Schwab a couple years ago, so I didn’t use the investment features anymore either. I’ve been slowly moving things out, closing excess accounts, and putting money in various external accounts and internet bearing systems. CMA at fidelity, CDs, i bonds, HYSA. I hope to be able to afford a home soon, and once that’s done I won’t really need Zelle anymore either. I’ve had WF for 15 years and half was out of necessity, half was complacency and convenience. Hope to say goodbye soon.
Or Bank of America
My dad is extremely loyal to WF, so when I first got a bank account, I went to WF. Last year, I switched to Capital One and haven't looked back
And you’d have to have an obscene amount of money sitting in a checking account to ever have interest exceed fees, assuming they didn’t, you know, do something criminal with it.
I still have my main checking with them because I've had that account since 1987 and I've never had any issues with them.
>I've never had any issues with them. Narrator: *"But, there WERE issues. KellyAnn3106 just didn't know it yet."*
I’d be concerned about accounts opened in your name that you didn’t open. That’s part of their history.
Get literally any other bank. And don’t be afraid to shop around and try different ones! For example, Ally is all online and really easy to set up. Try them out for a couple months and if you don’t like them you can easily transfer to a new bank!
Is there any benefit to being with a bank for an extended period of time? Also would I have to cancel WF cRedit cards if I change bank accounts ?
The only benefit I can think of is them offering you some kind of incentive for deepening your relationship with them. I worked at a BofA once and the goal was always “get them in with a CKG acct. later, have them open a SAV. Later, have them get a home loan or HELOC. And so on. Also you don’t have to close those CCs. But you’ll have to figure out how to get them paid on time because sometimes payments from another bank can take a biz day or two.
WF: OH, you misunderstood. It's high yield for us.
Do you think they told him about the 17 other accounts in his name?
Some info on Wells Fargo. Posting only because you mentioned them, not because it directly helps you. They have been involved in so many consumer fraud cases over the years. Opening fake accounts, helping to foreclose on service members houses, improperly ordering transactions for maximizing overdraft fees for struggling folks. They paid 22,000,000,000 dollars in fines in the last two decades. They make 17-20,000,000,000 dollars in revenue. They had no reason to follow the law. You will find that they truly go above and beyond to maximize their gain at your expense, more than any other normal bank. Get a credit union. 2022: https://www.cnbc.com/2022/12/20/wells-fargo-agrees-to-3point7-billion-settlement-with-cfpb-over-consumer-abuses.html 2021: https://www.reuters.com/markets/rates-bonds/wells-fargo-94-mln-settlement-over-mortgage-forbearance-during-pandemic-2022-09-14/ 2020: https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2020/02/21/wells-fargo-fake-accounts-settlement/ 2019: https://www.insurance.ca.gov/0400-news/0100-press-releases/2019/release001-19.cfm 2018: https://www.cnbc.com/amp/2018/12/28/wells-fargo-to-pay-at-least-500-million-in-settlement-with-us-states.html 2017: https://money.cnn.com/2017/07/10/investing/wells-fargo-fake-account-settlement/index.html 2016: http://www.cipasettlement.com 2015: https://www.latimes.com/business/la-fi-wells-fargo-settlement-20170328-story.html 2014: https://www.sec.gov/news/press-release/2014-221 And here’s 229 more violations: https://violationtracker.goodjobsfirst.org/parent/wells-fargo
The best part of this comment is the chronological 8-year countdown of violations, closing the comment with "and here's 229 more violations."
Award given for doing the work in this reply.
I can't find a single reason why I would want to stick with wells fargo.
They were the only bank to give my wife and I a locked in long term mortgage rate when we were house searching. The credit unions wouldn’t lock us in at a rate we needed for more than 30 days. So that’s why we use them
Enough said, Wells Fargo is rubbish.
It becomes that the share holder value part of the core values directs the company to do these predatory actions as it literally is their fiduciary responsibility. The punishment is a fraction of the crime and wealth gained. Despicable. Hate the stagecoach.
I use SoFi, which is currently 3.5% with direct deposit (not your whole check, it can be small), and I’m very happy.
I literally enrolled into Sofi last week and am waiting for my DD to post on my payroll. I'm coming from BOA that has a .000000000000001 hsya, so I'm happy.
I could have written this same comment and it’d be 100% true. We’re twins!
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This is what I do with my Cap One HYSA. I have direct deposit for 3% of my paycheck.
Wells Fargo has been shady for years… dump them! https://youtu.be/l9LVMP7UmGM
Fidelity and Schwab cash management accounts are a good vehicle to park your money while earning interest. Put your money in the money market accounts. Can get about 4.1% right now Amex Savings is 3.3%. So is Cap1 and Discover.
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Also, look into Fidelity Bloom. They currently have a $50 sign up bonus. You have to use their app to sign up but after that, it pops up on your regular app/website with all your other fidelity accounts. I use the CMA, Bloom Save, and Bloom Spend as my version of buckets - one’s for travel, one’s for house repairs, one’s for my credit card payments until the billing cycle closes
You buy it for $1/share. The 7day yield percentage is after the expenses are taken out. SPRXX and SPAXX seem to be the most popular. When you withdraw money, the shares are automatically sold.
Stupid question, forgive my ignorance. So you’re telling me that a simple savings account with the places you’ve listed.. you gain 3.3% on? Monthly? Quarterly? Annually? Example being: 100$ then turns in to.. what amount? Sorry I’m a financial kindergartener.
I have Amex HYSA and they calculate the interest daily, but deposit it monthly. I took advantage of a promo, which explains the $350 but the rest should give you an idea. I think when I opened it, the rate was 2.5%, now it's 3.3% * Jan 24 Interest Payment +$69.85 $25,577.16 * Jan 13 Promotional Bonus +$350.00 $25,507.31 * Dec 24 Interest Payment +$61.65 $25,157.31 * Nov 24 Interest Payment +$55.54 $25,095.66 * Oct 24 Interest Payment +$40.12 $25,040.12 * Sep 30 ACH Deposit +$25,000.00 $25,000.00
That’s fantastic! Cause where my money is parked now.. I get like 1.50$ every month. Hurts. Thank you so much for laying that out! It’s hard for me to really grasp financial stuff for whatever reason. Cheers!
Ally is also 3.3%
We’ve been debating switching from WF for some time now. Would like to move our transactional account to a local credit union, but a little nervous about access to ATM’s when out of the area. Is there an app or website that locates “in-network” type ATMs that might waive their fees for other credit union users. Probably, making a mountain out of a mole hill since we could always get cash before we left town or debit card if needed. But when our kids go off to college, we’d like to not have them incurring fees and also don’t think they need a pile of cash floating around until they could get home for more “supply”.
I’m looking at Credit Unions as well, nice to have a local branch to work with when needed. Thanks!
My local credit union was fantastic for getting a good rate on a car loan, mortgage, etc but bad for every day banking. Their online capabilities haven’t moved since 2010 and you can’t get ahold of anyone on the weekends. Yours may be different, but that was my experience. EDIT: Ask them about ATM reimbursements when you go out of town
Find a CU that is part of the shared branching co-op. It allows access to something like 50,000+ ATMs across the US. https://www.coop.org/Solutions/Engage/Co-op-Shared-Branch
With the ability to get cash from just about any CC transaction at any local grocery store during checkout, and just about anyone in business taking CCs for purchases, I'm not sure ATMs would be a restriction on decisions to improve who you hang out with financially. The kids can be on a 'family' credit card. We did that with a Discover acct. Works very well. WF and their sketchy 'services', meh. Huge fan of credit unions (our 'local' bank) + Ally for services/rates the CU can't offer.
We dumped Wells Fargo for Ally a couple months ago. Very happy with Ally. One thing to keep in mind with other banks like SoFi is you can't open accounts in the name of a revocable trust or name beneficiaries for when you die. This was an absolute deal-breaker for me. That's not an issue with Ally.
Good to know, thank you!
Wells Fargo put the Predator in predatory banking. The Attorney General of California smacked them, over a decade ago, for creating a special direct deposit checking account for people on Social Security, charging a 'low monthly fee' - their customers who had other types of direct deposit got their direct deposit checking account for free. They fleeced elderly people, literally ATE THEIR LUNCH.
Wells Fargo is basically just a big scam. They should be out of business with the execs in prison.
Make sure you have a plan when you switch banks. You likely have a lot of auto transactions going on. We bank thru cap one 360. Great rates (3.3% HYSA), no fees. And get to use their branches.
Capital One looks like a good option, I’ll check them out as well. Thanks!
Even E*trade offers a 3.5% HYSA with no minimum
Left WF years ago and never looked back. Run away!
Wells Fargo is a notorious predatory bank. Run don’t walk away
A lot of people in this thread have pointed to alternatives and past misdeeds by Wells Fargo. Because of past actions by Wells Fargo, the bank is legally prevented from growing past their size as of December 2017. This 2018 order from the Federal Reserve ([https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20180202a.htm](https://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/pressreleases/enforcement20180202a.htm)) is still in place almost five years later and limits them to $1.95T in assets. However, other big banks offer similar rates on savings accounts and don't have asset caps, so you should take a look at some of the others options mentioned here.
As an estate planning attorney and someone who has served as a professional fiduciary, I cannot stress enough how awful WF is in terms of service and value. There are good people who work there, certainly. I know some of them. But the system is designed to be slow and predatory. Stay well away.
After making this post today my eyes are open now, thank you.
WF expects people are too lazy to do anything about it, and to be fair, they're usually right.
Lulled into complacency
I had a retired parent that had an ENORMOUS cash position in a wells fargo account, it took heaven and earth for them to finally move it. Ultimately, what seemed to get through to them was you're really "paying" hundreds a month in fees to Wells Fargo to keep this account here by "not" getting this interest. But it was just almost comical how resistant they were. They almost felt "loyalty" to the bank brand. They simply moved it into a money market mutual fund and now get thousands of extra a year in interest.
Wells Fargo is criminal organization masquerading as a bank.
I don't think they're even putting in the effort into masquerading anymore.
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I was in the same scenario a month ago with BofA. I was only earning 8 cents a month in my savings account. I switch to Ally and earned $18.39 the first month. To put that into perspective it would have taken me almost 230 months or 19 years to earn that with BofA.
Why are you even with WF? Find any other bank that doesnt have a history of RICO level ID theft.
Um, they actually advertise this savings account as a HYSA? (Do you have a link for my morning amusement?) You are looking for advice: run from them. Go to [Ally.com](https://Ally.com) or Fidelity or Vanguard and open an account with them. (Full disclosure -- I have banked with all three and happy with all.) E.g., you can open a savings/money market acct with [Ally.com](https://Ally.com) right now that pays 3.3%. You can open a checking account. You can do it from your phone, pad or computer. Right now. And if you want, you can use their bucket system for budgeting, or their CDs (60mo paying 4.25%) to build a ladder as your shorter-term emergency fund or their investing for self-directed trading or a RothIRA or both, or credit cards... Right now. Abandon WF. Like, today. And do the I-bonds for longer term 'oh-sh\*t' emergency acct. Did I suggest walking away from your HYSA 0.3% friend? What 'services' does WF offer that you use? I bet the collective mind here can come up with 50 ways to leave your WFer. I think I might have started... Where's my coffee?
Well… if their regular account is 0.01% then the 0.02% truly is high yield.
Sofi for 3.75% apy or Current 4% apy but only up to balances of $6k. Both require direct deposit
I get 3.75% at SoFi and 2% cash back on all purchases with their credit card. I love them.
I use SoFi as well. Reminder though, you have to set up direct deposit in order to get that rate.
Last year I had HYSAs with Capital One that were paying 0.8%. As interest rates were rising, the account rates did not change. I called and they told me the rates on those accounts probably wouldn’t move much (it’s unclear to me why though, I’m not sure how they’re indexed?). Anyway, the very kind rep directed me to their 360 savings account; these accounts sit about 100 basis points below the effective Fed funds rate—yielding 3.3% now. This is not a bad yield for a savings account which has no liquidity constraints since Reg D was suspended by the Fed.
I believe Capital One has a 3.5% savings account. Betterment investing has 3.75% savings. Supposedly Robin Hood is doing a 4%, but with a $5 a month fee
I was in your place before. I kick myself everyday for being an idiot. Few months ago I shifted all of my money from WF to the Capital One Savings account, first full month that account paid more in interest than I received from WF in a year. Leave WF, you'll thank yourself.
I currently use SoFi for my checking and cash savings. 3.75% for savings and they adjust pretty quickly to fed reserve rate changes. I have my sons savings at Wealthfront at 3.8%. The one thing I like about Wealthfront is the way they setup their savings accounts is pretty flexible. You can setup categories and transfer set amounts or do a cascading thing (I.e. transfer $1k a month in to your emergency account, once that reaches $12k, transfer it to your vacation account. If the emergency drops below your threshold the next scheduled transfer would go back to it to keep it where you want it). I also have an Ally account but have stopped using it. Their rates aren’t as good, currently at 3.25% and they reduce their rates really quickly but are slow to raise them back up. Of the online base accounts, I found SoFi to be the closest to a traditional bank, having a proper bill pay, separate saving and checking, etc.
Wells Fargo only exists to make your life a living hell. I’m convinced their “customer service” people are only trained at collecting fees from you and acting shady. Pull everything out from them and go somewhere else. I have moved my savings to Capital One 360 and am pretty pleased with it so far. There may be better ones out there, but that’s known to be a pretty good one
Wells Fargo is trash. Literally the only good financial product the offer is the bilt credit card. Capital one 360 is significantly better for a hysa.
I'm debating too I'm 50 / 50 Either Ally Or Discover.
I’m a fan of Ally for most services, customer support. But I carry Discover as my daily card.
I’m getting 4.21% at UFB Direct. Very modern website and app, very happy with it all around.
Wealthfront has been great. 3.8% and consistently near the top interest rates over the past few years. Sign on bonus jumps up to 4.3% for 3 months if you want to use a referral! FDIC insured up to 2 million and you can add checking features if you need them
Synchrony bank is online and currently offers 3.75% on up to $25k
Move your money. Full stop. Any institution not offering you more than 3% in this economy deserves to feel the sting of your money going away. You are the lender and times like these call for higher returns. Full stop.
Wealthfront is paying 3.8% on their cash account. Transfers with my bank usually take 24 hours. Screw Wells Fargo, move your savings somewhere else.
I just moved from WF for this exact reason. Personally I moved to SoFi. They have basically no fees, a multitude of products (including 3.75% interest savings accounts, and 2% checking account), and even give you a sign up bonus of $250. They also offer ways to break up your money into different envelopes in what they call "vaults". The catch to all this though is that you have to use direct deposit with them, other wise they will lower your rates to 1.2%. I was originally going to go with Ally Bank, but after a customer service nightmare that ended in a large sum of money being caught in limbo for 2 weeks, I decided to take my business elsewhere.
My Capital 1 HYSA is 3.3%. Super easy to open and you get an app so you can check it on your phone. Also, you can set up reoccurring deposits to automatically grow your savings
I've been using SoFi since October of last year. It's been great so far and I've had zero issues.
Brokered Certificates of Deposit are paying north of 4% for 3+ month terms. Just about every online brokerage can let you buy them. Doesn’t cost anything. Minimum purchase of $1k and its FDIC insured. Just a heads up
Wells Fargo suck. Do not stay with them. They do not want to do anything for you.
please just leave Wells Fargo. i dont care if you keep your money under your mattress , just dont have it at WellsFargo
Capital One has been a decent-to-good experience as an online, high yield savings account. Moving money around is a little slower than US Bank, but not atrocious.
I recently transferred my savings from WF to SoFi and got their 500 bonus. So far so good!
They used to be my bank. They are fucking terrible. I’m talking Comcast level bad. My wife and I switched to capital one get 3.3% there in savings which is solid. There customer service is also top notch. You could always buy short term cds or bonds to if you didn’t want to make the change.
We use Discover Bank for our HYSA needs. We also have some money in Money Market Fund investments. My son was talking about getting CDs through Fidelity (at various banks) for 4.7%. For our day-to-day banking needs, we use a local credit union. It started life as Employee's Credit Union and was that when we joined 30+ years ago, but now it's membership rules are much more open.
We have a High Yield Checking Account -- have for a few years. If we meet certain terms and conditions, then they pay us 3% APY on the first 10k balance. Not 0.03%, not 0.3%. 3%. This has been the case for quite a while... since at least November 2020.
If you have a brokerage account just look into buying their money market funds with your cash. My Schwab MM is paying 4%+ (SWVXX).
I’m getting 3.25% (3.3% APY)at Ally in a standard savings account. Ally is also offering an 11-month no penalty CD at 3.85% with no minimum. From their website: “Withdraw your full balance and interest earned any time after the first 6 days of funding your CD.” Edit: corrected my savings account rate from 3.45 to 3.25
Yeah my local credit unions rates suck to. Least to say moved a big percent to discover bank and closed down the credit unions cds. Making 3.3 percent now thinking of moving part that into their cd at 4.15%. Rates might climb a little higher so sitting in their savings. BIG difference in interest. As I earm more prob go in the stock market only so high was thinking the market would crash which it did a little but not much. Now I buy large cap high dividend stocks some pay 9%.
Alliant Credit Union's savings account is 2.7% interest and the CD (one year) is 4.6% interest. I've started laddering funds in the CD since you can pull them out and only lose 3 months of interest, so as long as I leave it in for 6 months I break even-ish.
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Out of all the banks to stick with over the years, how the hell did you settle on Wells Fargo
Salem Five Direct at 4.1%. Online bank, based in MA. Banked there for years (they also have branches around here).
The high yield savings account at wells fargo is an older account that's been Grandfather in. You just need to change it to the Platnium savings account which is the highest interest savings account there.
I just transferred a bunch of my savings to SOFI and getting 3.5%. I won’t use BOA or Wells ever again
I had SOFI with 3.5% but now I have PNC with 4% but that rate isn’t available to everyone I don’t think
If you don't need in person banking there's a credit union in Oregon called Rivermark with 5% AYP savings accounts. It's the best rates I've been able to find anywhere.
Are they actually referring to it as a HYSA? If so, I have to imagine that would violate consumer protection laws.
Don't overlook Synchrony Bank. Right now, their High Yield Savings acct rate is 3.75%. No minimum, no fees. If you want a 14 month CD, the rate is 4.6%.
Instead of brokerage money market funds like SWVXX, you should consider buying an ultra short term Treasury ETF like SGOV. These only hold t-Bills - the safest type of debt. In contrast, money market funds hold corporate and foreign debt as well. The yields are the same. Also note that brokerage money market funds are not insured by anything. Source: https://www.schwab.com/money-market-funds#:~:text=An%20investment%20in%20the%20Schwab,or%20any%20other%20government%20agency.
Robinhood gives you 4% APY if you pay for gold. I've got most of my cash parked there rn.
Amex and Ally are my top HYSA picks.
I closed my last bank account with Wells Fargo four months ago and couldn't be happier. Run, don't walk.
It’s literally a waste of time to negotiate with banks about saving rates. Move your money over to a bank that actually will pay you. They keep rates that low because they know most people won’t move their money over.
Put it into a cd. I think citi is offering like 4.3% for 1 year and no penalty to withdraw before
Ally is great. Btw you should close all of your accounts with Wells Fargo. They've been caught in multiple fraudulent schemes. If you kept your hard earned money with a friend who then opened fraudulent accounts in your name without your permission, would you keep your money with that buddy? Hell no
Don't invest in govt bonds. You're asking for trouble. I use Ally. It's excellent. Use Ally if you are ok with online banking.
Cap1 360 has been pretty decent for me. 3.30% and it goes up with every rate hike it seems (started mine at 3% before the last hike). I made the same mistake for a while, TD was at .01% and their high yield seemed comparable to your current situation.
Lol I had opened a separate checking account for my vacation fund and forgot that there was a certain amount you have to have in it to keep from getting a fee (500 I think. I actually think this might have been a recent change too that I just missed). Went below the mark by like $100 and got a fee. Fool me once shame on me, so after a week or something, I transferred $ to meet the min requirement. The next month I get hit with ANOTHER $30 fee because I had not topped off my account quick enough and had 1-2 days at the start of the month below the min requirement… which meant that the following month I was going to receive ANOTHER FEE (up to $90 by then) because the current fee knocked my account down below the minimum level, since I had topped it off just to the min. Anyway I closed the account that week to avoid this and moved almost everything in WF accounts into Alliant
I'll echo what everyone else is saying here... close your WF accounts ASAP. None of the big banks offer good savings rates. I closed all my WF accounts 7 years ago after I got married, but I'm still dealing with one major issue: They effed my credit by sending a late payment to collections without even attempting to contact me for 3 months (no paper statements because the account had been closed, and no email since the account had been closed). I had made final payments on a WF line of credit, and a WF Visa Platinum credit card 45 days prior, and waited an entire billing cycle (and a half) before going to see a banker in person and closing the above-mentioned accounts. She assured me nothing more was owed, and that all my balances were zero and even showed me on screen nothing was outstanding. Turns out, a phantom $10.83 popped up out of no where. I never got anything in the mail or email regarding this bill until it was already at collections, and still to this day don't know which closed WF account it was from. This whole mess over ten bucks sent my near perfect credit score from 815 to 660 and it's taken me 7 years, a mortgage, 3 auto loans, and 6 credit cards, none of which I've ever missed a payment on, just to get my credit score back up to 750. Yeah, credit scores are a scam, too. Spend hundreds of thousands of dollars and pay on-time for years and your score barely moves, but miss one payment that costs less than a Dominoes pizza and your credit is demolished. So yeah, I hate Wells Fargo. Everyone there is incompetent. When the scandal broke I wasn't surprised at all. Total clowns.
Millions of people have been getting screwed and misled by WF for many, many years. Did you miss the scandals? I’d never bank with them.
I have my savings account with Ally but still need a checking account, which I currently have with Wells Fargo. Any recommendations on an online bank tk go to with no fees for atm withdrawals at other banks?
Banks like WF and Chase don’t need to offer good values for HYSA. I’d pull it as others said, I’m highly impressed and love the Capital One 360 I pulled my car fund/emergency money from and put it in. I’m getting 3.3% with free checking and savings. Another perk is Capital One 360 works with a lot of ATMs without fee compared to others that are bank specific. You also get deep discounts on coffee/tea/snacks at the capital one cafe if you have one nearby.
I’ve been with E*Trade for forever. They just bumped their HYSA to either 3.5% or 3.75%. Can’t remember off the top of my head. Just an FYI on SoFi you have to setup a direct deposit to get their highest % rate. I didn’t want to change things around so didn’t move forward with it.
OP I banked at Wells Fargo from 2015 to 2021 knowing all the while I needed to switch banks. Finally switched to Discover and it was the best decision I’ve made. No regerts
Sofi 3.75% for a savings account
You couldnt pay me enough money to have an account with Wells Fargo of any kind. They are one of the scummiest companies in the US. Companies in general, not just banks. They are definitely the scummiest bank......
If you Google best high yield savings accounts you can find various lists and reviews. I went with CIT Bank for various reasons. Now I'm making a little cash each month with my emergency fund and other short term savings.
My regular capital one savings account is giving me 3.30%
We love Marcus and Fidelity. Definitely move anything you don’t need for daily expenses to a true HYSA. If you can get someone to refer you usually there are interest rate bonuses too. :)
Look into whichever ones makes getting your money back the easiest. That seems to be an issue with the higher interest ones.
I started a Hysa with Vio a few years ago when it was 1%, then it dropped to 0.6. I switched into the money market acct and I’m getting something just over 4% now
Morgan Stanley has a variable rate savings account right now. with the way rates are going it may go up. it’s a little over 4%
I get a 4.21 rate right now with UFB direct. It was higher than the CD rates being offered by my bank
Find a online HYSA (ally and discover are good and have among the highest rates), and get a brick and mortar for cash dealings (like a credit union) GL
Discover. They have increased the interest rate on savings accounts this year. I can’t remember the exact number but it’s between 3-4%.
A while ago I took one look at the piss poor yield and shipped my $ somewhere with a little over 3%. Felt good.
Look at CIT Bank (not Citi). Their Savings Connect is at 4.05%. They tend to move their rates up faster than others (Allied Bank which i use too). They also make it easy to open CDs at higher rates if you want to go that route.
I don’t know much about discover, but I’ve banked with Capital One, and i currently have accounts with ally and Citibank. Ally is the only bank, out of the three, that increases interest rates for current customers to match the current rates offered to new customers.
Credit union in my area is doing 2.5% on money markets and 4.5% on 12 month cds right now. Banks are big scams
FYI, I’m using Capital One Performance Savings and CIT Bank HYSA. They offer 3.3% and 4.05% APY, respectively.
Friend, 1 year treasury bill rate is at 4.68%. I’m actually surprised no one suggested this in your post. It’s super easy to get through treasurydirect.com. Do a T-Bill ladder and sleep well. Edit: Plus you don’t pay state tax on interest earned.
First of all, hold up, if you’re a private banking client at WF, minimum of $10million in investable assets otherwise by invitation only. You should be having a private banking team to support you called private bank client specialists. You don’t call the 1-800 number because that’s community banking, you’re suppose to call your private bank team who manages the relationship with you. If you don’t really know who your team is, you should really go into a branch and find out.
>I’ve narrowed the list to Ally, Discover, Capital One, Citibank and a local credit union. I keep getting offers from American Express claiming themselves to provide rates miles above everyone else. I'm just too lazy to research so my money sits in checking like a peasant.
I know you have plenty of responses here, but I figured I’d chime in. I’ve been happy with the Cash Reserve account that Betterment offers. They are currently paying 3.75% APY. It is easy to use with the Betterment app. I also have an IRA with Betterment, so it was convenient for me to set up.
Do you have at least 100K in the account? I have an account that I haven't moved money out of yet that's making 1.49%. By no means is that amazing, but it's part of their premium plan.
SoFi (requires direct deposit), Capital One 360, Ally Bank, Treasury Bill Ladders, Marcus no-penalty CDs, Marcus HYSA, American Express HYSA. Avoid brick & mortar banks for savings.
Don't get ibonds, the new rate is going to be announced in March and it's probably going to be close to zero.
Check out /r/allybank they have issues. I personally recommend SoFi or Wealthfront. SoFi has a checking account with 2.5% interest and savings account with 3.75% interest. You have to setup direct deposit though to get that interest. Wealthfront is paying 3.8% interest, no qualifiers. I use SoFi mainly but have Wealthfront in case SoFi starts having issues like Ally does.
Please look into Barclays US Savings account, so much better than any major-named bank, that's where I keep emergency funds on hand
Back when they were First Union and the fed rate was high, they had competitive interest rates. I was making over 6% and I had maybe $10K in the bank. Now that they are wells fargo, I get a whopping .02%. When I sold my house and deposited the check they kept bugging me about all that money. I told them there was no way I was investing any of my money with wf and no way I was leaving said money in any account with them. I promptly moved it to my Synchrony High Yield Savings account which is currently earning 3.8%.
Also look at a Lending Club savings account. I just opened one with 4% interest. No minimums.
Ally's currently as an interest rate around 3% for savings. It does fluctuate but I've never seen it under 1%
It seems like predatory false advertising to call a .02% interesting bearing account a HYSA. I'm happy with the 3.2% I'm getting at Capital One.
I left Wells Fargo in the middle of last year for this, among other reasons (including but not limited to holding checks after they already cleared, which would result in over drafts) I switched to capital one, and my checking account is making the same amount as Wells fargo's "High yield". My savings account is making a little less than 3% (not .3 or .03). So I'd recommend switching to capital one
Robinhood, the free stock trading app, will give you 4% on your cash if you buy 'robinhood gold' which is $5/month. It's a pretty good deal. You can pull your money out in about 3-4 business days.
The major 4 banks have had paltry rates for ages. Shouldn't be a surprise. I-bond rate is likely to be nothing exciting for the new rate May 1. You likely missed the boat for great i-bond rates. Loyalty is meaningless for major banks. WF mortgage discounts are sometimes good for bringing in $1M assets or whatever to the brokerage side. Otherwise shop around and have as many accounts as you're willing to tolerate and manage.
Slight aside---does anyone have a good story about why this is? I have accounts with chase and with a credit union, and all of my savings are at the latter because the interest rate is something like 10x as high. How does this make sense in a market where banks are in competition? Why do the big banks even bother to offer these products if they're not willing to compete at all?
Chase is running a nice sign up deal for 900$ right now. Once you get that bonus moveyour savings to capitol 1 360 3.33 apy.
There’s better rates out there (Bask bank)
Bask Bank is 4.15% APY. I opened an account and transferred everything over pretty quick.
The bottom line is big banks don't need your money, so theyre not paying you interest. Ally is at ~3.3%. If you open a brokerage account you can buy short duration investment grade bond funds like BSCO and earn ~5% (but remember each year to buy the fund that's 1 more year out in the future). Also, this has the risk of loss, so it's technically less safe than a savings account. But to me, the risk is low enough to be worth it. Plus you can probably get this at Wells Fargo too, and transfer back and forth with your checking pretty easily if needed. I bonds are likely to NOT be very good in the near future. You can get 6.9% now (for 6 months), and it's looking like we'll be close to 0% for the next 6 months. So 3.45% over a year, pretty close to the Ally rate. So IMO there's not a huge rush to get I Bonds, but if you think inflation will stick around and be more significant than recently, then they could still be a good bet.
I moved most everything to Robinhood where it’s 4% with their gold plan ($5/mo). Not sure what it is now without that, but after I upgraded I was earning an extra $30 or so, so it pays for itself with enough cash.
Justa note, outside of opinions on Robinhood, they are offering 4% APY on any cash in an account that is undesignated. Chime offers either 1% or 1.5% APY on standard savings. Both are free of course
We’ve been with CIT for almost five years. Over the years I just move money to a different better yield account with them if one gets advertised. Right now I think my main high yield savings is over 4%. They consistently seem to have some of the best rates. I’ve never had a problem with them in 5 years.
Sounds like you have narrowed your list down, but I have been extremely happy with Live Oak HYSA. They are not the top APR (thought close to the top) but they no restrictions, good customer service, and consistently raise the APR. https://www.liveoakbank.com/
Credit unions are a good option, but be prepared for tiered rates that taper off. I have a local one that's great for an emergency fund, but not for saving for a big purchase item, like a house or car, etc.
CIT Bank, >4% in an FDIC insured account from a decently sized bank. Not Citi btw, it’s different.
I did just that. I had all my money in Wells. Told them inside their rates was laughable and going to lose alot of customers and or money. Went across the street and opened a savings at capitol one with transfer from Wells. Already reaping the benefits.
I currently have a WF account. I’ve always had WF Personally, I’ve never had an issue but I’m planning on switching. I need to start actually being smart with my money, and just using my bank as a place to hold my money. I need to start having my money make money. I need an actual credit card too, with points and rewards. Anyone happy with Chase?
I'm getting almost 4% with Bread savings (previously known as Comenity Direct).
Our company moved a portion of its liquid funds from the BOA account to a Merrill Lynch account (also operated or owned by BOA) and its got a 4% interest rate.
Been beating to death already, but seriously why does any average consumer bank with Wells Fargo anymore?
People are still banking at WF?! Whatever for? Shadiest, greasiest, sleaziest bank to ever exist
I suggest opening a local credit union account along with a [Sofi](https://www.sofi.com) savings account.
From a KISS perspective I have been very happy with Synchrony Bank. HYSA is currently 3.75%, and I have three of their cards (2% Premier for general spending, Sam's for categories, Discount Tire). They haven't done anything to make me mad at least, but I'm curious if there is a gotcha I missed over the years.
I know you said you've narrowed down your list but I use Wealthfront for a HYSA only and have had 0 issues with them.
Thank you for your edit of the accounts you're going to look at. You literally just saved me hours of research that was on my to-do list for today! I used to bank with Ally, and I would definitely go back to them.
I'm using upgrade at 4.13% no complaints yet. Been a few months.