I FOUND THE 5 BEST BANK ACCOUNTS OF 2023

What's up, guys? It's Graham here. So the time has finally come: saving money is now officially profitable! That's right; for the first time in my YouTube career, cash is once again King. If you have any amount of savings whatsoever, this applies to you, because there are so many potential opportunities to make money with rates that we have not seen in more than 15 years. So without further ado, let's talk about the five best bank accounts that pay you the highest interest rates possible for you doing absolutely nothing.

And to do that, I've set a strict criteria. First, it's got to be from a well-known banker company. Second, they must be verified. Third, they must be available to anybody in the United States. Fourth, they gotta be FDIC insured. And fifth, if you appreciate the information, feel free to subscribe; it helps with the channel tremendously. None of these banks are sponsoring this video; I get no kickbacks whatsoever from talking about them. And as a thank you for doing that, I will do my best to respond to as many comments as possible. So thanks so much, and now let's begin.

First, we have my long-time, all-around favorites: Ally Bank. This is a bank that I've personally been using for over a decade, and up until recently, they've been my go-to for pretty much everything online banking. That's because they allow you to make unlimited free accounts. The app is extremely easy to use, their 24/7 customer service is fantastic, and there's no monthly maintenance fees or minimums to get started. On top of that, you also get the typical FDIC insurance up to $250,000. Now I know this sounds like some sort of paid promotion, but trust me, I just genuinely like the company, and they've never responded back to my partnership emails. But regardless, they've been a great company to bank with, and they currently pay a 3.75% interest rate within their savings account.

Or, you could take advantage of their money market account, which is currently paying 4%. They also offer high yield CDs that they're currently paying anywhere from 4.5% to 5%, depending if you choose a 12 or 18-month term, or a no-penalty 11-month CD that pays 4.35%, where you could take out your money anytime after the first six days. To me, this is just a really good bank with a lot of utility, especially if you want the entire package versus just a savings account. But the downside is that this is a company that is exposed to a high amount of auto debt, for whatever that's worth.

They're only online, so there's no chance of going into a physical branch, and their interest rate is good, but it's not really the best. And that's what brings us to second: Lending Club. Yep, you heard that correctly; the company that used to offer peer-to-peer personal loans has now evolved into a bank. From what I could tell, they actually seem pretty good. Of course, full disclosure here: I've not tried them out myself, but the reviews appear pretty promising, and they could be a good contender. That's because they're currently offering a 4.25% interest rate on their savings account with no monthly fees and a minimum deposit of a hundred dollars. They'll also give you a debit card that's linked directly to your account, and they're not going to charge you any ATM fees. Instead, they calculate the amount of ATM fees that you incurred during the month and automatically rebate it back to your account.

Now, I will say, as good as they seem, sometimes it's just not worth it to chase the highest yields when their competitors have the benefit of being around much longer with a proven track record. Although, in this case, they do seem like a promising company to keep in mind if you're looking for a slightly higher interest rate because we also have our number three: Wealthfront. Now, I want to make it clear that Wealthfront has been a paid sponsor of this channel in the past, but this time I have no financial incentive to sign up, and I don't have any Wealthfront affiliate links for you. I've just genuinely liked and used this company from before they even reached out to sponsor any of my videos, and here I am again talking about them for free because I do think they offer a lot of great perks.

One of them is their online savings account, which is currently paying 4.3% interest on all balances with no fees, no minimums, up to three million dollars of FDIC insurance through a sweep program with partner banks, and unlimited fee-free transfers. Again, I know it sounds a bit like an ad read, but I get nothing from talking about them besides the satisfaction of hopefully introducing you to a bank that pays you a bit more interest than what you're currently getting. Anyway, as a Wealthfront customer myself for many years, I will say their account is great; it's very easy to use, their rates are very competitive, and I enjoy their financial planning tools.

They also now have the option for you to be able to use your account to pay bills, and they've got 19,000 fee-free ATMs in the event that you need cash. To be honest, I don't really have that many complaints except the fact that they don't have any physical branch locations, which is pretty much the same as every other bank that we're talking about. But my assumption here is that they want to probably just offer you great banking services with the expectation that eventually you would invest with them, and that's probably where they're making the bulk of their money.

Although, as far as their savings aspect is concerned, I really have nothing but great things to say about them. But if you want slightly higher interest, you should check out CIT Bank, not to be confused with Citibank. Anyway, with this bank, you'll get a few different options in terms of your interest rate. The first would be their savings connect account where you could earn 4.5% interest with a $100 minimum deposit. The second would be their Platinum savings, where you could begin earning 4.75% on balances above $5,000. All of this comes with no monthly maintenance fee, no fees, and quite a few services, and they'll also reimburse you up to thirty dollars in third-party ATM fees per statement. So if you ever need cash, it's not a problem.

On top of that, they also offer some pretty competitive CD rates; like right now, you're able to lock in 5% for the next six months with a minimum deposit of a thousand dollars. Of course, with this, there are penalties if you take out your money sooner, which is why they have a no-penalty option that's currently paying 4.8%. This could be a great way for you to earn some extra cash for money that you have sitting on the sidelines. Although, just remember that nothing is perfect, and it's important to keep in mind that this bank has no physical branch locations, which, let's be real, I don't know how many people physically go to the bank anymore or do something at the bank that they can't do from their phone.

So it's a small price to pay for getting a much higher interest rate than a lot of the old school traditional banks offer. And finally, if you want the most ridiculous option from all of them, you have Redneck Bank. Now, I know I said earlier that we wouldn't be talking about small no-name banks, but with a name like Redneck Bank, we gotta talk about it. And yes, I'm not kidding; that's the actual name. I have no idea how they decided on it, but it's unique. They even have a very realistic fly on their website that you could chase around with your mouse, which makes this website such a hidden gem.

Anyway, they're currently paying a 4.8% interest rate within their checking account up to the first $15,000, which is perfect for those who want to get as high of an interest rate as possible and don't have tens of thousands of dollars to spread around. They also have pretty good reviews with the exception of the complaints of high overdraft fees, but just don't do that. Beyond that, though, you do get to enjoy no monthly fees, no minimums, they're FDIC insured, and they're pretty popular for those that know what it is.

Although if you're not necessarily looking for a bank and all you want to do is earn as much interest as possible, that does open up your options. And one of those is a brand new product from Vanguard, which currently pays a 4.25% interest rate. Yes, I know it's lower than some of the other options, but it's Vanguard—they're practically the foundation of the entire investment industry. And when they offer a free product with no minimum balances, no fees, and up to $250,000 in FDIC insurance, it's worth considering. However, keep in mind that this is currently in a pilot program, so not everyone is able to get immediate access.

And since this is a cash account, you can't really use it like a bank or get an ATM card, but they have proven to be an extremely solid company, and 4.25% interest is pretty good. Alternatively, you can also check out their money market funds like VIMFIX or VOX6, which pay between 4.7% to 4.8% with a minimum investment of three thousand dollars. Now, the risk with money market funds like this is that, in the event of a complete financial apocalyptic collapse, there's more than a non-zero chance that the money market fund could do what's called "breaking the buck," which is a really fancy way of saying your one dollar share might not be redeemable for the full one dollar if everyone cashes out at the same time.

How bad has this gotten in the past, you might ask? Well, it's only ever happened two times before in history. One occurred in 2008 when the fund held the now bankrupt Lehman Brothers, and each one dollar share settled out for 99 cents. The other was a small institutional fund in 1994, which paid back 94 cents for every one dollar invested. Basically, the chance of this happening is incredibly rare, and more protections have been put in place since then, but it's not a hundred percent impossible. And that's why you take a slightly higher risk for a slightly higher reward.

Now, Vanguard is not the only one who has these funds either. Charles Schwab has SWIT6, which pays 4.69%; Fidelity is SPRITZ, which pays 4.65%; or you could just Google search your brokerage and money market fund, because most likely they'll pay slightly more than you could get in a savings account. On top of that, you also have the option of treasuries, which currently are paying between 4% and 5% depending on the term. The downside, though, is that you'll have to lock up your money to get the full benefit. But if you don't mind doing that, you could end up making substantially more than going with any other bank.

Overall, my hope with all of this is that this video would be able to point you in the right direction to begin doing some more research. And since savings accounts are finally beginning to pay you a respectable amount of interest, now is the time to make sure you're optimizing it to make as much money as possible. So with that said, you guys, thank you so much for watching. As always, feel free to add me on Instagram, and don't forget that you could get a free stock worth all the way up to a thousand dollars with their paid sponsor Public.com down below in the description when you use the code "gram" and make a deposit. Let me know which free stock you get. Thank you so much, and until next time!