Is Your Money Suffering Near-Zero APY in a Chase Savings Account? Time to Switch Banks

Chase is America's largest bank by assets, but it pays tiny interest on savings accounts. Currently, the Chase Savings℠ account is only offering 0.01% APY on balances. With all due respect to the bank that brought the world so many great travel credit cards…that's a truly putrid APY.

If you're a Chase savings account customer, you can earn more money on your savings with many other banks. You might even earn higher interest with some of the best checking accounts.

Let's take a deeper dive into why Chase savings accounts pay such low APY, and what you could do with your money instead.

Why Chase savings account APYs are so low

Most of the time Chase, like other big banks, doesn't have to try very hard to get deposits. Chase has millions of customers and many trillions of dollars of assets, and it can afford to be stingy with the APYs on its savings accounts.

Our Picks for the Best High-Yield Savings Accounts of 2024

Capital One 360 Performance Savings APY 4.25% Rate info See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of April 11, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening. Min. to earn $0 Open Account for Capital One 360 Performance Savings Member FDIC.	APY 4.25% Rate info See Capital One website for most up-to-date rates. Advertised Annual Percentage Yield (APY) is variable and accurate as of April 11, 2024. Rates are subject to change at any time before or after account opening.	Min. to earn $0
American Express® High Yield Savings APY 4.25% Rate info 4.25% annual percentage yield as of July 1, 2024 Min. to earn $1 Open Account for American Express® High Yield Savings Member FDIC.	APY 4.25% Rate info 4.25% annual percentage yield as of July 1, 2024	Min. to earn $1
Citizens Access® Savings APY 4.50% Min. to earn $0.01 Open Account for Citizens Access® Savings Member FDIC.	APY 4.50%	Min. to earn $0.01

Smaller, scrappier, more digital-first banks will often provide better APYs on savings accounts than big, brick-and-mortar banks. And in fairness to Chase, the bank's savings product APYs are not all bad. Chase does offer some competitive rates on certificates of deposit (CDs) -- up to 4.75% APY depending on your balance, with a relationship rate for having a linked Chase checking account.

But if you have money sitting in a Chase savings account getting only 0.01% APY, you might want to re-evaluate your decisions.

How much can you earn with a Chase savings account?

Let's crunch the numbers and see how much money you'll earn with that ultra-low 0.01% APY. We'll assume you have $10,000 of cash. And we'll compare your earnings to some other options, like the national average savings account, the best savings accounts, and more.

The takeaway: $10,000 in a Chase Savings℠ account at 0.01% APY will earn about $1 per year. That's all! You'd be better off putting your money in a (bad APY) national average savings account, or even in a (worse APY) national average interest-bearing checking account. As the years go by, you're missing out on hundreds or thousands of dollars of growth.

Where to put your cash instead of a Chase savings account at 0.01% APY

Here are a few options to move your money from a near-zero Chase savings account to a higher-yield savings account.

Best savings accounts and money market accounts

The best savings accounts and best money market accounts are offering 5.00% APY or higher now. Most of these high yields are offered by smaller banks, online banks, and fintech bank partners.

Some people might be hesitant to put their money into a small bank or online bank that you haven't heard of before. But remember, as long as the bank is FDIC insured, your money is safe from bank failure (up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank, per account ownership category).

Better savings accounts from big banks

Do you enjoy having your money at a big bank? That's OK -- some people like the reassurance of knowing that their deposits are part of a big national brick-and-mortar branch network. Maybe it feels "safer" to you, to have your money in a major bank like Chase.

But even if you want to keep your savings at a big national bank, you can still get a higher APY. Capital One and Citibank both offer high-yield savings accounts that are competitive with some of the APYs at the best savings accounts. The Capital One 360 Performance Savings account currently offers 4.25% APY. Meanwhile, the Citi® Accelerate High-Yield Savings offers 4.30% APY -- and both bank accounts require no minimum balance. (Rates might not be available in all areas.)

If you have a larger amount of cash to deposit, and you want the flexibility of a money market account, try the U.S. Bank Elite Money Market Account. You can earn up to 4.25% APY (with a minimum balance of $25,000).

Bottom line

As banks have to compete harder for customers' deposits, we could see more customer-friendly APYs from big banks like Chase. But in the meantime, there's no reason for customers to put up with 0.01% APY on savings accounts. Even if you love Chase credit cards, you can get a better deal on your savings with other banks.