Want to use Zelle and earn a high interest rate on your savings? You can earn high rates with these accounts

Key Takeaways

• It is essential to open a high yield savings account if you wish to ensure that your money will outperform today’s inflation rates.
• Sending money to family and friends is easy with Zelle.
• Not many of the best high-yield savings accounts offer Zelle, but we found three that do—with rates up to 4.50%.
• You may be able earn 5% if you have direct deposit.

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Why a High APY plus Zelle is so Useful

Earning a strong return on your savings is not only smart, but with current inflation, it’s essential—otherwise, your money loses value over time. Fortunately, high-yielding savings accounts pay more than 10x the national average saving rate.

If you’ve ever shared a meal with friends or shared utilities with a roommate you can appreciate peer-to-peer payment. While many savings accounts offer either a strong APY or fast, built-in money transfers—rarely both—we found three accounts that stand out by offering rates up to 4.50% and the ability to pay people with Zelle. (We have a bonus option that is a little different but pays 5% annual percentage yield.)

Zelle, a peer-topeer money transfer system, allows users to transfer money from one account to another via a computer. More than 2,200 credit unions and banks offer Zelle. The money is usually received within minutes. Instant transfers do not incur any fees, even when the sender or recipient uses different banks.

Top-Paying accounts that offer Zelle

Only these three banks offer Zelle.

Presidential Bank’s Advantage Savings – 4.50% APY

• Minimum opening deposit: $5,000
• Minimum balance required: Any amount
• Other details: Must have an Advantage Checking Account to receive the stated rate. Otherwise, savings accounts earn 4.00% APY

Poppy Bank’s Premier Online Savings – 4.40% APY

• Minimum opening deposit: Any amount
• Minimum balance required: $1,000 to earn the stated APY
• Other details: $5 monthly charge waived with electronic statements

Bask Bank’s Interest Savings – 4.20% APY

• Minimum opening deposit: Any amount
• Minimum balance required: Any amount

In addition to these three high-yield savings accounts, we have one bonus option—a high-interest checking account. This account requires you to be able set up a direct deposit to earn its high rate of 5.00%. If this is something you can do, then it’s a great option. This account is a check-paying account, but you can use it just as a regular savings account.

mph.bank’s Free Account – 5.00% APY

• Minimum opening deposit: $25
• Minimum balance requirement: Any amount
• Earn the stated APY up to $50,000. To qualify for this rate, the account needs to receive $2,000 per month in direct deposits.

Learn More About Zelle

Zelle is a simple service to use. However, both the sender and receiver of the money must register for the service. Previously, consumers were able to send or receive money directly from the Zelle App. However, users now have to access the service via a bank or credit card. Your financial institution may limit how much money you can transfer through Zelle per transaction and within a certain time period—whether that’s daily, weekly, or monthly.

Zelle is a safe app, as it uses authentication and monitoring similar to your banking app. Zelle does offer payment protection but there is no way to undo the transaction if it goes to the wrong person. It’s also recommended that you use Zelle to send money only to people you know and trust.

Tip

It’s a little-known feature of Zelle: You can send money to yourself using it. It’s also much faster than a traditional ACH transfer. You can register Zelle with two different financial institutions if you have accounts there. Just make sure you use a separate email address or telephone number for each registration. Once this is done, you will be able move money from one account to another without having to wait for days.

Find the best Savings Account for you

To maximize your interest earning, look for a high yield savings account that offers the highest APY. Start by looking at our daily updated list of the highest-paying savings accounts. Rates can fluctuate, but starting with a high rate will give you a better return. Check for minimum balance requirements—both to open the account and to earn the highest rate—to ensure they work for your financial situation.

Daily Rankings for the Best CDs, Savings Accounts and Investments

We update this ranking every day of the week to provide you with the best rates for deposits.

• Best 3-Month Rates
• Best 6-Month CD rates
• Best 1-Year CD rates
• Best CD Rates for 18-Months
• Best 2-Year Rates on CD
• Best 3-Year CD rates
• Best 4-year CD Rates
• Best 5-Year CD rates
• Best High-Yielding Savings Accounts
• Best Money Market Accounts

You can also read about the importance of this in

Note that the "top rates" quoted here are the highest nationally available rates Investopedia has identified in its daily rate research on hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is different from the national average that includes all banks that offer a CD under that term. Many large banks pay pittances of interest. The national averages are usually quite low. However, the best rates can be found by shopping around. They are often 5, 10 or even 15 times more expensive.

How to Find the Best CD Rates and Savings

Investopedia tracks daily the rates of more than 200 banks, credit unions, and savings accounts that are offered to customers across the nation. This data is used to determine the best-paying accounts. To be included in our lists, an institution must be federally backed (FDIC for credit unions, NCUA or FDIC for banks) and have a minimum deposit of $25,000 for the account. The maximum deposit amount cannot be less than $5,000.

Nationally available banks must be present in at least 40 different states. While some credit unions ask you to donate to an association or charity to become a part of their organization if you don’t meet the other eligibility criteria, (e.g. if you don’t live in certain areas or work in certain types of jobs), we exclude credit Unions that require a donation of $40 or more. Read our methodology to learn more about how we select the best rates.

Article Sources Investopedia requires that writers use primary sources in order to support their work. These include whitepapers, government data, original reports, and interviews with experts in the industry. We also use original research from other reputable publications when appropriate. Learn more about our standards for producing accurate and unbiased content by visiting our Editorial Policy

1. Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation "National Rates and Rate Caps."

2. Zelle. "I’m unsure about using Zelle to pay someone I don’t know. What should I do?"

3. Zelle. "Zelle Safety 101."