Following the Federal Reserve’s hike in the Fed Funds rate in September, we have seen interest rates of all durations move up in the first week in October. Savings rates too have risen, causing the best rates in BestCashCow’s table of online rates to shuffle.

Here are 5 accounts you may want to consider:

1. EBSB Direct – 2.50% savings account on balances over $5,000

EBSB Direct is the online banking division of East Boston Savings Bank and a familiar name to many who have followed the online deposit account space for the last few years. The 2.50% savings rate is above other nationally available rates and is likely to remain competitive if the Fed raises interest rates again in December.

EBSB Direct is playing a bit of a game with earlier depositors. They remain in the “Money Market 3” account earning 1.80% unless they contact customer service and add new money to their account (this is something we don’t like). On the plus side, EBSB Direct has great customer service according to its reviews on BestCashCow. The 2.50% rate is good on deposits up to $1 million. While only the first $250,000 is covered by FDIC insurance, East Boston Savings Bank is a Massachusetts-chartered bank and a member of that State’s Depositors Insurance Fund (DIF) that insures balance above FDIC limits. BestCashCow’s financial analysis shows that the bank is very sound.

Note: EBSB withdrew this offer on November 1, 2018. It is no longer nationally available to new depositors.

2. MySavingsDirect – 2.25% Savings Rate, No Minimum Balance

MySavingsDirect is a division of Emigrant Bank. Emigrant operates three online divisions (MySavingsDirect, Dollar Savings Direct and Emigrant Direct). Rather than raise the rates in all of the accounts as rates rise, Emigrant has developed a practice of only making their savings rates competitive in one division at a time. As a result of this practice, customers are being forced to flip accounts in order to maintain market rates (Dollar Savings Direct’s rate seems to be stuck at 1.80% and Emigrant Direct’s rate is 0.50%) and these divisions end up with mixed reviews on BestCashCow (see here how frustrated Dollar Savings Direct customers became when they stopped raising rates).

Emigrant’s practice is definitely something for new depositors to think about before opening an account. As rates continue to rise in 2019, you can expect that you will need to move your assets out of MySavingsDirect in order to stay competitive. That’s an OK strategy so long as you make a plan to check the latest online savings rates on BestCashCow frequently. Emigrant’s divisions make accounts easy to open and fund (although you cannot link by ACH with all banks).

3. Marcus – 1.95% Online Savings rate for balances over $1

Marcus has outstanding customer reviews and its lightening fast ACH transfers.. Since Marcus is part of Goldman Sachs, depositors, especially those inclined to deposit over FDIC limits, can always sleep well at night. Importantly, as rates have risen through 2018, Marcus has proven to be faster to raise rates than the other most recognized online banks (Amex, Barclays and Ally). While it may not always sit on top of BestCashCow's online savings table, depositors with Marcus can anticipate that they will remain competitive, and know that they will be free from the games that the banks listed above may play.

Note: Marcus's savings rate has been raised to 2.05% at the end of the month.

Editor’s Note: Marcus is an advertiser of BestCashCow. Please read our Advertiser Disclosure here.

4. Citizens Access – 2.12% Savings Rate for balances over $5,000

Citizens Access is a recent addition to the online banking space with competitive CD products in addition to their online savings account. The account is easy to open and it is the online banking division of a solid bank. They entered the market over the summer of 2018 with a competitive 2.00% savings rate and were quick to raise their savings rate to 2.12% after the Federal Reserve moved in September 2018.

Note: Citizens Access raised its online savings rate from 2.12% to 2.25% in the middle of October.

5. Purepoint – 2.15% Savings Rate for balances over $10,000

Purepoint is like CitizensAccess with a couple more years under its belt, a slightly higher rate at the moment, but also a higher minimum balance. They should continue to be competitive and raise rates quickly as the Fed moves through 2018 and 2019. MUFG Union Bank is Purepoint’s parent, and is itself owned by Mitsubishi UFJ Financial Group, one of the world’s largest banking groups. Purepoint’s online portal is clearly aiming to attract people depositing millions. While we strongly encourage depositors to stay within FDIC limits, BestCashCow’s analysis shows that the parent bank is financially sound.

Editor's Note: Purepoint ceased operations in 2022.

Before opening an online savings or money market account, BestCashCow always urges depositors you to check local bank rates and local credit union rates.

The Federal Reserve moved in September 2018 to a 2 – 2.25% Fed Funds rate, and savings and money market rates are now firmly above 2%.

Interest rates are poised to go up again in December 2018. Unless Trump fires Jay Powell, the Federal Reserve will likely continue to raise rates in 2019 until it reach its stated 3% + neutral rate by end of the year.

Not everyone checks BestCashCow.com, or a competing site, every day in order to get the best savings rates. In fact, there are people who don’t even check monthly or quarterly. And, most people just don’t like the hassle of moving around large amounts of cash in order to continue to get a competitive rate as rates rise.

For these people, BestCashCow has developed our Best Bets in Online Savings and Money Market Accounts for 2019. On this list, you will find the five online bank accounts that have correlated the strongest with each Federal Reserve move (the highest beta). For each of these accounts, we have recorded a savings or money market rate increase either just before or within days of each Fed Funds rate increase over the course of 2018.

If interest rates continue on their current trajectory, we believe that with these 5 online savings and money market accounts, you are most likely to wake up on December 31, 2019 and learn that your savings rate has increased with each Fed move over the course of the year.

Excluded from this list are those banks that have maintained rate competitiveness over the course of 2018 but have exhibited a tendency towards requiring existing depositors to move their money between accounts (from savings to money market or vis-a-versa) or from one brand to another in order to get the best rate. It isn’t that we don’t like these banks and these rates, but this list is designed for those depositors who want to go to sleep for 2019 and do not want to worry about whether they are earning a very competitive savings or money market rate.

Here is BestCashCow's list:

Citizens Access

CIT Bank

Sallie Mae Money Market

Marcus Savings

Purepoint

See the best online savings and money market rates today.

Advertiser Disclosure: This list contains advertisers and non-advertisers. No bank, advertiser or non-advertiser, has provided any consideration for inclusion in this list. Please read our advertiser policy here.

It’s very hard to figure out when and how to discuss money with your children. It’s almost as difficult, surprisingly, as talking with them about sex. But there is an easy way, one that also gives them at the same time an unusual introduction to math, especially fractions and multiples.

Today, banks (and there are an unusually large number of both online banks and brick-and-mortar banks) compete with one another to offer the best interest on both short and long-term money accounts and CDs. In fact, there is a dizzying array of offers out there of constantly changing rates.

For parents and children the new environment and competing banks offer a perfect opportunity for introducing easy to grasp but highly important skills in money management concepts and division and fractions. Equally, bank interest rate competition also provides an environment of very low risk, making things both fun and safe. Many online banks – including Ally and CIT – make it particularly easy to open a savings account for minors. Such a savings account is a far safer place to put allowance, presents or earnings than trying to teach your kids to experiment with small stock purchases as a way to introduce concepts of income generation and the like.

What makes it all even better for introducing math and money matters to children is that there are a number of sites, including BestCashCow, where the primary focus is on tracking and making easily available changes and fluctuations of interest and CD rates over short periods of time and across the spectrum of the nation’s banks.

In particular, this site and RatesAndInfo.com have great calculators that offer a real resource to demonstrate to your kids the value of compounding money throughout their lifetimes, and the importance of incremental improvements in a savings rate when compounded over time.