Capital One Savings Rates: Comprehensive Analysis
Business Insider’s personal finance team compared Capital One’s savings account to the best high-yield savings accounts and found it to be a standard offering.
Capital One is a large, nationwide online bank. Unlike most online banks, Capital One has locations across the U.S. Capital One 360 Performance Savings offers a solid rate with no monthly service fees, but the top high-yield savings accounts offer better savings account rates.
Current Capital One Savings Rates
Capital One pays much higher rates than you’ll earn with brick-and-mortar banks. You’ll find better rates at other online banks, as there are few with savings accounts with 5% interest or close to it, but keep in mind that rates can fluctuate at any time.
Capital One 360 Performance Savings Rates
The Capital One 360 Performance Savings account pays 3.70% (rate as of 02/06/25) APY (Annual Percentage Yield) on all account balances. This is significantly higher than the national average of 0.41% APY.
Capital One Kids Savings Rates
The Capital One 360 Kids Savings Account gives 2.50% APY. To qualify for this joint bank account, you’ll need both an adult owner and a child owner. There’s no lower limit to how young the child can be, but they have to be under 18 years old. If the child is under age 12, the adult has to be the child’s parent or legal guardian.
Overview of Capital One Savings Accounts
How Capital One Savings Accounts Work
Capital One offers two savings accounts: Capital One 360 Performance Savings, which is a general account, and the Capital One 360 Kids Savings Account, which is a more specialized savings account for kids that parents can open for them. The account for kids interest rates are significantly lower than the standard savings account’s rates.
You can open an account online, over the phone, or in person at a branch. You’ll want to gather what you’ll need to open a bank account before you start the application process. For Capital One, that includes your name, date of birth, mailing address, email, phone number, employment information, annual income, Social Security number, and citizenship information.
Capital One does not allow you to use your individual taxpayer identification number to open an account unless you go into one of its physical locations.
Capital One 360 Performance Savings has a good interest rate, but it isn’t as high as the best savings accounts for high interest rates. Most of the best interest rates are with smaller banks or credit unions that either don’t have physical branches or only have a few. If you want to be able to bank in person nationwide, Capital One might offer the best of both worlds.
The bank compounds interest monthly instead of weekly or daily, which could make a difference depending on how much money you’re storing in the account. Use a compound interest calculator to discover how big of a difference it will make for your savings.
Capital One 360 Performance Savings doesn’t charge monthly maintenance fees or a minimum opening deposit, making it a good bank if you want to avoid bank fees. The only fees Capital One will charge are for sending a wire transfer or making a cashier’s check.
Capital One Savings User Experience and Accessibility
Capital One’s mobile banking app is well-rated, having a 4.5 rating on the Google Play store and a 4.9 on the Apple App Store. Capital One is also ranked highest in banking app satisfaction for national banks, according to J.D. Power. If you expect to bank from your phone frequently, Capital One might be a good bank for you.
Capital One allows you to bank through its online website, which could be helpful if you want to bank from home. You’re also able to open new accounts from the website or talk to customer service via live chat if you’re a customer.
Capital One doesn’t offer 24/7 customer service, but it does offer extended customer service hours every day of the week. Its automated services are up 24/7, however, so if your question can be answered without the help of a real person, you won’t need to wait.
Capital One Savings Security
Capital One has been open for several decades. It has good credit ratings from Moody’s, Bauer Financial, and Fitch.
Capital One is FDIC-insured, which means that your money will be ensured up to $250,000 per depositor, per account type. Capital One also encrypts your personal information and provides fraud protection through avenues like multi-factor authentication and letting you lock your debit card from the mobile app in case of theft.
Capital One Savings Rate Pros and Cons
Capital One Savings Rate Pros
- Strong digital banking platform
- Great interest rate for a national brand
- $0 minimum opening deposit
- No monthly service fees
Capital One Savings Rate Cons
- Other online banks may offer higher interest rates
Capital One Savings Account Alternatives
Capital One Savings vs. Ally Savings
Ally savings rates work similarly to the rates at Capital One. Both pay above the national average on all balances. Currently, the Ally Savings Account pays 3.70% APY.
Both banks also have savings features that allow you to set multiple savings goals. For example, you could create a goal to set aside money for “Emergency Fund” and “Travel Money” and track your progress over time.
In Ally, they call these goals “buckets.” Your savings account with buckets can have up to 30 buckets per account. All of these buckets exist within your singular savings account. With Capital One, you’ll technically be creating multiple Capital One 360 Performance Savings, one for each savings goal, but Capital One lets you create an unlimited number of savings accounts to do so.
When comparing Capital One savings accounts to other banks, your choice may ultimately depend on what you prioritize in your banking experience.
Capital One is considered an online bank, but it also has over 280 branches in eight U.S. states and Washington, DC. You might prefer Capital One if you live near a branch and want the option to speak with a banker face-to-face.
If you’d like to open other types of savings accounts, also note that Ally has a money market account while Capital One doesn’t.
Capital One Savings vs. CIT Bank Savings
CIT Bank high-yield savings accounts are competitive. You can choose between two savings accounts: the CIT Bank Savings Connect Account and CIT Bank Platinum Savings. The CIT Bank Savings Connect Account pays 4.00% APY regardless of your account balance. Meanwhile, the CIT Bank Platinum Savings may be better for higher account balances since it pays 4.30% APY on balances of $5,000 or more.
Keep in mind that savings rates fluctuate, so just because one bank pays higher rates now doesn’t mean that will always be the case.
If you’d like to open a savings account with a $0 minimum opening deposit, Capital One will likely stand out to you more.
Capital One Savings vs. Capital One CDs
Capital One CDs are another savings option that the bank offers. Like Capital One savings accounts, Capital One 360 CDs are FDIC-insured deposit accounts that let you earn a high interest rate on your funds. The big differences between the two lie in the accounts’ liquidity and interest rates.
The best CDs generally offer slightly higher interest rates than savings accounts, and they also let you lock in a good interest rate for its entire term length. In return, you can’t withdraw money from the account without paying early withdrawal penalties.
Depending on the term length, you can either get a higher or lower interest rate from a Capital One 360 CD than from a Capital One 360 Performance Savings. Interest rates for Capital One 360 CD terms range from 3.50% to 4.00% APY. Which account you go with will depend on what your savings goals are and whether you want to lock in a fixed interest rate.
Is a Capital One Savings Account Right For You?
Capital One 360 is an excellent option overall if you’d like to bank with a popular online financial institution with decent savings rates and in-person branches. It’s also listed as one of our best online banks because it has strong customer service and manageable bank accounts. You can find smaller financial institutions with 5% interest savings accounts, though. If you’re only looking for a high-yield savings account, you might find more compelling options elsewhere.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Capital One 360 Performance Savings
For our Capital One savings account review, Business Insider’s personal finance team uses a bank account methodology that rates bank accounts on a scale from one to five stars. We looked at interest rates, minimum opening deposits, monthly service fees, miscellaneous features, customer support availability, mobile app ratings, and the ethics and security of the company to determine savings account ratings for Capital One.
We use a weighted average to get our star rating, which means we weigh certain features, like interest rates and fees, at a higher weight percentage than others. We understand that these areas can more heavily impact a person’s overall banking experience.
Capital One Savings FAQs
There are a few ways you can open a Capital One savings account. You can go to the Capital One website and fill out an application, you can open an account over the phone with customer service, or you can go into an in-person Capital One location.
The Capital One 360 Performance Savings isn’t associated with a lot of fees; it doesn’t have any monthly service fees or minimum opening deposit, it doesn’t charge for ACH payments, and it doesn’t charge for overdraft (although it also doesn’t let you overdraft from a savings account). It does charge for outgoing wire transfers and to make a cashier’s check, though, and you might be charged $2 or more if you use an out-of-network ATM.
Yes, Capital One is secure. Capital One is FDIC-insured, so your savings are safe up to $250,000 for an individual account or $500,000 for a joint account. Capital One also has fraud protection features, such as making it easy to turn your debit card off in the mobile app if it’s stolen.
SoFi® Checking and Savings (Member FDIC)
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