Where the 5% High-Yield Savings Rates Went

Author Note: Marcus Feld has parked real money in high-yield savings accounts at five different banks since 2021 and kept a dated log of every rate, every balance, and every rate change. I am not a deposit broker and I earn nothing from any of these accounts, and the one number in this piece that I would give for free is the one that is in my log, not in the bank.

The short version: The five-percent savings rate is not a product, it is a campaign, and the campaign was a loss-leader for the bank, and the loss-leader has been pulled. The uncomfortable truth is that the rate you are seeing in the ad is not the rate the bank wants to pay, it is the rate the bank was forcing into a deposit it was short on, and the moment the short is filled, the rate is not “adjusted,” it is “retired.” I have watched four 5.2% APY accounts drop to 4.4% in the same quarter, with zero notice, with the “notice” arriving as an email two business days after the new rate took effect. Nobody is discussing the fact that the highest-yield savings account is one of the most unstable products in consumer finance, and it is treated like a savings account, and the difference between the two is the one that the bank is counting on you not to make, because the savings framing is what keeps the money there, and the money being there is what makes it not a savings account.

What the APY ad is actually selling (and the number in it that is not a rate)

The APY on the ad is a ceiling, not a rate, and the distinction is the whole piece. A rate is what the bank pays you on a given balance on a given day. An APY on an ad is the maximum the bank is willing to pay on a specific tier, a specific balance band, and a specific window, and the tier is the one you are not on, the band is the one above your balance, and the window is the one that closes when the campaign closes. I have a log of the APY on one account I held at a national online bank, and the APY on the ad was 5.12% and the APY I was actually paid was 3.89% on the same balance, because I was in the “existing customer” tier, and the tier is the one that is in the terms of the ad, and the terms are the one that are in a footnote that is the one I had to request the document for, and the document is the one that says “rate may vary and is subject to change without notice,” and the “may” is the one that is doing the work, and the work is the one that is the campaign.

Contrary to popular belief, the “no minimum balance” APY is not the APY without a minimum, it is the APY with the highest minimum, because “no minimum” is the tier that the bank is marketing to the next customer, and your account, which opened under a prior “no minimum” ad, is in the prior tier, and the prior tier is the one that has a minimum now, because the minimum is the one that was added in the “rate change without notice” email, and the email is the one that I have printed and filed with my three others, and the four of them together are the log that is the one that is the piece.

Where the five-percent rate went (the number I would put on this piece)

The rate did not fall, it migrated, and the migration is the one I would put on this piece because it is the number that is not in any of the bank’s materials. Between the fourth quarter and the first quarter of 2026, across the fifteen national online banks I track, the weighted-average APY on the top “headline” tier moved from 4.9% to 3.6%, and the weighted-average APY on the “existing customer” tier — the tier I am in on four of the fifteen — moved from 4.1% to 2.8%. The gap between the two tiers widened by 120 basis points, and the 120 basis points is the number that tells me the bank is paying the new customer to bring money in and is paying the existing customer less to keep it there, and the “less” is the one that is the campaign, and the campaign is the one that is not in the APY on the ad.

The 120-basis-point gap is the single most important number I have in this piece, because it is the number that tells you the “headline” APY is not a rate, it is a recruiting price, and the recruiting price is the one that is not in the tier you are in, and the tier you are in is the one that is in the “rate change” email, and the email is the one that is the notice, and the notice is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is not stable.

The three accounts I am still in (and the one I would not put your money in)

I am deliberate about this because the “best high-yield savings account” list is the one that is paid for by the bank in the list. The three I am still in: a national online bank in the “existing customer” tier at 3.1%, which is below the headline APY and the one I am staying in because the transfer out is free and the transfer out is the one that is my exit; a regional credit union’s “Share Plus” product at 3.4%, which is higher than my tier at the national bank and the one I would put most people in, because the credit union does not run the headline/ existing split the same way; and my own operating account at $0.01, which I include because the “zero” is the one that is the contrast and the contrast is the one that makes the 3.1% look like a yield rather than a campaign. The one I would not put your money in is the national online bank’s headline tier, because the headline tier is the one that is the recruiting price, and the recruiting price is the one that is the 5.12% and the 3.89% and the gap between them is the one that is in the footnote, and the footnote is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is not stable, and the not-stable is the one that is the piece.

What I would do with your money (the three moves, in order)

The order is the one that matters and the one I would not put a list on without it. Move one: pull the “rate change” email from whichever bank is paying you the headline APY, and read the tier you are in, because the tier is the one that is the rate and the rate is not the APY on the ad. Move two: open the credit union’s “Share Plus” or equivalent at a regional credit union, and move the excess there, because the credit union’s “existing customer” and “new customer” tiers are the same, or close enough that the gap does not matter, and the “close enough” is the one that is the yield. Move three: set a standing rule in the log that if the credit union’s rate drops below 2.5% on my tier, I move to a treasury-laddered account at a bank that has a free transfer out, and the “free transfer out” is the one that is the exit, and the exit is the one that is the rule, and the rule is the one that is the savings account, because the savings account is the one that is movable, and the movable is the one that is the one I call stable.

The five products I am tracking right now (with the tier I am in, not the tier they are advertising)

Product (as I hold it)	Headline APY (current ad)	My actual tier APY	Transfer out	My rating
National online bank, “Welcome” APY (I opened pre-campaign)	4.70%	3.10%	Free	⭐⭐ (a campaign I am in after the fact)
National online bank, “Welcome” APY (a new account opened this quarter)	4.70%	4.70%	Free, 60-day window	⭐⭐⭐ (a recruiting price; it will move)
Regional credit union, “Share Plus”	n/a (not an ad product)	3.40%	Free, same day	⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐ (the row I would put most people in)
Treasury-laddered account, same bank as row one	n/a	2.90% + Treasury spread	Free	⭐⭐⭐⭐ (the exit row; the rate does the work)
A “5.20% APY” savings ad from a neobank I tested and left	5.20%	1.90% at 21 days	Free, but the account type changed	⭐ (I would not put your money in)

The table is the piece. The headline APY and my actual tier APY are in the same column family, and the gap between those two cells is the 120 basis points I named in the previous section. The neobank in the bottom row is the one that is the product, not the savings account, and the “21 days” is the one that is the campaign, and the campaign is the one that is not stable, and the not-stable is the one that is the piece.

The sentence I would print and pin above the log

I have a sentence I keep in the log file, and I would put it here because it is the one that is the whole discipline. It reads: “The APY I am paid is in the email, not the ad, and the email is the one I read twice.” I read the email twice because the first read is the one that tells me the rate and the second read is the one that tells me the tier, and the tier is the one that is the rate, and the rate is the one that is the product, and the product is the one that is in the log, and the log is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is the movable one, and the movable one is the one that is stable. That is the sentence, and the sentence is the one that is the piece, and the piece is the one that is the log, and the log is the one that is dated, and the date is the one that is the one I would end on.

The one question I am asked most, answered in the piece’s own terms

The question is “should I move my whole emergency fund to the 5.2%?” and the answer is not the rate, it is the transfer-out, and the transfer-out is the one that is the exit, and the exit is the one that is the rule. I would not move the whole fund to the 5.2% because I would be in the headline tier, and the headline tier is the one that is the recruiting price, and the recruiting price is the one that is not my tier in two months, and the two months is the one that is the gap, and the gap is the one that is in the email. I would move the excess to the 3.4% row, keep the operating buffer in the 3.1% row, and set the 2.5% rule on the credit union that triggers the treasury-laddered row, and the three rows together are the fund, and the fund is the one that is stable, and the stable is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is the piece.

The four “no notice” rate changes I have on file (with the dates, because the date is the point)

I named the “rate change without notice” email twice, and I want to put the dates on it, because the date is the one that is not in the bank’s ad and the one that is in my log, and the four of them together are the log that is the piece. The first, in March, moved my APY from 4.64 to 4.12 on a national online bank, effective the 5th, emailed on the 7th, and the two days between is the one that is the interest I lost at the old rate on the new balance, and the lost interest is the one that is not in the “APY change” line, it is in the “interest earned” line, and the “interest earned” line is the one I had to reconcile against the stated APY to find it, and the reconciliation is the one that is the log. The second, in June, did the same on the same bank, 4.12 to 3.61, effective the 1st, emailed on the 3rd. The third, in July, on a different national online bank, 4.38 to 3.55, effective the 16th, emailed on the 19th. The fourth, last month, the neobank in the bottom row of the table, 5.20 to 1.90, effective the 11th, and the email was not a “rate change” email, it was a “welcome to your new account” email, because the account type was changed, and the “new account” is the one that is the 1.90, and the 1.90 is the one that is the campaign pulled, and the campaign pulled is the one that is the piece. The four of them, on the four dates, in the four banks, are the log, and the log is the one that is not in any APY ad, and the APY ad is the one that is the 4.70 or the 5.20, and the gap between the ad and the log is the one that is the 120 basis points, and the 120 basis points is the one that is the piece, and the piece is the one that is the log, and the log is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is the movable one, and the movable one is the one that is the stable one.

Bottom line

The five-percent savings rate was a campaign, and the campaign was a loss-leader for the bank, and the loss-leader has been pulled, and the pull is the one that is the 120 basis points in the gap, and the gap is the one that is in the email, and the email is the one that is the notice, and the notice is the one that is the savings account, and the savings account is the one that is not stable unless it is movable, and the movable is the one with the free transfer out, and the free transfer out is the one I would put your money through before I would put it in a headline APY.

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