America’s BEST BANKS 2022
OVER THE PAST 18 MONTHS, COVID-19 HAS UPENDED ALL aspects of American life, including how we bank. And that, in turn, has shifted what we look for in the place where we park our money and which institutions serve us best.
Take savings, for instance. While the personal savings rate is down from the stratospheric high of 33.8 percent recorded early in lockdown last year, Americans are still setting aside cash at historically high rates: nearly 10 percent recently. But just as our need to earn a decent return on our savings has rarely been higher, many banks have slashed rates. The average savings account pays out just 0.06 percent now, and many of the largest banks pay nothing at all.
“Interest rates are even lower than in the seven years following the Great Recession when the Federal Reserve also dropped rates to around zero,” says Ken Tumin, founder of the bank comparison site DepositAccounts.com.
That makes it all the more important to seek out banks that pay a decent rate, while keeping fees down, so you hold onto more of what you earn. In that respect, there’s a silver lining to current low-rate conditions: Banks are looking for other ways to woo new customers. “Some are lowering fees, eliminating maintenance charges or offering
