As I’ve bemoaned several times on this site before, I have too many bank accounts. That’s because, when I review these products for Dyer News, I like to get hands on and really test them out for myself — not to mention keep up with the numerous updates. Truth be told, I actually don’t mind having all of these accounts, but I did recently decide that it may be time to do some tidying. While I didn’t actually close any accounts, I did do some reshuffling to maximize the benefits of some options and, really, just pick my favorites.
So which of the many banking options ended up getting promotions in this shake up? Here are the top three accounts I’m now using along with a couple of honorable mentions I still love.
The Top Three Digital Bank Accounts I’m Making the Most Of
Ally
When APYs were a lot stronger, I found that I was more willing to take a chance and keep a lot of my cash with various FinTechs and apps. Ironically, when rates started getting slashed, it was actually those options that were the hardest hit. Meanwhile, other accounts I have, such as Ally and Discover have brought their rates down much more slowly (although they’re still falling). So, with no major benefit to the apps at the moment, I decided to move a good chunk of my money over to Ally.
In addition to the still so-so APY of 0.60% I earn on my Ally savings account, the other benefit of this move is that I can pay rent from my Ally checking account — for which I actually have paper checks. Also, while I’ve had good experiences with FinTech options overall, I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t have slightly more peace of mind keeping money with a more established company such as Ally. Therefore, I think this reshuffling to make this online option my primary bank account will work out well for the time being.
T-Mobile Money
Funny enough, my newest bank account is also playing a larger role in my financial life post reshuffling — and that would be T-Mobile Money. I actually first heard about this account a few months back but only got around to opening an account recently. The biggest draw for me was the opportunity to earn up to 4% APY on my savings. Since this promo is good on balances of up to $3,000 (with dollars over that yielding 1% APY), you can guess around how much I moved over to this account.
I should mention that there are a couple of catches here. For one, in order to get the 4% APY, you need to be a T-Mobile or Sprint postpaid customer. Luckily, I am. Second, you need to deposit at least $200 a month into your account to unlock that higher rate. For me, that’s pretty doable and so I plan on taking advantage of this great deal while it lasts.
Yotta Savings
Lastly, since interest rates aren’t what they once were (aside from T-Mobile Money’s impressive offer), I decided I would try out a different idea instead. Enter Yotta Savings. This recently-released app offers a digital savings account that’s tied to a weekly lottery element. For every $25 in your balance, you’ll earn one ticket to that week’s contest. Thus, if you have $2,500 in your account, you’ll not only have 100 tickets for the current week’s lottery but also have 100 tickets for each subsequent week’s event. Pretty cool, eh?
The draw of Yotta is that you can win up to $10 million (paid out as a $5.8 million lump sum) if you hit their jackpot. Of course, I’m not holding my breath for that. However, the smaller prizes of less than a dollar can add up. So, both because I’m curious about the app and because I think it could potentially pay out more than most bank accounts these days, I’m going to keep some money with Yotta Savings — and keep crossing my fingers.
Honorable Mentions
SoFi Money
For a time, SoFi Money was my primary secondary account (yes, I know it’s an oxymoron). Yet, this was mostly because of the travel perks the card offers such as no foreign transaction fees and free foreign ATM access — the latter of which is now reserved for early adopters such as myself. Unfortunately, the lack of travel in my life means that this account isn’t as useful to me at this moment. Still, I am keeping a decent amount of money in there and continue to take advantage of their cashback deals.
Revolut
Lastly, another account I’d be remiss not the mention is another relatively recent addition: Revolut. As I mentioned in my review, I grew mildly obsessed with this app after downloading it and remain fascinated by its foreign currency exchange capabilities. Meanwhile, the app has only gotten better since I opened it, first adding Savings Vaults that earned interest and then unveiling a Savings Bonus for these Vaults, allowing users to earn up to a whopping 5% APY (0.5% APY + 4.5% APY bonus for Premium and Metal customers). While that would best even the T-Mobile Money option, this enhanced rate can only be earned on balances equal to the amount you spent on your Revolut debit card in the past month. That small catch means that it doesn’t make a whole lot of sense for me to pursue that route. Instead, I’ll happily continue to occasionally exchange my dollars for Yen and Euros while dreaming of the day that I may finally be able to utilize such currencies again.
With so many banking options now available to consumers, it can be difficult to know which makes the most sense. Incidentally, this problem is only exacerbated for me as a reviewer as I end up seeing something to like about many of the options I encounter. Yet, when it came down to it, I found that I’d currently get the most benefit from using Ally, T-Mobile Money, and Yotta Savings together — along with SoFi Money and Revolut after that. Of course, this line up could always be adjusted as offerings change and the world (hopefully) gets back to normal. But, for now, I’d recommend looking into any or all of these digital banking choices.