The High Yield Savings Account That Has A 10% APY (But There's A Catch)

Inflation has been rough on American consumers. With prices steadily rising since the COVID-19 pandemic, it's clear that the purchasing power of your hard earned dollars just doesn't go as far as it used to. With this in mind, if you currently have money sitting in a traditional savings account — a big bank offering miniscule yield returns — it's actually becoming worth less and less as time goes on. This is because, according to the FDIC, the average savings account interest rate is sitting at around 0.41%. Economists with Morgan Stanley Research, as reported by CBS News, estimate that inflation will rise by 2.5% in 2025, meaning that inflation will outpace your savings by over 2.09% this year alone.

For that reason, outside of investing in gold or stocks, the best thing you can do to protect your money against inflation is to place your money in a high yield savings account. With the current Fed Funds interest rate remaining at 4.5% as of January 2025, most good high yield savings accounts are likely to coincide with this, offering APYs in the mid to high-4% range. However, one high yield savings account in particular offers a whopping 10% APY on your hard earned money. If this sounds too good to be true, it's important to realize there is a catch involved, and it involves your account balance.

In order to qualify for the 10% APY high yield savings account at Community Financial Credit Union, you must maintain some rather strict account balances. Specifically, you must have a minimum of $5 in the account and can only have a maximum of $1,000 in the account at any time. Unfortunately, if you decide to store even a dollar over the $1,000 limit, you'll only earn a measly 0.10% APY. The other caveat? You must either work, reside, or attend school or a place of worship within the state of Michigan in order to open an account with Community Financial. With all this being said, if you're looking to save enough money to retire rich, a minimum balance of $1,000 earning 10% APY probably isn't going to cut it. So for that reason, it could be worth looking at some alternative savings options that'll give you a better bang for your buck.

If you're looking to save anywhere from $1-$10,000, Apple Bank can be a competitive option. This bank offers an APY of 6% on account balances up to $10,000 through their high yield savings account. However, any money over that amount will be subject to a decreasing APY that will land somewhere closer to 3.38% APY. However, new Apple Bank customers must live in New York or New Jersey to take advantage of this. In fact, your local state or city could have competitive credit union or banking options that might work for your specific needs on a more local level.

With that said, if you're looking to open a high yield savings account without a decreasing APY caveat, you're probably going to have to accept a generally lower APY rate overall. There are many high yield savings account options from both brick and mortar and online-only banking institutions. One in particular, Openbank, offers a competitive 4.4% APY by storing your cash in their high yield savings account.  Openbank requires a minimum of $500 deposited but does not place a maximum balance. This can be ideal for those looking to progressively grow their savings over time without having to worry about differential APY rates.