REZVANI: On the other hand, smaller institutions that are eager to bring in deposits - they'll do it by paying a higher interest rate. What they're trying to do is keep their cost as low as possible until they can lend out what they have. And so what they pay on deposits is not done out of benevolence. So why then the skimpy returns to savers?

A lot of these excess savings ended up at those bigger banks. Government stimulus checks boosted household income while household spending dropped. During the pandemic, personal savings rates soared. And the bigger banks - many of them are doing just fine. What banks pay for people to save with them depends on how much they need those deposits. REZVANI: What that requires is shopping around. GREG MCBRIDE: Having your money in the right place could be earning you the best yields you may have seen in the last 15 years. But Greg McBride of says that's exactly why people should consider the move. And those higher rates are still nowhere near the rate of inflation. It may sound like a hassle - the research, the money transfers and getting familiar with new systems. She opened an online account through American Express that offers 3.5%.

But like many Americans who have basic savings accounts at the major banks, she'd been making mere pennies.ĬOSIMANO: I have all this money in your bank, and you give me 12 cents a month? And I keep seeing that banks are making all this money, and your CEOs are getting zillion-dollar bonuses. REZVANI: With the sharp increase in interest rates this last year, Cosimano expected to see a better rate of return for her savings to at least take some of the sting out of climbing inflation. For years, the retired schoolteacher stashed a lot of her money at a major bank until she noticed something in her banking app a few months ago.ĪNGELA COSIMANO: I was looking at it, and I saw that I was making. NPR's Arezou Rezvani reports.ĪREZOU REZVANI, BYLINE: Sixty-six-year-old Angela Cosimano has always been a dedicated saver. If you're stashing your money in a basic savings account at a major bank, there's a good chance you're making next to nothing keeping your money there.

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