CIT Bank Review: Online Savings with a Top Yield

With interest rates still terribly low by historical standards, it seems stocks are the only place to get any type of return. Even the 10-year U.S. Treasury note is yielding less than 3%.

While it is true that interest rates are low, things are slowly changing. The Fed raised rates three times last year and is on track for at least three more this year.

The good news is that savings account rates are increasing as well. There are rates offered by large institutions such as Citibank, Chase, and Wells Fargo that are still very low, require fairly high initial deposits, and often charge a fee if certain deposits aren’t met.

Then there are what’s called high-yield savings accounts. These types of accounts are very different: much better rates, low deposits, and no fees. They are often banks that you have probably never heard of and keep most of their activity online (i.e., no branch offices). One such bank is CIT bank, not to be confused with Citibank. They are two independent companies.

Check out our CIT Bank review, and see why CIT Bank is always in our top 10 money market account list. Plus, CIT Bank's new Savings Builder Account is one of our top picks for savings accounts! One of the best yields out there!

The CIT Bank currently offers their Savings Builder account which offers an APY of 2.15% as of October 11, 2018. That's one of the highest interest rates we've seen on savings accounts.

We love CIT Bank because they consistently offer some of the best rates on savings products out there. The cool thing with this product is that you can earn that high rate by either depositing $25,000, or by ensuring that you deposit at least $100 per month.

If you can't make that commitment, you still earn a decent rate of 1.14% APY as of October 11, 2018. However, in this case, you might be better served by one of their other products.

Open a Savings Builder Account here.

As mentioned above, there aren’t any monthly fees for maintaining a CIT Bank savings account. The initial deposit is only $100. Also, there are no fees for opening the account. The website does not mention anything about fees if the balance drops below $100. But given they prominently print that there are no fees at the top of the savings account page, it’s a good indication that you won’t need to be concerned if the balance falls below $100.

Security is always a concern with any financial institution, especially one you’ve probably never heard of. CIT Bank takes security very seriously, as it should given all of the federal regulations required of financial intuitions in the U.S.

There are degrees of security across financial institutions. It’s good to see that CIT Bank doesn’t seem to just settle for what is required of it in regards to federal security regulations. On their security page, they discuss in detail the measures the bank takes to ensure customer data is safe.

Some notable features include:

• Antivirus protection of their computers
• 128-bit encryption
• Automatic sign-out

As well, communication with the bank is secure through their message portal. On the same page are links to their policies on privacy and fraud protection.

There are a large number of banks that are currently offering savings accounts well above 1.00% APY. But 1.85% seems to be the top offering for now. As the Fed continues to hike rates, you are likely to see savings account rates increase. Although, with some lag.

Banks offering savings rates in the top tier should continue their trend up and remain right at the top of savings rates. Being in the top tier, CIT Bank should continue to be one of the best offerings out there for high-yield savings.

If you’d like to open a CIT Bank high-yield savings account, just click here.