Are High-Yield Savings Rates Going Down in 2026

Every savings or CD rate that moved in our 30-day log went up, as of September 23, 2026. The Federal Reserve raised its target range to 3.75% to 4% on September 16. The FDIC national savings rate slipped from 0.38% on August 17 to 0.37% on September 21. A savings APY is still variable, so one bank can cut your rate while the policy rate rises.

A high-yield savings account is a deposit account with a variable APY and withdrawals, and the rate on it is not a locked coupon. Financeradar data: of the 35 high-yield savings accounts we verify, 34 publish an APY, the average is 3.54%, and the range runs from 1.84% to 4.50%, as of September 23, 2026 (high-yield savings statistics).

The rate tracker lists six products whose snapshot changed in that 30-day window, and every change is an increase. The ranked list of the accounts behind the average is the high-yield savings guide. The issuer pages below test whether an increase is the rate on money you already hold.

What the rate log recorded

The log compares the first snapshot on file with the last one, for published CDs and savings only. It records what we captured, and the next section checks those destinations against each issuer's own page on September 23, 2026. A row can rise because a headline, a boost, or a base rate moved, and those are different contracts if you already hold the account.

Five of the six rows are cash accounts, and the Ally row is a certificate the tracker includes in that same 30-day list. On a balance of $10,000, one percentage point of APY is $100 in a year if that rate holds and you add or withdraw nothing. The Robinhood and Wealthfront moves are a quarter point on that scale, which is $25 before any fee or boost cap. LevelUp's 0.20 point move is $20 on the same balance, and only on the higher of its two rates.

The rate on the issuer page

Two rows match the issuer page, three followed a ceiling or a new-account offer, and one conflicts with the bank's own CD page. The snapshot stores one number per product, and that number can be a headline on money you do not yet hold.

Robinhood's help center states a base APY of 3.6% for Gold members as of September 17, 2026. That matches the log's destination, so the row is a base-rate move, not a promo laid over an old yield. Gold is a $5/mo subscription, and a year of that fee is $60 on the example balance, which is larger than the $25 the quarter-point rise adds.

The same article still walks through a year at 3.35%, the rate our first snapshot stored on August 26. That illustration is one step behind the current rate, so do not budget from the example. Robinhood says it is not a bank, and the program rate can move when the federal funds rate moves. It fits cash already sitting in a Gold account, and it is a weak standalone savings account at this balance.

Happen Bank's LevelUp Savings prints 4.20% APY when the account receives at least $250 in deposits in a month, and 3.00% APY otherwise. Both figures are accurate as of September 23, 2026, and the log's destination matches the higher rate. The recorded rise describes a month you pass the deposit test, not a permanent step up.

Miss the test and the whole balance earns the lower rate, a gap of 1.20 points, or $120 a year on the example balance. There is no monthly fee and no minimum balance. The account suits a saver who will automate the deposit, and it is a poor fit for income that arrives in lumps.

Betterment's Cash Reserve page states a variable APY of 3.50% as of September 21, 2026, plus a 0.75% boost for new clients on balances up to $1 million, with a $10 minimum deposit for the base rate. A comparison block on the same page prints 4.40%, and our September 20 capture matches that block. Adding the printed boost to that dated base produces a third figure, so an existing balance has no single rate on this page.

Betterment says it is not a bank, and the log's 1.15 point gap describes the captured headlines. That gap suits a new client, and it is the wrong input for money already in the account.

Wealthfront's Cash Account states a base APY of 3.55% as of September 18, 2026, and the headline says you can earn up to 4.45%. New clients get a 0.65% boost for three months on up to $150,000, then the account returns to the base. Wealthfront says that base can change when the federal funds rate changes, or when program banks change what they pay. The log's path tracks that ceiling, so an existing balance without the boost earns the base.

Wealthfront says it is not a bank, and the page lists a monthly direct deposit of $1,000, or recurring deposits of $2,500, as ways to raise the APY. It prints no separate point value for those steps, so you cannot price them until the rate on the account changes.

E*TRADE's Premium Savings page states a promotional APY of 4.25% for six months on a new account opened from September 22, 2026 through January 10, 2027. The page's rate stack shows a 3.75% base plus a 0.50% boost, and existing accounts are ineligible. The logged destination is a new-account offer, not a raise for someone who already banks there. The rate sheet, read the same day, still printed a boosted APY of 4.00% and does not publish the standard APY.

After six months the account reverts to that standard variable APY at Morgan Stanley Private Bank, the FDIC bank named on the page. Anyone opening for the promo needs a plan for a rate the sheet does not print.

Ally's rates page and Ally's bank page both list the 18-month high-yield CD at 2.7%. The rates page is correct as of September 22, 2026, and the bank page as of September 15, 2026. Those pages do not show the 4.25% in our last capture, so until the pages and the snapshot agree, use the rate Ally prints. The savings account on that rates page is a separate product, covered below, and treating the CD row as Ally's savings rate will budget the wrong yield.

The national average moved by a basis point

The FDIC national rates table published September 21, 2026 puts savings at 0.37%. The August table, published August 17, put savings at 0.38%. That is a decline of 0.01 point, which is $1 a year on the example balance. The national print did fall, by an amount that will not change a household cash plan.

Money market accounts are 0.63% on both tables, and the 12-month CD national rate went from 1.71% in August to 1.73% in September. Certificates at ordinary banks ticked the other way while savings slipped.

The national savings rate is the $2,500 tier, weighted by each institution's domestic deposits, and each monthly table uses information through the prior month-end. It is a floor for ordinary savings, including large branch banks, and a different population from the online accounts in our catalog. A wide gap against an online APY is not evidence that those online rates fell this month.

Our tracker still compares its fresh savings average with the August national rate, so the "+3.33 points" label is one basis point behind the September 21 table. The longer write-up of that gap is the FDIC rate gap report.

A lower catalog average is a wider sample

The September rate index, snapshotted September 3, 2026, put 21 published high-yield savings accounts at an average APY of 3.59%. Today's statistics page puts a wider catalog at 3.54%, and the set grew by 14 accounts. A mean can fall because new, lower rates entered the average, because some rates were cut, or both. This page does not split that 0.05 point gap into those causes, because the two averages are not the same list, so the dip is not a roster of cuts.

The tracker answers a narrower question than that catalog average. As of September 23, 2026, the fresh savings average is 3.71% across 21 accounts stamped in the last 14 days. That slice sits above the full-catalog average because it drops issuer-page stamps older than two weeks.

Pibank, below, dates its offer to July 2, 2026, which falls outside that window. Use the catalog average for every published account we verify, and the tracker for the newest slice. The full savings write-up is the high-yield savings report, and every savings account we publish is on best savings accounts.

The policy rate moved the other direction from the national savings print. The FOMC statement of September 16, 2026 says the Committee raised the target range by a quarter point, on a 12 to 0 vote, effective September 17. In the same day's press conference, the chair said the median participant put the appropriate federal funds rate at 4.1% at the end of 2026 and at the end of 2027. That median is a projection, not a schedule of cuts, and it sits above the new target range.

A savings account does not have to follow the funds rate in the same week. Robinhood and Wealthfront both say their rates can change when the funds rate changes, and Ally says its savings rate may change after the account is open. The increase is not proof your APY already moved.

Accounts that did not appear in the mover table

Absence from the 30-day table means our snapshots did not record a change in that window. It does not mean the bank promised to hold the rate, and it misses a cut that finished before the first snapshot. Check that case before you treat a missing row as good news.

Forbright Growth Savings prints 3.85% APY, accurate as of September 23, 2026, with no fees and no minimum deposit. The account-opening screen lists that rate and does not list a higher boost. Our APY catch report, updated September 7, recorded that a 4.15% promo was gone and the standard rate was already 3.85%, and today's bank page still agrees. That promo ending is a cut the 30-day mover table does not show, and Forbright says the APY may change at any time before or after opening.

CIT Bank's rate chart, effective July 1, 2026, lists Platinum Savings at 3.75% APY on balances of $5,000 or more and 0.25% below that, with a $100 minimum to open and no monthly fee. The boost page still offers code CITBOOST, a 0.35% addition for six months, through October 31, 2026. CIT says that boost produces 4.10% on the higher tier and 0.60% on the lower one.

The entire balance earns the tier of the end-of-day balance, so a balance that slips under $5,000 reprices every dollar. The boost page dates the standard tiers to July 1, 2026. Platinum Savings is not in the 30-day mover table, even though the rate you earn depends on staying above that balance.

Pibank Savings still shows 4.10% APY on an offer dated July 2, 2026, with no fees, no minimum, and interest from $0.01. Pibank says the rate can change at any time without notice, including after opening. A July date still printed in late September means the bank has not restamped the page, and it does not prove the rate held every day in between. The account is absent from the mover table, so the log cannot tell you whether this yield was steady.

Ally's savings rate is 3%, correct as of September 22, 2026, on every balance tier, with no minimum to open. That savings APY is not in the mover table. The CD disagreement above is a different product on the same bank, so this flat savings rate does not repair the certificate mismatch. What each of these rates earns on a balance, if you freeze the APY, is the subject of how much interest a high-yield savings account earns.

How we checked

Issuer pages, the Federal Reserve's September 16 statement, and the FDIC's August 17 and September 21 national-rate tables were read on September 23, 2026, along with the live figures on our statistics page and rate tracker. The mover table is the tracker's first-snapshot versus last-snapshot list, and where an issuer page disagrees with a capture, this article uses the issuer page. Dollar figures are the balance times the APY gap, with the rate held still, and no account was opened.

Louis Corneloup, founder of Financeradar and Dupple, editorially reviewed the rates. This is general information, not personalized financial advice, and Financeradar may earn a commission from some links; it never affects which rates appear (how we make money).

FAQ

Are high-yield savings rates going down in 2026?

Every published savings or CD rate that changed in Financeradar's 30-day log went up, as of September 23, 2026. The six moves run from Betterment's captured path, the widest gap in the table, through LevelUp's 0.20 point rise. The Federal Reserve raised the federal funds target to 3.75% to 4% on September 16.

The FDIC national savings average ticked down by a basis point between the August 17 and September 21 tables. Those prints can all be true in the same month, because a savings APY is variable, and a catalog of 34 published APYs is not a promise from your bank.

Did the Federal Reserve cut rates in September 2026?

It raised them by a quarter point, effective September 17, on a 12 to 0 vote, according to the September 16, 2026 FOMC statement. In that day's press conference, the chair said the median participant put the appropriate federal funds rate at 4.1% at the end of 2026 and at the end of 2027. That median is a projection, not a schedule of cuts.

A savings APY does not have to follow in the same week, and Robinhood and Wealthfront both say their cash rates can change when the funds rate changes. An increase at the Fed can sit next to an unchanged account, or a cut, at your bank.

How much is a quarter-point APY change worth?

On a $10,000 balance, a quarter point of APY is $25 in a year if the new rate holds and you add or withdraw nothing. Robinhood's move from 3.35% to 3.6%, confirmed on its help center as of September 17, 2026, is that size, and Gold costs $5/mo. A year of the subscription costs more than the raise at this balance.

LevelUp's 0.20 point rise is $20 on that balance, and only if the account receives at least $250 in the month. The national savings dip is a different scale: $1 on that same balance.

Why can a logged rate rise while the base rate stays put?

The snapshot stores one number, and several of these pages print a base, a boost, and a ceiling, so the logged destination can be a headline you will not earn. Wealthfront's base is 3.55% as of September 18, 2026, while the page says you can earn up to 4.45%, which is the log's destination. An existing balance without the boost stays on the base.

Betterment's dated base is 3.50% as of September 21, and a comparison block prints 4.40%, a different number from the base plus the printed boost. E*TRADE's promotional rate is a six-month offer for new accounts opened from September 22, 2026, and existing accounts are excluded. LevelUp's higher rate applies when the $250 deposit lands, and the account otherwise earns 3.00%.

Did the FDIC national savings rate fall?

Yes, by 0.01 point, from 0.38% on the August 17, 2026 table to 0.37% on the September 21 table, which is $1 a year on the example balance. Money market accounts stayed at 0.63%, and the 12-month CD national rate rose from 1.71% to 1.73%, so savings at ordinary banks slipped while the one-year certificate average did not. Savings in that table use the $2,500 tier and are weighted by domestic deposits, with inputs through the prior month-end, so the print lags the online accounts in our catalog. Our fresh savings average of 3.71% is still compared on the tracker with the August national rate, which leaves that comparison one basis point behind the newer table.

Which savings rates did not move in the 30-day log?

Forbright, CIT Platinum Savings, Pibank, and Ally's savings account are absent from the mover table, which means our snapshots recorded no change in the window, not that the bank froze the rate. Forbright prints 3.85% as of September 23, 2026, and a cut that finished before the window, such as Forbright's ended 4.15% promo, does not appear as a row.

CIT's rate chart, effective July 1, 2026, still splits a higher tier at $5,000 from a lower tier, and a 0.35% boost is still offered through October 31, 2026. Pibank still shows 4.10% on an offer dated July 2, 2026. Ally's savings APY is 3% as of September 22, 2026.

Can one bank cut its savings APY after a Fed increase?

Yes, these APYs are variable, and Forbright, Pibank, CIT, Ally, Wealthfront, and Robinhood each say the rate can change, several of them without notice or after the account is open. The September 3 rate index average of 3.59% and today's 3.54% catalog average are different samples, 21 accounts then and 35 now, so that 0.05 point gap is not itself a list of cuts. Check the issuer page dated this month before treating last month's APY as the rate you will be paid. A Fed increase and a logged increase can both be true while your own bank cuts.

Cite this: Financeradar, "Are High-Yield Savings Rates Going Down in 2026", September 2026.