Financeradar Research
The cash versus card spread 2026: 3.65% versus 20.94%
FinanceRadar verifies 29 high-yield savings accounts at 3.65% APY on average. The Federal Reserve's G.19 all-accounts credit card rate for 2026 Q2 is 20.94%. That is a 17.29 point gap. On $10,000, cash earns about $365 and revolving debt costs about $2,094.
Founder, Financeradar & Dupple
Key findings
What the data shows.
- 01
The 29 high-yield savings accounts FinanceRadar verifies average 3.65% APY. (Source: FinanceRadar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 02
The Federal Reserve G.19 commercial-bank credit card rate on all accounts is 20.94% for 2026 Q2. Accounts assessed interest sit at 22.15%. (Source: Federal Reserve G.19, terms of credit.)
- 03
The spread between our HYSA average and the Fed all-accounts card rate is 17.29 percentage points. On $10,000 left for a year, that is about $365 earned versus about $2,094 owed, before compounding. (Source: simple annual interest on the two figures above.)
- 04
15 of the 31 credit cards we verify charge no annual fee. The mean annual fee across all 31 is $212. The 16 cards that charge a fee average $410. (Source: FinanceRadar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 05
The lowest purchase APR floor we verify is 16.74% (Chase Ink Business Cash, Amex Blue Business Plus). Even that floor is 13.09 points above the HYSA average. (Source: FinanceRadar directory, September 17, 2026.)
- 06
Only 2 of 35 APY series we track moved since the prior snapshot, both CDs, both up: Marcus from 4.10% to 4.35%, Ally 18-month from 4.00% to 4.15%. (Source: FinanceRadar rate tracker, September 17, 2026.)
About the research
How we built this report.
Financeradar's own tracking set of financial products. Figures verified against each issuer's own page.
2026. Snapshot taken September 17, 2026. Refresh due Dec 17, 2026.
Rates re-checked on a rotating schedule. See how we rate for the full criteria.
Creative Commons BY 4.0. Quote, link, and reuse with attribution.
The two rates
| Side | Rate | Sample | As of |
|---|---|---|---|
| FinanceRadar HYSA average | 3.65% APY | 29 of 29 verified savings accounts | September 17, 2026 |
| FinanceRadar HYSA median | 3.75% APY | same 29 | September 17, 2026 |
| Top verified HYSA (GO2bank Savings Vaults) | 4.50% APY | 1 account | September 17, 2026 |
| Fed G.19 card rate, all accounts | 20.94% | commercial banks | 2026 Q2 |
| Fed G.19 card rate, accounts assessed interest | 22.15% | commercial banks | 2026 Q2 |
| Lowest purchase APR floor we verify | 16.74% | 2 of 31 cards | September 17, 2026 |
Sources: FinanceRadar catalog, September 17, 2026. Federal Reserve G.19 historical terms of credit, 2026 Q2 row (20.94 / 22.15).
FinanceRadar snapshot September 17, 2026. Fed G.19 2026 Q2.What cash pays versus what revolving credit costs
The Fed all-accounts rate is the one I use as the headline. It includes accounts that pay in full and accounts that revolve. The assessed-interest print (22.15%) is the rate people actually pay when they carry a balance. Both sit more than 17 points above the cash we verify.
Our own card file does not contradict the Fed. Of the 31 cards we verify, the lowest published purchase APR floor is 16.74%. Most of the file opens around 18.24% to 19.49%. A 19.49% floor against a 3.65% HYSA is a 15.84 point gap before anyone hits the top of the range.
What the gap is worth
Simple annual interest, no compounding, on $10,000:
| Rate | On $10,000 |
|---|---|
| FinanceRadar HYSA average, 3.65% | $365 earned |
| Top verified HYSA, 4.50% | $450 earned |
| Lowest card APR floor we verify, 16.74% | $1,674 owed |
| Fed all-accounts card rate, 20.94% | $2,094 owed |
| Fed assessed-interest card rate, 22.15% | $2,215 owed |
The middle comparison is the one that should bother anyone who holds both a default savings account and a revolving balance. You do not need the 4.50% leaderboard name. You need to stop paying 20.94% to fund 3.65%.
The FDIC national savings rate is still 0.38% as of August 17, 2026 (FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps). Sitting in that 0.38% account while revolving at the Fed print is a 20.56 point mistake. Moving the cash to a verified HYSA closes 3.27 points of it. The rest is the card.
Fees are a separate bill
15 of the 31 cards we verify charge $0 annual fee (48%). The other 16 average $410. The mean across the whole file is $212, pulled down by the zeros and pulled up by American Express Platinum and Business Platinum at $895 and Chase Sapphire Reserve at $795.
A $0 annual fee card at 18.24% to 19.49% is still a 15-point-plus spread against cash. The fee is not the spread. The APR is the spread. The fee is what you pay for the points if you pay the statement in full.
The only rates that moved
We store a rate snapshot every time we re-verify a field. Across 35 APY series (savings, CDs, money markets, the checking accounts that publish a yield), 29 were unchanged versus the prior print, 2 were raised, 0 were cut.
| Product | Prior APY | Latest APY | Move |
|---|---|---|---|
| Marcus by Goldman Sachs High-Yield CD | 4.10% | 4.35% | +25 bp |
| Ally Bank High Yield CD (18 month) | 4.00% | 4.15% | +15 bp |
Source: FinanceRadar rate tracker, September 17, 2026.
Both movers are CDs, both up. The HYSA file did not move. That is why a "rate cuts" report still has nothing to say, and why this page is about the structural spread instead. The CD file still pays a liquidity premium over savings: the 15 CDs we verify run from 3.00% to 4.50% with a 4.15% median, against a 3.75% HYSA median. You lock the money for about 40 extra basis points.
How this data was measured
FinanceRadar APYs and annual fees are read from each issuer's own page and stored on the product record. The HYSA average is the arithmetic mean of the 29 published savings-account APYs on September 17, 2026. Card APR floors are the low end of each card's published regular APR range. The Federal Reserve figures are the 2026 Q2 row of G.19 terms of credit (all credit card accounts 20.94%, accounts assessed interest 22.15%), verified on the Board's historical table on September 17, 2026. Dollar examples are simple annual interest on $10,000, no compounding. This is a catalog snapshot plus one official series, not a survey.
Cite this report
- APA: Corneloup, L. (2026). The cash versus card spread 2026: 3.65% versus 20.94%. FinanceRadar Research. https://financeradar.com/reports/cash-versus-card-spread-2026
- MLA: Corneloup, Louis. "The cash versus card spread 2026: 3.65% versus 20.94%." FinanceRadar Research, 17 Sept. 2026, financeradar.com/reports/cash-versus-card-spread-2026.
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