Financeradar Research
Financeradar Rate Index: September 2026
First monthly snapshot of the rates and fees we verified on 3 September 2026: 21 HYSA averaging 3.59% APY, 24 credit cards averaging $190 a year, 9 CDs averaging 3.94%, 21 alternative-investing products of which 9 skip accreditation.
Founder, Financeradar & Dupple
Key findings
What the data shows.
- 01
High-yield savings: 21 published accounts, average APY 3.59%, five at 4.00% or above, 14 of 21 with a catch. Clean floor: Marcus 3.40%, Ally / Amex / Capital One 3.00%.
- 02
Certificates of deposit: 9 published, average APY 3.94%, range 3.00% to 4.35% (Popular Direct, 18 months, $10,000 minimum).
- 03
Money market: 6 published, average APY 3.40%.
- 04
Checking: 8 published; 6 of 8 have a $0 monthly fee.
- 05
Credit cards: 24 published; 12 charge $0 a year (50%); catalog average annual fee $190.
- 06
Alternative investing: 21 published; 9 do not require accreditation.
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 3, 2026. Refresh due Oct 1, 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.
Why this index exists
Banks change APYs without calling you. Card issuers raise annual fees and personalize bonuses. Alternative platforms advertise returns we will not repeat as forecasts. The only number Financeradar can defend in public is the one we read on the provider's page and date-stamp.
This page is that snapshot for September 2026. The live statistics hub updates as the catalog grows. This report is the citable, dated cut. Next planned update: 1 October 2026.
Savings and cash
The HYSA catalog is the flagship series. The average 3.59% is not a "best rate." It is the mean of 21 verified APYs. The 4% names (Forbright 4.15%, CIT 4.10%, Pibank 4.10%, LendingClub 4.00%, Poppy 4.00%) all carry a condition. The catch report is the companion.
CDs pay more than the HYSA average if you can lock the term. Popular Direct at 4.35% needs $10,000 and 18 months. Synchrony (4.30%, 16 months) and American Express (4.25%, 10 months) take $0. First Internet Bank charges 180 days of interest on a 6-month CD — the penalty is longer than the term.
Money-market accounts in this catalog average 3.40%, sitting between a clean HYSA and a short CD. Quontic leads at 3.80% with a $100 minimum.
Cards
Half the card catalog is free to hold. That is the useful fact. The $190 average is pulled by Chase Sapphire Reserve at $795 and the two Amex Platinums at $895. A $0 card whose bonus you finish beats a $795 card whose credits you ignore. See no-annual-fee cards and travel cards.
Alternative investing
Nine of 21 products will take a non-accredited check. That is a door, not a safety rating. Groundfloor, Arrived, and Worthy Bonds start at $10–$100. BCRED and OCIC are interval-style BDCs with repurchase gates. We do not publish target returns. Read alternative investing without accreditation.
Methodology
Every rate and fee in this index is stored on a Financeradar product page with a verification date. The same fields are snapshotted in RateSnapshot (1,202 rows at publication). Averages are simple means of published products that carry a numeric APY or annual fee — we do not weight by deposits or spend. Draft products are excluded.
This is not financial advice. Re-check the issuer before you move money.
How to cite this
Financeradar Rate Index, September 2026. Across 21 published high-yield savings accounts Financeradar verifies, the average APY is 3.59%; 14 of 21 attach a condition to the advertised rate. https://financeradar.com/reports/financeradar-rate-index-september-2026
Cite this report
Use the data, credit the source.
Released under Creative Commons BY 4.0. You may quote, link, and reuse the data with attribution.
More research
The cash versus card spread 2026: 3.65% versus 20.94%
On September 17, 2026, FinanceRadar verified 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 was 20.94%. That was a 17.29 point gap. On $10,000, cash earned about $365 and revolving debt cost about $2,094.
The FDIC rate gap 2026: what verified accounts actually pay
FinanceRadar verifies 29 high-yield savings accounts at 3.65% APY on average, 9.6 times the FDIC national savings rate of 0.38% as of August 17, 2026. The same gap shows up in CDs, money markets, and the few checking accounts that pay anything.
Private credit platform statistics 2026
FinanceRadar tracks 29 private credit and alternative-investing platforms. 48% are open to any investor and 54% let you start under $1,000, but the category is young (66% launched since 2015), illiquid, and not FDIC insured. This is what the first-party data shows.