Savings Account Bonuses & High-Yield APY Offers

Cash bonuses, intro APY promotions, and balance-tier offers for savings accounts — with the revert rate and lock-up window stated up front.

Savings account promotions come in two distinct shapes: a flat cash bonus tied to depositing and holding a balance, and an intro APY teaser that pays an elevated rate for a limited window before reverting. Both are legitimate. Both reward roughly the same behavior — leaving money parked at the bank — but they're priced and structured differently, and the comparison isn't always obvious.

Cash bonuses tend to be easier to evaluate. The headline is a fixed dollar amount, the requirement is a deposit threshold held for a defined period, and the holding period is finite. Intro APY offers require a bit more arithmetic: you need to know the elevated rate, the duration in days, the revert rate, the balance the rate applies to (sometimes there's a cap), and any new-money requirement. The total dollar value can outpace a flat bonus on larger balances or trail it on smaller ones.

FDIC insurance applies the same way regardless of which structure you choose. Standard coverage is $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category — see our FDIC explainer for how to multiply that legitimately across categories and institutions.

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How we evaluate savings offers

Cash savings bonuses are scored on net value to the reader after taxes and after opportunity cost. The bonus is taxable as ordinary income in the year received and is typically reported on Form 1099-INT or 1099-MISC depending on the bank's accounting — see our tax implications guide. Opportunity cost is the yield you forgo by holding the qualifying balance at the bonus bank rather than at a benchmark high-yield account; over the holding period it can erase a meaningful chunk of a small bonus.

Intro APY offers are scored on the blended yield across the promo and revert periods, weighted against the alternative of an account paying a competitive ongoing rate. We also flag any balance cap on the promo APY (a 5% rate that only applies to the first $5,000 is a very different product than 5% on the full balance) and any "new money" restriction that limits what can earn the elevated rate.

Both structures get the same scrutiny on access friction: ACH transfer caps, hold timelines on inbound transfers, ATM access, and whether the bank still imposes voluntary transaction limits on savings accounts in the post–Regulation D environment (the federal six-per-month cap was suspended in April 2020; banks may keep their own limits).

What makes a savings offer worth pursuing

Three questions filter most savings promotions quickly. First: is the headline number net of taxes still better than what the same money would earn in a benchmark high-yield account over the same period? If not, it's not worth setting up. Second: what's the revert rate or post-bonus APY? A high promotional yield that drops to near-zero is a temporary win that creates a permanent need to move money again. Third: is the lock-up period short enough that you can reuse the funds without disrupting other plans?

For cash bonuses specifically, watch the "new money" clause. Banks often define new money as funds not held at the institution in the prior 30, 60, or 90 days. Moving money between accounts at the same bank typically doesn't qualify. Watch the hold-until date carefully — closing the account before it elapses can trigger a clawback or, more commonly, voids the unposted bonus.

For intro APYs, do the dollar math at your actual deposit size, not the headline. A 60-day 5% promo on a $10,000 balance is roughly $82 of pre-tax interest; the same balance at a 4% ongoing rate earns about $66 over the same window. The difference may or may not justify the setup. Our opportunity cost guide walks through the arithmetic.