Methodology
How we score accounts, written down.
Anyone can call an account “best.” That word means nothing unless you can see the work behind it. So here's the whole method — the six things we score, how we weight them, and where every rate comes from. Read it, and argue with it. That's the point.
The rule the whole thing hangs on
A score comes from the numbers below, applied the same way to every account in a category. It does not come from what a provider pays us — that never touches a ranking. Where we earn from a choice you make, we say so on the page. You can read exactly how on our how we make money page.
What we score
Six things. Every account. The same way.
Each account earns a score out of 100. Here's what's in it, and what each part is worth. The weights are published so you can disagree with them — if you care more about branch access than we do, you'll know exactly which number to lean on.
Real yield
The APY you actually keep — after the balance caps, the intro-rate expiry, and the tiers that quietly pay less on dollars over a threshold. A headline number that only applies to your first $5,000 isn't the real yield, and we don't score it as if it were.
Fees
Monthly maintenance, minimum-balance penalties, excess-withdrawal charges, wire and paper-statement fees. At a low APY, one $5 monthly fee can outrun a year of interest — so fees count against the score directly, not as a footnote.
Minimums and the catch
What you must deposit or keep to earn the rate, and the condition attached to it. Every account has a catch — a minimum, a direct-deposit requirement, an early-withdrawal penalty. We name it and score how much it bites.
Access and liquidity
How fast you can move money in and out — transfer times, withdrawal limits, branch or ATM access, and for CDs the early-withdrawal penalty. A great rate you can't reach when you need it is worth less than the number suggests.
Safety
Whether the account is held at an FDIC-insured bank or an NCUA-insured credit union, and where the standard $250,000-per-depositor, per-institution coverage sits. Insurance is the provider's, never ours — we check that it's there and say who carries it.
Rate track record
Whether the provider tends to hold a competitive rate or leads with a teaser and quietly drifts down. A rate is a snapshot; how a bank has behaved over time tells you what the snapshot is worth.
Weights sum to 100. Checking and CDs shift the emphasis — a CD leans harder on the early-withdrawal penalty and the term, a checking account on fees and access — but the six dimensions and the one rule above stay the same.
On the numbers
Every rate is dated, sourced, and refreshed.
Rates, APYs, bonuses, and terms are set by the banks, not by us, and they move constantly. So we hold to one discipline: we never show a bare, undated APY. Every figure carries the date it was accurate as of and the named source it came from — you should be able to click through and check it yourself. We refresh the figures we publish and re-stamp the date each time. And we don't guarantee any rate or that an offer is still live; always confirm the current terms with the provider before you decide.
For the national baseline, we lean on the FDIC National Rates and Rate Caps — a real, published, regularly-refreshed average — as the number a good account has to beat.
The method, worked
What “compare the real yield” looks like
Here's the method on one decision: $10,000 in a savings account, left for a year. Watch how the fee and the gap between accounts change the number you actually keep — not the headline APY, the dollars in your pocket after twelve months.
Read this first: Illustrative sample figures, not live rates. They show how we date and compare accounts — they are not an offer and not a current quote. Every real rate we publish will carry the date it was accurate as of and its named source; always confirm current terms with the provider.
| Account (sample) | Rate | Monthly fee | Kept after 12 mo. |
|---|---|---|---|
| Example Online BankHigh-yield savings | 4.40% APYsample as of July 10, 2026Source: ClearValue Banking illustrative sample — not a live quote | None | $440 |
| Example NeobankHigh-yield savings | 4.15% APYsample as of July 10, 2026Source: ClearValue Banking illustrative sample — not a live quote | None | $415 |
| Example National BankStandard savings | 0.01% APYsample as of July 10, 2026Source: ClearValue Banking illustrative sample — not a live quote | $5 | -$59 |
| FDIC national average (benchmark)Savings — national average | None | $40 |
Simple interest on a flat $10,000 balance, minus twelve months of fees, rounded to whole dollars — no compounding and no new deposits, so you can check the arithmetic by hand. Real accounts compound and rates move; that's exactly why the number only means something with a date on it. The catch on each account is named in the full comparison.
The catch
Example Online Bank
Online-only. No branch access, and the top rate can move the week after you open — so a headline APY is a snapshot, not a promise.
The catch
Example Neobank
The APY often applies only up to a balance cap; dollars over the cap can earn far less. Read the tier table, not just the headline.
The catch
Example National Bank
A branch big-bank default. The $5 monthly fee is often waived with a minimum balance — but at this APY the fee alone can outrun the interest.
What we don't do
- We don't invent star ratings or made-up scores. A number on this site traces back to the six dimensions above, applied to figures you can check.
- We don't let a partner buy placement, preview a ranking, or move a score. If a commercial relationship ever conflicted with the method, the method wins.
- We don't open accounts or hold your money, and we're not a bank. The account is opened with, and held by, the partner bank — the FDIC-insured institution, named on the page.
- We don't publish a rate without a date. If we can't source it and stamp it, it doesn't go up.
The wall
The desk that scores never sees the money.
The people who apply this method don't answer to the people who bring in revenue. What we get paid never moves a ranking. Here's the money side, in full.
How we make money