April is National Financial Literacy Month and the perfect time for Americans to gain a better understanding of how to make their money work as hard as it possibly can. A recent survey by Marcus by Goldman Sachs® revealed that a whopping 60% of consumers with savings accounts don’t know their account APY (annual percentage yield) and more than half (52%) do not know how much money they earned in interest from their savings accounts last year.

Knowing the APY and earnings from interest on a savings account can help maximize one’s financial future, but a rising number of Americans with savings accounts aren’t taking full advantage of the information available to them with more than half (56%) opening their savings accounts without exploring other savings account options. “Many people aren’t exploring their options when it comes to saving accounts, which could lead to having interest rates that are near zero,” said Dustin Cohn, Head of Brand & Marketing Communications for Marcus by Goldman Sachs. “It’s almost like just storing money at a bank instead of earning a competitive interest rate that can make their money work harder.”

More than one-third of Americans with savings accounts (38%) chose to open a savings account with their current banks so they could do all their banking in one place, compared to only 12% who did so because the interest rate was better than other options. On top of that, nearly three-quarters of Americans with savings accounts (74%) said it would be accurate to describe their bank as a place that stores their money vs. 22% of them who say it is accurate to describe their bank as a place that makes them money.

This month, Marcus released a new campaign that sheds light on how traditional savings accounts offer such low interest rates, and that the banks are essentially just storing consumers’ money. Unlike those accounts, Marcus offers our Online Savings Account with a 1.60% APY rate that is 4X the National Average*. In addition to the competitive rate, this account has no minimum opening deposit, no transaction fees, and no monthly maintenance fee. Marcus.com also offers a high-yield savings calculator that consumers can use to calculate how much interest they could earn on their savings and compare it with the National Average.

For more information please visit https://www.marcus.com/us/en/savings.

*The National Average is based on the APY average for high-yield savings accounts with a minimum balance of at least $2,500 offered by the top 50 US banks (ranked by total deposits) as reported by Informa Research Services, www.informars.com. Informa has obtained the data from the various financial institutions that it tracks and its accuracy cannot be guaranteed. All APYs are subject to change.

Our rate effective as of March 1, 2018
National Average rate effective as of March 1, 2018

Survey Methodology

Financial Literacy Survey was conducted by Marcus by Goldman Sachs® in March 2018 among 1,053 Americans who keep money in a savings account with their bank.

About Marcus by Goldman Sachs®

Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers products and tools designed to help people achieve financial well-being. Marcus offers no-fee, fixed-rate unsecured personal loans, high-yield online savings accounts and certificates of deposit in a variety of terms as well as home improvement loans. Marcus is supported by the Goldman Sachs Group, Inc. (NYSE:GS) and its 148-year history of financial expertise, risk management and customer service.