High Interest Savings Account through CIT Savings Builder Review 2019

In the year 2019, it’s high time that any smart money family should have at least one high interest savings account, or a high-yield savings account. We want to share the ins and outs so that you can maximize your savings to see your efforts GROW 23x’s faster than average.

Here’s what we will be covering in this article about High Interest Savings Accounts:

You can click on each topic directly to be take right to that section.

• What is a “high interest” savings account?
• What is the best high interest savings account?
• What are the benefits of CIT Savings Builder?
• What are the terms for a high interest savings account?
• What are the interest earnings differences between a CIT Savings Builder High Interest Savings Account and an average savings account?
• What are the cons of the Savings Builder from CIT Bank?
• Who are these types of accounts best for?
• How much money will I be left with in 1, 10 and even 20 years with a High Interest Savings Account?
• How to open a high interest savings account through CIT Savings Builder.

Having a savings account that builds interest at a MUCH higher rate than an average bank is just a smart way to let your savings grow. It shouldn’t be your investment or retirement plan, but it can be just enough to pay for extras, create a nice nest egg for retirement (in addition to your actual retirement options), nest egg for a child when they leave home, etc. In fact, we want to show you how making one simple change today can give you an extra $5,760.34 in your bank account without any different effort than you are making now!

“One simple change today can give you an extra $5,760.34 in your bank account without any different effort than you are making now!”

In fact, we have discussed why we have 12 bank accounts and many are savings and finding a high interest savings account just makes smart…smarter!

Regardless, if you are saving money, put the money in a high interest savings account. It’s a no-brainer way to be an additional step ahead financially.

As we lay out the reasons why, we are going to point you in the direction of one bank’s option called CIT Savings Builder. We will share the reasons why this is a good option compared to most, but out the gate, they offer one of the highest high-yield savings accounts on the market, it’s 23x’s the average savings rate! That’s AMAZING and any savings you have now should be seriously find a new home with this online bank.

CIT Savings Builder is 23x’s higher than the average bank savings account interest rate!

What is a “high interest” savings account?

When it comes to the topic of a high interest savings account, there can be a lot of leniency on what qualifies as a high interest or high-yield account. When the average bank yields an average of 0.03, really anything above that would be considered “high.”

But for us, we look for options that are at least 1% or higher! The higher the better (obviously), and so that’s why we are happy to share that CIT Savings Builder is more than twice that “high” qualifier starting at 2.10% APY for the life of the account if you continue to meet the terms they require to maintain this high return.

To find an option that is 23x’s higher than what most people are getting (0.03% is an average, but most banks are at a 0.01%) is a financial nugget to find!

What is the best high interest savings account?

I think you might be catching on, but we thought we would just address this question out the gate. Anything above 0.03% is going to be better than most.

Even better is when you can find an account that will give 1.0% or higher.

BEST high interest savings account is one that is towards the top of the options out there! CIT Savings Builder fits The Thrifty Couple bill for making the cut in our article and the answer to this question.

They are close to the very top of interest rate returns as of the writing of this post. But in addition, they get bonus points for making their system super easy to follow and streamlined. Often, banks will require terms and requirements that have to be met in order to keep receiving that high interest return rate on your savings. We have found that the CIT Savings Builder terms and requirements make it easy and realistic to follow and keep getting the 2.10% APY return make it the top of our list of one of the BEST savings account options out there.

What are the benefits of CIT Savings Builder?

1. The first and obvious benefit is the high interest savings account return rate option! I mean it’s 23x’s higher than what the average savings account is getting! That’s the biggest benefit.
2. The other benefits are that it’s easy to meet the requirements for this savings account. That means you can maintain a 2.10% APY rate for the life of the account as long as you follow those terms.
3. The interest compounds DAILY! For credit, loans, credit cards, etc. this is a BAD THING and it would not be a benefit because you’d owe more. But in this case, this is to YOUR benefit. When interest compounds daily, you are earning a little extra interest on the interest you’ve already earned. So your balance GROWS faster. Does that make sense?
4. One of the benefits of choosing an option like CIT Savings Builder is that they are an online only bank, so as a bank, they do not have the traditional expenses that a bank that also has brick and mortar locations has. This gives them that cushion to create higher-yield savings accounts and pass the traditional bank expense savings onto their customers. That is a huge benefit. And an online bank in 2019 is the future and how we have banked for years naturally anyway.
5. Another benefit is that there are NO FEES involved! That’s super awesome!! Many traditional banks, plus many other high interest savings account options seem great, until you realize there are annual or monthly fees or maintenance fees. That only cuts into the returns you are receiving. So if you can find a HIGH interest return plus a NO FEE bank, you have found a double gold mine!
6. If you don’t meet the requirements for the 2.10% APY with your $100 monthly deposits, you only lose the highest tier of 2.078% interest rate/2.10% APY. So you will fall to the lower tier, which is 0.995%/1.24% APY, which according to “high-yield interest rate savings accounts” still falls in a much better option than most. So even if you drop to this for a month or two, you can get back up to the 2.10% APY by simply meeting your $100 monthly deposit requirement the next month.
7. Finally, CIT Bank is FDIC Insured, which means your money is safe.

“If you can find a HIGH interest return account plus a NO FEE bank, you have found a double gold mine!”

What are the terms for a high interest savings account?

Let me break it down. There are TWO ways to be able to maintain the 2.10% APY savings rate with this high interest savings account.

1. Maintain a balance of $25,000 at all times in the account (this is NOT the easy one, but GREAT job if this is something you can do), OR
2. Make one monthly deposit of at least $100 a month. This is the easy one.

Can you carve out $100 to deposit (being able to access if need, but the goal is to GROW the return)? What are you doing now? Can you shift your thinking and shift your deposits? Can you find a side hustle that you can deposit $100 a month from into this option to see it grow?

There are many ways to make this doable on any income and any financial situation.

What are the interest earnings differences between a CIT Savings Builder High Interest Savings Account and an average savings account?

We’ve mentioned the pros or benefits of the CIT Savings Building High Interest Savings Account, but we want to share some concrete examples of why this option is a good one compared to the average bank and then also compared to other higher-yield savings accounts. These examples are going to show you concrete math examples from a Savings Account Interest Calculator.

First, you may have a savings account with less than a 2.10% APY, but maybe it’s even the average of 0.03%. If that is the case, if you start with a $100 balance and deposit $100 every month for 10 years, you will have invested $12,100 total. What would the average savings account yield for those deposits?

Here’s that example:

On the flipside, using the exact same scenario, but depositing into a high interest savings account through a bank like CIT Savings Builder with a 2.10% APY, how much can you end up with?

Here’s that example:

What are the cons of the Savings Builder from CIT Bank?

Since we have specifically identified the CIT Savings Builder as one of the best savings account options out there, we wanted to make sure you are aware of the cons, because let’s be honest, nothing is all “peaches and cream” exclusively. Almost everything that is wonderful and amazing has something that is not as positive.

In the case of CIT Bank, there are a few things to note:

1. There are no physical locations. CIT Bank is an online exclusive bank. In 2019, this is not as much of a negative because most people exclusively bank online anyway. But this also means that they can afford to provide the high interest savings accounts too.
2. There is no CIT ATM network. That means you cannot withdraw or deposit from a physical location.
3. You have to maintain a $25,000 balance OR make one deposit of $100 or more every month before Evaluation Day in order to maintain your 2.10% APY.
4. You can only have 6 external transactions/withdraws (unlimited deposits) from this account per month. Most savings accounts do have restrictions like this because it is a SAVINGS account, not a checking account. You can have an unlimited number of internal transactions (this would be transferring from one account to another within CIT Bank, or using it to make payments on loans within CIT Bank, etc.)

There you have it, the cons or negatives of opening a CIT Bank Savings Builder High Interest Savings Account. Although the cons exist, the good news is that the benefits FAR outweigh the cons.

“The good news is that the benefits FAR outweigh the cons.”

Who are these types of accounts best for?

That’s a great question! So glad you asked! In fact, the short answer is EVERYONE!

But let’s get to the nitty gritty. There is really no reason that anyone wouldn’t benefit from this type of savings account. However, it goes without saying that there are some groups of people that should certainly take full advantage of this opportunity.

Again, this is a great option for ALL, but these are groups that this is BEST for:

• Teenagers – especially those with jobs so they can have a goal to deposit $100 a month regardless.
• College students – same reasoning as the teens.
• Anyone wanting to save for a car – Consider starting this account and each month adding the $100 to “future car fund.”
• Anyone wanting to buy a house and start growing a nice nest egg for a down payment.
• Vacation Savings Accounts (this is what we use it for!) – It is so nice and easy to put away $100 (or more) into a high interest savings account and let it GROW! We are currently savings skymiles, money in high interest savings accounts and travel gift cards through Swagbucks to save for a family trip to Europe in 2021! We’ve been saving for about 4 years now!
• Side Hustle growth accelerator – if you do side hustles (which you should), then you should devote $100 of your monthly earnings to a high interest savings account to watch it grow faster.
• Anyone wanting to have a safe and nice savings account for that rainy day!

How much money will I be left with in 1, 10 and even 20 years with a High Interest Savings Account?

This is the super cool part. I love to “geek out” with calculations and numbers. When we were paying off our $100k of debt, we loved running hypothetical numbers left and right and see the shortest and cheapest (in terms of how much interest) pathway to get to our $0 debt goal! So when it comes to money math, I LOVE it! So let’s “GEEK” out…shall we?

Here’s what you would be left with in 1-year with an average savings account:

And now in 1-year with a high interest savings account:

We shared a 10-year example above, but let’s jump to 20-years, starting this account today and letting it grow at $100 deposits. Just how much EXTRA will you end up with for an average savings account:

Now with a high interest rate savings account after 20-years:

Friends….are you seeing what I am seeing?!? This is a difference of $5,760.34 just by simply shifting WHERE you put $100 savings a month!

“This is a difference of $5760.34 just by simply shifting WHERE you put $100 savings a month!”

How to open a high interest savings account through CIT Savings Builder.

Starting a High Interest Savings Account is quite simple. And as we have already established, since CIT Bank is an online only bank, you are already online and so you don’t have to leave where you are to make this savings account happen for your family and your financial goals.

Here’s how to open one right where you are now!

• Head to the CIT Savings Builder site HERE
• Click on the “get started” button

• Once you click on get started, it will ask if you are a new customer or current customer
• After that quick question, it will show you the 4 pieces of information needed to get your account started, letting you know that it’s quite easy and you will only need 5-10 minutes and your initial $100 deposit.

• Quickly complete the form and make your initial $100 deposit. This will initiate the 2.10% APY.
• Then each month, make your $100 deposit before the Evaluation Day each month to qualify and continue qualifying for the 2.10% APY.
• “Evaluation Day” is the fourth business day prior to the end of a month. Please pay attention to this date so you can deposit before then. Remember, if you miss it, you will drop to the lowest tier of interest for that month which is 1.24% APY (which is still high), but then can kick the 2.10% back in when you deposit $100 again.

One tip that could help you create this account and have the $100 available each month is to check out the budget system we recommend and include the $100 in this plan!

There you have it! Hopefully everything you need to know about a High Interest Savings Account, plus a very good option to make it happen through the CIT Savings Builder.

But now we want to hear from you! Have you opened a high interest or high-yield savings account before and how is it going? Which options are your favorite that you have tried?