Moving cash to the bank that actually pays.
The national average savings rate is dragged down by the largest banks, which pay close to nothing on deposits. Online banks and credit unions compete on rate because they have no branch network to fund.
The gap is regularly three to four percentage points on identical, insured, instant-access cash. Nothing else in personal finance pays that much for an afternoon of paperwork.
Check the deposit insurance limit, any minimum balance, and whether the headline rate is promotional.
$25,000 at the 0.38% national average earns about $95 a year. The same $25,000 at 4.25% earns about $1,063 — a difference of roughly $968.
See the savings page