Key Takeaways
- Primis Bank offers a free online-only checking account, available nationwide, that pays a surprising 4.20% APY—not far below the best high-yield savings account rates.
- Primis Premium Checking can be opened with as little as $1. Its high APY is paid on any balance amount—no minimum required.
- Earning that kind of return on a checking account usually requires jumping through hoops, like making a dozen debit card transactions per month. Primis’ account imposes no such requirements.
- Like savings accounts, checking APYs can change at any time. So it can be smart to pair this account with a top-rated CD, letting you lock in a high return for some of your cash for months or years down the road.in
The full article continues below these offers from our partners.
Online Checking That Pays a Surprisingly High Rate
To earn the highest available return on savings, you usually have to stash cash in a top-paying CD. Sometimes, even a stellar high-yield savings account can get you close to the tip-top rate. Regular checking accounts, on the other hand, usually pay little to nothing.
The best high-yield checking accounts pay more, but they usually require you to make a lot of debit card transactions. For instance, La Capitol Federal Credit Union pays 6.25%, but only if you make 15 debit transactions each month. In addition, these accounts almost always stipulate a maximum balance on which you can earn the high-yield rate, such as La Capitol’s $10,000 cap.
That’s what makes Primis Bank’s Premium Checking account so attractive. Not only does it offer a remarkable 4.20% annual percentage yield (APY), but it has no debit card or direct deposit requirements. And you can earn its high APY on any balance—there’s no minimum and no cap on the interest you can earn.
A Treasure Trove of Features Enhances Primis’ APY
Wondering whether this offer is so good because, on the flip side, it charges a lot of fees? Or maybe it’s missing important account features? Believe it or not, we have good news there, too. The account offers a long list of customer-friendly features including:
- A required opening balance of just $1
- No monthly account fees or service charges
- No minimum balance requirement, and no balance cap to earn the high APY
- No overdraft fees
- No monthly transaction limits
- Early direct deposit, which can credit your account up to two days early
- Free ATM usage nationwide
- One free pack of checks (upon request)
- Free incoming wires
Primis is a Physical Bank
While Primis’ Premium Checking account is an online-only offering, Primis Bank is not exclusively virtual. Headquartered in Tappahannock, Virginia, and founded in 2005, Primis is an FDIC-insured brick-and-mortar bank. That means up to $250,000 of your deposits (per person and per institution) are federally protected in the unlikely situation that the bank fails.
Primis Checking vs. a High-Yield Savings Account: Which Should You Choose?
You can earn a little bit more with other savings accounts. Our daily ranking of the best high-yield savings rates includes 15 accounts that pay between a 4.40% and 4.75% APY. But that extra interest may not be very significant unless you’re holding an exceptionally large cash balance, so if some of the features offered by the Primis Premium Checking account are useful to you, then giving up some interest could be worthwhile.
Another option is to open two Primis accounts: a Premium Checking for the account benefits and features it offers and a Primis Savings Account, which currently pays a slightly better 4.35% APY. The difference in Primis’ checking and savings rates is fairly minor, though, so if you’re the kind of person who likes to keep all your surplus cash in checking, then the Primis Premium Checking account is a uniquely high-paying option.
For anyone who feels they’ll do better by socking away funds in a completely separate account, one of the top high-yield savings accounts will pay you more, but a Primis Savings Account offers instant transfers between your Primis savings and checking accounts.
Rates Could Fall in 2025, So Consider Putting Some Cash in a CD
If you have more cash than you need for the coming months, or a year or longer, it’s a smart time to consider one of today’s best certificates of deposit (CDs). That’s because the Federal Reserve is generally expected to lower interest rates at least once in 2025. This will push savings and checking account rates lower—meaning, the 4.20% you can earn from Primis today may not be available throughout the year.
A CD, in contrast, lets you lock in one of today’s rates, guaranteeing it for some number of months or years down the road. Right now the nation’s best CDs offer top rates of 4.35% to 4.73% on terms ranging from 3 months to 5 years. That means you can easily secure a stellar return into 2026—and even as long as 2030.
Daily Rankings of the Best CDs and Savings Accounts
The “top rates” quoted here are the highest nationally available rates Investopedia has identified in its daily rate research on hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is different than the national average, which includes all banks offering a CD with that term, including many large banks that pay a pittance in interest. Thus, the national averages are always quite low, while the top rates you can unearth by shopping around are often 5, 10, or even 15 times higher.
How We Find the Best Savings and CD Rates
Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs and savings accounts to customers nationwide and determines daily rankings of the top-paying accounts. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the account’s minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000. It also cannot specify a maximum deposit amount that’s below $5,000.
Banks must be available in at least 40 states to qualify as nationally available. While some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don’t meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don’t live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more.
For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.