In the US, the concept of “saving service” is somewhat different from the European concept of this banking product. So, there are about ten types of accounts (deposits), which are issued in American banks.
All US bank deposits fall into one of two classes:
- saving accounts;
- checking accounts.
You can use the funds accumulated on a checking deposit account to pay for purchased goods and services. Savings deposits in the United States do not provide such an opportunity. On the other hand, it is the class of savings deposits that term deposits in US banks (Certificates of Deposit) belong, for which the maximum possible annual interest rate is provided.
Accordingly, before making a deposit, you must clearly formulate for yourself what type of bank account you want to open. Note also that you can open a deposit in the United States only with a personal visit to the bank – the country’s lending institutions do not issue savings accounts for non-residents online.
Rates and terms of savings services
As in many European countries, deposits in the United States are primarily accounts for storing funds, and not a tool for generating extra income. Therefore, you may not expect to get a special profit when making a deposit in an American bank.
As we already mentioned, in the United States, bank deposits with a clearly fixed term (on average from 3 to 24 months) and the maximum possible level of return are called certificates of deposit. Unfortunately, now there can be no question of any foreign deposits with a rate of 12% per annum (or even 4-6%).
Rarely the maximum rate on deposits in US banks does not exceed 0.9-0.95% (in MetLife Bank, you can open a deposit at 1.15% or 1% per annum for a period of 24 and 12 months, respectively). For example, in the Bank of America, deposits are made in US dollars for a period of 5 and 10 years at a rate of 0.45%, for 2 years – 0.2%, for a year – 0.09% per annum.
The lowest interest rate is set for short-term US deposits (3-6 months) – 0.05% per annum.
However, when choosing a bank, one should be guided not so much by its rates as by the willingness of the credit institution to cooperate with non-residents of the country.