TIAA Direct High Yield Savings Account: Best Savings Rate at 1.25%

TIAA Direct's High Yield Savings account has one of the best savings rates available right now. TIAA Direct's current savings rate is 1.24 percent with an APY of 1.25 percent. This bank's savings account rate is more than 12 times the current FDIC national average rate of 0.10 percent.

Savings rates are tiered and based on the deposit amount but right now all account balances earn an APY of 1.25 percent. The rate and APY have been stable and the current rate is effective as of 2/12/2012.

You can compare TIAA Direct's savings rate to many other bank and credit union account rates by using our rate tables: Savings Account Rates monitorbankrates.com/online-savings-accounts.

TIAA Direct Savings

Usually when banks have one of the highest rates around the rate doesn't last, that is with savings accounts or money market accounts since those types of accounts are variable rate accounts. In case your unsure what a variable rate account means the interest rate can change at anytime, unlike a certificate of deposit which as a fixed rate for the entire CD term.

Besides having one of the best savings account rates around TIAA Direct also offers many services with the savings account. You can bank anywhere and at anytime either online or on your mobile phone.

With online banking you can setup alerts so you're always on top of what's going on with your account. You can get alerts to an email account or your mobile phone so you know when a bill is due or a deposit has been made. You can also setup free billpay and not have to worry about writing a check in time to pay a bill. You can also setup account transfers in and out of the TIAA savings account to other accounts or external accounts.

With moblie baning you can use your mobile phone to access your savings account from anywhere. You can check balances, pay bills, transfer money, and view account activity.

A really cool feature with TIAA Direct's mobile banking is you can take a picture of a check with your iPhone or any other smart phone and have that check deposited in your account. You never have to go to the bank to deposit a check or mail a check in. Isn't that awesome?

You can also do transfers in and out with your mobile phone and do "Text Banking". Here are the "text banking" options:

• Text B (or BAL) to TCACCT (822228) to check the balance on all your accounts
• Text B 1 (or BAL 1) to TCACCT (822228) to check the balance of a single account
• Text H (or HIST) to TCACCT (822228) to view your account history
• Text T (or TRA) to TCACCT (822228) to move money between your eligible, internal accounts.  Follow the instructions to indicate the amount of the transfer and which accounts to transfer between.
• Text HE (or HELP) to TCACCT (822228) for help

For more information on opening a savings account at TIAA Direct go to the bank's website there: TIAA Direct High Yield Savings.