We took a close look at over 70 financial institutions, including the largest U.S. retail banks, based on assets and internet search traffic; the nation’s largest credit unions, based on assets and membership; and other notable and/or emerging players in the industry, based on competitive checking and savings offerings. We rated them on criteria including annual percentage yields, minimum balances, fees, digital experience and more. Some of the providers are NerdWallet partners, but this did not influence our selection of the winner.
How we chose the winner:
Money market account providers are rated based on the following factors: interest rate (30% of the rating), monthly fees (25%), distinguishing features, for example, goal-setting tools, automatic savings programs and alerts (20%), and minimum opening deposit (25%). Also, up to 15% extra credit was given for a sign-up bonus.
In case of a tie, banks and credit unions were compared by category in the following order until one institution remained:
Banking experience.
Monthly fee.
Lowest minimum balance.
Ongoing interest rate.
How we verified our data:
NerdWallet writers and editors confirmed fees, rates, policies and other key features on each financial institution’s website. If an institution’s website was missing information, we contacted a representative directly for confirmation.