Here are 8 interest savings accounts offering 5% APY (or close to it)

Editor’s Note: APYs listed in this article are up-to-date as of the time of publication. They may fluctuate (up or down) as the Fed rate changes. CNBC Select will update as changes are made public.

If there’s one upside of a rising-interest-rate environment, it’s earning a higher return on that cash sitting in a savings account.

Some high-yield savings accounts are now offering around a 5% annual percentage yield (APY) — a significant increase from the pandemic-era rates that once hovered around just 1% and a high we haven’t seen since the 1990s. (And we still have the rest of the year to see how savings rates play out in accordance with the forthcoming Fed rate hikes.)

With a 5% APY being one of the highest yields we’re seeing in the market right now, CNBC Select researched just what FDIC-insured savings accounts are offering an APY of 5% — or close to it — and the minimum balances required to earn that decently attractive return. If your sole focus is to maximize your savings, these are the accounts to consider. (See our methodology below for more information on how we created this list.)

The UFB Premier Savings account offers one of the highest interest rates currently available at up to 4.81% APY — with no cap. Though UFB Direct notes that this is a tiered savings rate, at the time of writing all balance tiers earn this 4.81% APY.

This account has no minimum deposit requirement so savers can deposit $1 or $100 and earn the same high APY. UFB Direct is the online division of Axos Bank.

If you’re an existing UFB customer, note that the bank sometimes changes the name of its savings accounts when it raises the APY, and it does not automatically enroll existing customers into the new account. Anytime UFB increases the APY on an account, customers should contact the bank to make sure they’re enrolled in the account offering the best APY.

Varo Savings Account users can qualify to earn 5% APY on balances up to $5,000 by meeting two requirements:

1. Receiving $1,000 or more in direct deposits per month
2. Ending the month with a positive balance in both the Varo Bank Account and Varo Savings Account

For savers that max their balance to $5,000, that’s $250 in interest earnings in a year.

Varo savers earn 3% APY on any additional balance over $5,000 and there is no minimum balance required to earn this standard 3% APY. Varo Savings is a part of Varo Bank, which is an all-mobile national bank.

Cardholders of the Mango Prepaid Mastercard^® (issued by Metropolitan Commercial Bank) have access to a savings feature where they can earn up to 6.00% APY on balances up to $2,500 by meeting two requirements:

1. Make a minimum deposit of $25 and have that minimum balance at the end of the month
2. Make signature purchases of $1,500 or more on the Mango Prepaid Mastercard each month

For savers that max their balance to $2,500, that’s $150 in interest earnings in a year. The APY thereafter is a low 0.10% over $2,500 — which at that point we’d recommend shifting other savings beyond the $2,500 to a high-yielding bank account.

The Western Alliance Bank Savings Account offers a 5.05% APY and requires just a $1 minimum deposit to open an account. There is no cap for earning the 5.05% APY.

Western Alliance Bank savings products are powered by SaveBetter, which means that savers’ accounts are opened and managed on the SaveBetter.com platform.

With the Newtek Bank Personal High Yield Savings, account holders earn 5.00% APY with a minimum balance requirement of just $0.01 to earn interest. There’s no minimum deposit to open an account and no cap on how much interest you can earn with this APY.

Newtek Bank is formerly National Bank of New York City (NBNYC); it has recently been acquired and rebranded as a part of NewtekOne.

Though CFG Bank High Yield Money Market Account has “money market” in its name, it doesn’t offer any of the typical bells and whistles you find with a money market account, such as check-writing privileges, debit cards and ATM access; it instead functions like a savings account.

There is a $1,000 minimum deposit required to open CFG Bank High Yield Account and to earn the 5.02% APY. Though this is a higher minimum than others on this list, it essentially helps the saver at the end of the day; the higher one’s balance, the higher their interest earnings will be.

There is no cap for earning the 5.02% APY, which means savers can deposit as much as they want and still earn that high APY.

Though Laurel Road is widely known for its student loan refinancing services, the digital banking arm of KeyBank recently launched the Laurel Road High Yield Savings. This savings account offers a competitive interest rate at 4.80% APY, with no minimums required and zero monthly fees.

The Bask Interest Savings Account offers a 4.75% APY to all savings account holders, with zero monthly fees and no minimum requirements; just note that the bank may close your account if it remains unfunded for 15 business days.

Frequent travelers should consider the Bask Mileage Savings Account where they earn American Airlines AAdvantage^® miles back instead: Earn 2.5 miles for every $1 saved annually. Savers can then use these miles for flights on American Airlines or any of its 20+ partner airlines.

Bask Bank is a division of Texas Capital Bank, but operates completely online.

Currently, the CFG Bank High Yield Money Market Account stands out as offering one of the highest interest rates, at 5.02% APY, on all balance tiers with no cap. Take note that CFG requires a $1,000 minimum deposit to open the account and to earn the high APY.

Savers can find more and more accounts these days offering around 5% APY to stay competitive with other banks. To get 5% interest on your savings, this list is a good place to start – and be sure to come back to it as rates rise even more this year.

When choosing a 5% APY savings account, be mindful of the fine print. Banks tout above-average APYs that often come with caveats.

Typical conditions might include a cap to how much you can earn the high APY on; for instance, earning 5% APY but only on a balance up to $1,000. This can limit your interest earnings so you really can only maximize your savings so much.

Another condition may be requiring a high minimum deposit to open a 5% APY account or to earn interest. Just make sure that the minimum is an amount you were planning to put into a savings account originally.

To apply for a 5% APY savings account, go to the website of the account you wish to open. Most savings accounts take not even 10 minutes to apply and just require a government-issued ID like a passport or driver’s license, Social Security number, address, contact information, date of birth and a checking account routing number to deposit money.

If your money is sitting in a savings account, maximize the interest you earn on it by switching to an account like one of the above. After all, the higher your interest rate, the faster your money can grow.

With the national average APY on savings accounts well below half of one percent, that means a savings of $2,500 may only earn you around $10 in interest the first year. Parking that same $2,500 in an online high-yield account offering 5% APY, however, means netting $125 in interest earnings the first year instead. And, naturally, the higher your balance, the higher your interest earnings. If you’re going to maintain a savings account, such as for an emergency fund, you might as well earn the highest return possible.

To determine which interest savings accounts made this list, CNBC Select analyzed dozens of U.S. savings accounts offered by online and brick-and-mortar banks, including large credit unions. We narrowed down our picks by only considering those savings accounts that offer an APY of around 5% (at minimum 4.50% APY), along with low (or no) minimum balance requirements. Some banks offer around a 5% APY but only up to a cap; in these cases, we didn’t include those that limited the high APY to a balance of $1,000 or less. We also took into consideration the fallback APY offered once the balance limit to earn the high APY is reached.

All of the accounts included on this list are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor. Note that the rates and fee structures for interest savings accounts are not guaranteed forever; they are subject to change without notice and they often fluctuate in accordance with the Fed rate. Your earnings depend on any associated fees and the balance you have in your interest savings account. To open an account, most banks and institutions require a deposit of new money, meaning you can’t transfer the money you already had in an account at that bank.

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