Savings Accounts

Your available balance is the amount you can spend right now. You can think of it as "funds available to withdraw." Sometimes you’ll see an available balance that’s less than your account balance. The rest of the money is being held by your bank for various reasons.

Annual percentage yield is the annual percentage of profit earned on an investment, which takes into account the effect of compounding interest. It's a helpful metric to have on-hand when you decide which bank is best and what type of account to select to maximize your interest payments.

Simple interest is a specific way of measuring interest that does not account for multiple periods of interest payments or charges. The interest rate will only apply to the principal amount of the loan or investment—it won't be affected by any interest accrued as with compound interest.

A wire transfer is a way of moving money electronically between two banks. A traditional money wire goes from one bank to another using a network such as the Society for Worldwide Interbank Financial Telecommunication (SWIFT) or Fedwire.

A money market account (MMA) is essentially a savings account that has some of the features of a checking account. You'll usually get checks or a debit card, and you can make a few transactions each month, but you won't have quite the freedom of a typical checking account.

A savings account is a basic type of bank account that allows you to deposit money, keep it safe, and withdraw funds, all while earning interest. Savings accounts offered by most banks, credit unions, and other financial institutions are insured and typically pay interest on your deposits.

Automated clearinghouse (ACH) payments are electronic payments to a biller that pull funds directly from your checking account. Instead of writing out a paper check or initiating a debit or credit card transaction, the money moves automatically.

The National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) is a government-backed insurance fund for credit union deposits.1 It functions through the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), which is a U.S. government agency. Like FDIC insurance, NCUSIF covers up to $250,000 per account holder per institution.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is an independent agency—created by the U.S. government—designed to protect consumers in the U.S. financial system. The FDIC is best known for deposit insurance, which helps protect customer deposits in case a bank fails.