HYSA Rates Dipped Ahead of the Fed's July Meeting — and Still Beat Big-Bank Savings by $300 a Year

Which high-yield savings accounts changed rates ahead of the Fed's July meeting?

Most weeks, Arca's rate capture is uneventful. Seven banks, seven public rate pages, one snapshot a week — and usually the same numbers as the week before. Not this stretch.

Between May 18 and July 28, 2026, four of the seven high-yield savings accounts Arca tracks — SoFi, American Express, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, and Ally Bank — trimmed their APYs by 10 to 20 basis points.

Every rate above is the APY a customer earns on a $10,000 balance, captured weekly from each bank's public rate page and recorded in the Arca rate table, with qualifying-product requirements disclosed inline (promotional and intro rates excluded).

The Federal Reserve didn't move at all: it held its target range at 3.50%–3.75% at the June 16–17 meeting, and meets again on July 28–29.

Why do savings rates move before the Fed does?

Deposit rates aren't priced off the last Fed announcement — they're priced off what funding is expected to cost. High-yield savings rates are variable by design, and banks adjust them whenever the math changes, Fed calendar or not.

Three standard mechanics explain moves like these. None of the four banks stated a reason, so these are explanations, not attributions:

• Funding needs. Online banks pay competitive deposit rates to attract the funding their lending requires. When loan demand or deposit targets soften, the deposit rate adjusts with them.
• The competitive field. Just as savers compare rates within the online cohort, banks price against each other. When several banks in the field move down, it gets easier for any one of them to reprice without losing position.
• Positioning for expected easing. If a bank expects policy rates to fall later in the year, adjusting deposit costs gradually now is smoother than one large move later.

What do the trims cost — and what's the balance still earning?

A basis point is worth $1 a year per $10,000 saved. That's the whole formula.

So the SoFi and American Express moves each work out to $20 a year on a $10,000 balance, and the Marcus and Ally moves to $10. The median change across the four — 15 basis points — is $15 a year per $10,000, or $37.50 on a $25,000 emergency fund.

Is that ruinous? No. And here's the part that matters more, because it hasn't changed: even after the trims, these four accounts pay 3.00%–3.80% APY, while the standard savings tiers at Chase (0.01% APY) and Bank of America (0.04% APY) pay a fraction of that — Chase's standard tier pays about 1/300th of the lowest rate in the table above.

A $10,000 balance still earns roughly $300 more per year at the lowest-paying account in that table than at Chase's standard tier. The trim is $10 or $20 a year. The gap it came out of is worth $300 — and it's still sitting right there.

So where's the top of the field right now?

What is the market expecting from the Fed this week?

A hike is now a live possibility — which is the opposite direction from where these four banks just moved their deposit rates.

As of the morning of July 28, fed-funds futures tracked by CME FedWatch put roughly 64% probability on the Fed holding its 3.50%–3.75% target range at the July 28–29 meeting and about 36% on a 25-basis-point hike, with no probability at all on a cut. A week earlier, those hike odds were near 26%.

That's the detail that makes this stretch interesting. Four banks trimmed what they pay savers over a stretch in which the market's expectation moved toward tighter policy, not away from it. Deposit pricing isn't a referendum on the Fed — each bank is solving its own funding equation, and those equations don't all point the same way at the same time.

For savers, the practical read is simpler than the macro: rates move between meetings, in both directions, without anyone telling you. That's the whole case for checking yours.

What can savers check this week?

Three factual checks, no forecasting required:

1. What your account pays today. Savings APYs change without individual notice — the bank's published rate page is the source of truth, not the rate advertised when you opened the account.
2. Whether the rate is variable. All seven accounts Arca tracks carry variable rates, and a change like the four above can arrive in any week.
3. Where that rate sits against the current field. The index below shows the tracked range as of the latest weekly capture, and the Arca rate table lists every account with its conditions.

That's it. Ten minutes, maybe less. As of August 11, 2026, the seven accounts Arca tracks pay between 3.00% and 4.21% APY, with the top rates carrying qualifying conditions disclosed in the rate table — the four in the table above sit at the lower end of that range, and the top of the field is higher still.

Frequently asked questions

Which high-yield savings accounts cut rates in July 2026?

SoFi, American Express, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, and Ally Bank each trimmed their APY between May 18 and July 28, 2026. SoFi Savings moved from 4.00% to 3.80% with direct deposit, American Express High Yield Savings from 3.20% to 3.00%, Marcus by Goldman Sachs from 3.50% to 3.40%, and Ally Bank Online Savings from 3.10% to 3.00%. Three of the seven accounts Arca tracks held steady. Source: Arca Savings, updated August 11, 2026.

How much does a 20 basis point rate cut cost on $10,000?

A 20 basis point cut costs $20 a year on a $10,000 balance, because one basis point is worth $1 per year per $10,000. The median cut across SoFi, American Express, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, and Ally Bank was 15 basis points — $15 a year per $10,000, or $37.50 on a $25,000 emergency fund, as of July 27, 2026. Source: Arca Savings, updated August 11, 2026.

Do high-yield savings accounts still beat big banks after the cuts?

Yes. After the trims, those four accounts pay 3.00% to 3.80% APY — the 3.80% is SoFi's rate with qualifying direct deposit — while Chase standard savings pays 0.01% and Bank of America pays 0.04%, as of August 11, 2026. A $10,000 balance earns about $299 more per year at the lowest-paying of the four than at Chase's standard savings tier. Source: Arca Savings, updated August 11, 2026.

Update — July 30, 2026: The Federal Reserve held its target range at 3.50%–3.75% at the conclusion of its July 28–29 meeting, on a 9–3 vote — three members dissented in favor of a quarter-point increase. The four rate changes described above were all recorded before that decision. None of the banks Arca tracks moved a published APY in the 24 hours after the announcement: The Fed Held Rates Steady. Savings Rates Didn't Move.

Update — August 3, 2026: The first move in the other direction came from a branch bank, not an online one. U.S. Bank's Bank Smartly Savings relationship tier for combined balances of $5,000 to $24,999.99 went from 2.00% to 3.00% APY between Arca's July 30 and August 3 captures — level with what Ally and American Express pay on a $10,000 balance with no conditions attached: U.S. Bank's $10,000 Savings Tier Now Pays 3.00%

Update — August 12, 2026: The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a 3.4% twelve-month change in consumer prices for July 2026. Measured against that print, the trims described above still left four accounts paying above inflation, with Marcus matching it exactly at 3.40% and Ally and American Express below it at 3.00%: July Inflation was 3.4%. Here are the Savings Accounts that beat it.

Arca provides information, not financial advice. Rates are sourced from each bank's public rate page, captured weekly, and recorded in the Arca rate table. APYs are variable and can change at any time.

Arca may earn a commission from financial institutions when a reader opens an account through our links. This doesn't affect the accounts we surface or the information in this article. See current rates at arcasavings.com/rates.