If You Have More Than $1,000 in Your Checking Account, Make These 7 Moves
You’ve done it. You’ve built up a little cushion in your bank account — $1,000! It feels good, right? Those days of checking your account balance in a panic are behind you.
Congrats! You’re on the right path. Now it’s time to think about some longer-term goals. What do you want to accomplish next with your money? Do you need to save more? Do you want to buy a home someday? Invest?
What’s the next step you should take? What are some specific things you can do to take your finances to the next level?
We’ve got some ideas for you:
1. Earn 4.35% Interest on Your Savings and Still Access Your Money Any Time
You’ve been with the same bank for years, and how do they repay your loyalty? With a measly 65 cents in earned interest every year.
And you’re not alone. The national average interest rate for savings accounts is just 0.46%.
But there’s actually a way to grow your money 17 times faster — completely risk-free.
When you sign up for a Capital One 360 Performance Savings Account, you’ll earn 4.35% APY on your account balance. Just to be clear, that’s almost 10 times the national average on a regular savings account.
There’s no minimum deposit to open and keep your account. And you’ll never pay any monthly or maintenance fees, either.
You also don’t need to worry about accessing your savings—you can withdraw your money at any time with no penalties. Plus, all your money is FDIC-insured, which basically just means it’s super safe.
Signing up for your Capital One savings account only takes a few minutes. After that, you can sit back and watch your savings grow with 10 times the average interest.
2. Let This Card Help Fund Your Down Payment or Pay Down Your Mortgage Faster
If you’re looking to buy a home – or you already have a mortgage – you’ve probably “been good” and checked all the right boxes. Saving for a down payment. Watching your credit score. All that good stuff. But with today’s inflation and high interest, you might feel like being “good” still isn’t enough.
We’re here to tell you, don’t stop what you’re doing. But maybe consider switching up how you’re doing it.
The Rocket Visa Signature® Card can help you fund your down payment or help pay down your mortgage faster just by going about your everyday shopping.1
Right now, you’ll also get an extra $200 welcome bonus when you spend $3,000 on your Rocket Card. 2
You’ll earn up to 5% cashback that you can use towards your down payment and closing costs when you use Rocket Mortgage®.3 If you own your home through Rocket, you can get 2% cashback towards your mortgage balance.4
If you have a mortgage with Rocket, the card’s $95 annual fee is waived.5 If you don’t have a Rocket Mortgage, you redeem cashback to put towards closing a new Rocket Mortgage or a statement credit.
Ready to add another good thing to your life? It takes just two minutes to apply for the Rocket Card and there’s no impact on your credit score for finding out if you’re preapproved.6
All Rocket Visa Signature Cards are powered by Deserve and issued by Celtic Bank. Visa is a registered trademark of Visa Inc. The card may be used everywhere Visa is accepted. Subject to credit approval.
3. Get Paid up to $360/Year With This Free Debit Card
Wouldn’t it be nice if you got special treatment wherever you went? You can actually get rewards wherever you shop, using this free debit card from Discover.
You’ll earn 1% cash back on every single purchase you make using your Discover® Cashback Debit account, on up to $3,000 monthly.* There’s no impact on your credit score for signing up and no minimum balance requirements ever.
Need groceries? Tap your card for cash back. You can also get paid sooner with Early Pay direct deposit, protect against overdrafts and access to over 60,000 ATMs without fees. You can handle all of your banking needs through the app and connect a virtual wallet like Apple Pay to amplify your rewards. And on top of all that, checking-account deposits are FDIC-insured up to the maximum amount allowed by law.
Does your bank do all that? If not, open a free Discover checking account to get special treatment from a bank that will actually put money back into your account.
*See website for details.
4. Earn up to $200 every time you win playing Bingo
There’s a free iPhone app called Bingo Cash that pays you up to $83 every time you win bingo.
The game is based on a classic Bingo format — plus tons of entertaining variations on the game. You’ll battle it out against other players at your same skill level. Everyone gets the same board and sees the same Bingo balls, so winning is totally a matter of skill. You can play free practice games or enter tournaments for as little as $1. Plus, get a $5 bonus to use toward tournaments when you add $10 to your account. The top three players in a game can win real money — anywhere from $1 to $83.
Over on the App Store, it has a 4.7-star rating (out of 5). Wanna get a headstart on other players?
Just start here to claim your $5 bonus match when you add $10.
5. Let Your Family Inherit $250k or Much More
We never seem to have enough savings or investments. But there’s one particular way to make up for that shortfall: life insurance.
None of us like to think about what happens to your family if you pass, but this is a smart way to free them from a burden – and give you peace of mind.
With NerdWallet, you can get multiple life insurance quotes all in one place and find a plan that’s probably far more affordable than you think.
You can choose whole life plans if you want to do it once, forget about it and have coverage for the rest of your life. Or you can pick from term life plans to get even lower rates with coverage that can last a few decades.*
Is it finally time to get covered? It’s easy to get life insurance quotes from NerdWallet to see just how affordable a good policy could be for you.
6. This Company Pays You Whether You Spend or Save Money (up to 5.21% APY on Savings)
Does your bank pay you to spend and save money? Upgrade does.
They’ll pay you 2% cashback on qualifying purchases with Rewards Checking Plus1 and a hefty 5.21% APY on your savings with an Upgrade Premier Savings Account.2
To start earning 2% cashback today, direct deposit $1,000 into your Upgrade Rewards Checking Plus account each month. Anything short of that will still generate 1% cashback.1
You can also earn 5.21% APY (annual percentage yield) on savings with an Upgrade Premier Savings account. All you have to do is make a deposit (at least $1,000) and let it earn more money for you.2
There are no annoying monthly fees, hidden service charges, or petty overdraft fees for Rewards Checking Plus3 or Premier Savings.2 And no, there are no minimum balance requirements to keep your accounts open.
Upgrade has a TrustPilot rating of “Excellent” with about 40,000 reviews giving them 4.5/5 stars — their app even has a 4.5 rating on the Apple App Store.
Ready to get more out of your money? It’s free and easy to open a cashback account with Upgrade today. Upgrade is a financial technology company that partners with Cross River Bank to keep your money secured with FDIC or NCUA insurance up to $250,000.
7. Cancel Your Car Insurance
Here’s the thing: Your current car insurance company is probably overcharging you. But don’t waste your time hopping around to different insurance companies looking for a better deal.
Use a website called EverQuote to see all your options at once.
EverQuote is the largest online marketplace for insurance in the US, so you’ll get the top options from more than 175 different carriers handed right to you.
Take a couple of minutes to answer some questions about yourself and your driving record. With this information, EverQuote will be able to give you the top recommendations for car insurance. In just a few minutes, you could save up to $610 a year.
*NerdWallet believes everyone should be able to make financial decisions with confidence. And, while our site doesn’t feature every company or financial product available on the market, we’re proud that the guidance we offer, the information we provide and the tools we create are objective, independent, straightforward – and free.
1 Rewards Checking Plus customers who set up monthly direct deposits of $1,000 or more earn 2% cash back on common everyday expenses at convenience stores, drugstores, restaurants and bars – including deliveries – and gas stations, as well as recurring payments on utilities and monthly subscriptions including phone, cable, TV and other streaming services, and 1% cash back on all other debit card purchases. 2% cash back is limited to $500 in rewards per calendar year; after $500, customers earn 1% cash back on all eligible debit card purchases for the remainder of the year. Rewards Checking Plus accounts with less than $1,000 in monthly direct deposits 60 days after account opening will earn 1% cash back on common everyday expenses and 0.50% cash back on all other eligible debit card purchases. Some limitations apply. Please refer to the applicable Upgrade VISA® Debit Card Agreement and Disclosures for more information.
2The Annual Percentage Yield (“APY”) for the Premier Savings account is variable and may change at any time. There is no minimum balance to open your account, but you will only earn the APY on days when the closing balance of your Premiere Savings account is or exceeds $1000. On days where the account closing balance drops below $1000, the APY will be 0%. There are no monthly account fees associated with Premier Savings accounts. Upgrade is a financial technology company, not a bank. Premier Savings accounts are provided by Cross River Bank, Member FDIC
3 There are no overdraft fees or annual fees associated with Rewards Checking Plus accounts. Rewards Checking Plus charges no ATM fees, but third-party institutions may charge you a fee if you use their ATM/network or if you use your Upgrade VISA® Debit Card internationally. For Active Accounts, Upgrade will rebate ATM fees charged by another institution for debit card withdrawals in the United States, up to five times per calendar month. To be eligible to receive third-party ATM fee rebates in any calendar month for eligible ATM withdrawals made during that month on a Rewards Checking Plus account, the account must be an Active Account in the prior calendar month. See the Active Account page for more information. As a courtesy to new customers, Upgrade will provide third-party ATM fee rebates for 60 days after account opening regardless of account user status.
Some limitations apply. Please refer to the applicable Cross River Bank Checking Deposit Account Agreement and Upgrade VISA® Debit Card Agreement and Disclosures for more information. 3Early direct deposit requires set up of recurring electronic direct deposit from your employer, payroll, or benefits provider and is limited to direct deposits under $5000. Early access to direct deposit funds depends on the timing in which we receive notice of impending direct APY N/A Minimum deposit to Open $0 Rewards Rate Up to 2% cash back on purchases. Atm Fees $0 Account Fees $0 Overdraft Fees $0 Annual Fees $0 Debit Card Available Yes Mobile Banking Yes for Active accounts Name Rewards Checking Plus deposit, which is generally up to two days before the scheduled deposit date. 4Active Accounts with a monthly direct deposit of $1000 are eligible for additional benefits on Rewards Checking Plus such as additional cash back rewards, ATM fee reimbursement, and more. See the Active Account page for more information.
1 Customers earn 5 points for every $1 spent. Points are redeemable towards a new Rocket mortgage transaction (excluding refinance), an existing Rocket mortgage additional principal payment, or a statement credit, at different values. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.
2 Rocket Visa Signature Card Spending Bonus: you will receive a $200 statement credit after you spend $3,000 on eligible purchases, which must be made in the first 90 days your account is open. Eligible transactions exclude refunds and disputed charges. In order to receive the spending bonus after qualifying, your account must be in good standing at the time of fulfillment. If at any point after the eligible spend period, it is determined that spend was insufficient to meet the threshold, we may cancel the statement credit and add the value back to your principal owed.
3 Up to $8,000 in card points value can be redeemed towards a new Rocket Mortgage transaction, applied as an asset to the applicant’s closing statement, offsetting applicant required funds to close. Not available in conjunction with Third Party originated or Charles Schwab partner loans. These points may be combined with an additional $2,000 in engagement points which will apply as a Lender Credit. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.
4 Redemption available toward additional principal on existing retail Rocket Mortgage loans. Not available for third party originated, assumed or Charles Schwab partner loans. Not available if servicing for your loan is sold to another party. Subject to Cardholder Rewards Terms of Use.
5 Rocket Card, LLC charges a $95 Annual Fee for use of the Rocket Visa Signature Card, which will be waived for customers that have an existing mortgage serviced by Rocket Mortgage, LLC. The amount and terms of the Annual Fee are included in your Cardholder Agreement. Similarly, Rocket Card, LLC reserves the right to offer bonuses and benefits and the terms of any offer will be provided separately. The APR range for the Rocket Visa Signature Card can be found in the Cardholder Agreement.
6 Preapproval does not guarantee an account approval and you must submit a full application for review in order to apply for any offer(s) of credit. Submitting for a preapproval is how you find out if you may be eligible for a Rocket Visa Signature Card without impacting your credit score. If your application is approved, accepting the offer will result in a hard credit pull which could impact your credit score.