Written by Kim Porter | Edited by Becca Stanek | Published on 12/10/2024
Sallie Mae opened its doors in 1972 as a government-sponsored enterprise that serviced federal student loans. It became a fully private company in 2004 and is now a leading private student loan provider in the U.S.
The company launched a high-yield savings account and certificates of deposit (CDs) in 2010 and now also offers a money market account (MMA) through its subsidiary, Sallie Mae Bank. All products are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC). However, the bank's offerings are limited to those three types of deposit accounts; it doesn't offer checking accounts, mortgages, auto loans or other bank services.
The Sallie Mae Bank operates solely online, with no branch locations to visit.
The Sallie Mae High-Yield Savings Account pays a competitive annual percentage yield (APY) of 3.90%. You won't need to pay a monthly fee, maintain a minimum balance or make a minimum opening deposit. The Sallie Mae Money Market Account is similar, with a 3.85% APY and no monthly fees or minimum balance requirements. One bonus feature is that you can write checks from the MMA. But with both the savings account and MMA, you cannot deposit cash into the accounts or use a linked debit card.
With Sallie Mae's CDs, you can choose from terms ranging from six months to five years. You’ll need to deposit at least $2,500 to open one of these accounts, which is higher than other banks. APYs range from 4.00% to 4.15%.
You can call 877-346-2756 for customer service Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. Eastern time.
Sallie Mae Bank pros and cons:
Pros:
• Competitive APYs on all deposit accounts
• Private student loans available
• No monthly service fees on any deposit accounts
• No minimum balance requirements on savings accounts and MMAs
Cons:
• CDs require high minimum deposit
• No branch locations or ATM network
• Can't deposit cash
• Limited product menu
A Bit Surprising, But No Problems
I had several CDs at Sallie Mae from 2016 to 2022. Eventually their rates dropped and I closed everything out. But their rates now seem reasonable (June, 2025) so I decided to open up another CD. Much to my surprise, when I attempted a log-in to my (dormant, I thought) online account, it popped right up. Don't know if this is a security problem, since it has been three years. Moreover, my original externally linked account was still listed as being active. I selected "open new account," filled in the term and amount, referenced the external account at 8:00am. By 4:00 pm, the account had been funded. Can't really complain.
Terrible CD Renewal Upon Maturity Process
The Sallie Mae CD term renewal or withdrawal system is non-existent by any online method, like every other bank. The deposit holder is not even given specific instructions that he or she must call the bank with renewal instructions. A non-reply to a secure email from them is automatically treated as a request to close the account upon maturity. Get with the 21st century and make the renewal process a simple online experience.
Salliemae Bank / Savebetter Experience
If you ’trust the process' everything works great! Not being the trusting type I tried to understand the relationship between Savebetter and its listed banks. Apparently SaveBetter's custodian bank 'Lewis and Clark' maintains an account at their client banks (like SallieMae) and Savebetter deposits are aggregated to this account. So the client banks don't need to deal with many retail accounts. Savebetter then does all the customer facing work like showing account balances and processing retail transactions. They claim (taking them at their word) that the FDIC insurance passes-through if a client bank fails. I guess SaveBetter gets some money from their client banks for marketing and recordkeeping.
Overall, the process seems to work remarkably well so far given its complexity (haven't taken money out though).
Only gottcha's so far is that their is no option to collect accrued interest from CDs prior to maturity and their ChatBot while not ChatGPT quality is reasonably complete. It answered how to set a beneficiary for example. Also SaveBetter was a bit sketchy about how (the one) external bank account allowed is set or displayed. I tried getting someone with a pulse to answer a question but got music-on-hold. Be advised.
5% 27 Mo CD
I had a little trouble finding this CD as it's only open on the Savebetter platform, not the Sallie Mae web page. Once I got there, it was very easy to set up a platform wide account and then to open the CD. Also an easy process to link and pull funds from an external account. The transfer was complete in a day or two. You have the option to renew the maturing CD or have the funds transferred back to your linked account. Glad I got to lock in 5% for a 27 month period.
Data as of Q1 2025
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 58177 |
| Year Established | 2005 |
| Employees | 1672 |
| Primary Regulator | FDIC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 4.54% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 47.65% |
| Annual Interest Income | $658.9MM |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $28.93B$28.33B |
| Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $21.15B$20.25B |
| Deposits | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $20.43B$21.21B |
| Equity Capital | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $2.94B$2.69B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $1.45B$1.35B |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $141.3MM$136.2MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q1 2025vs Q1 2024 | $0$0 |