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 4.20%. 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 4.20% 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 3.60% to 4.10%.
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
Related Posts
12/6 - Sallie Mae Lowers the Rate of their HYSA and MMA to 4.10%
10/4 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes as of 10-4-2024
9/26 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes as of 9-26-2024
9/12 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rate Changes as of 9-12-2024
8/29 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 8-29-2024
8/17 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 8-17-2024
8/8 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 8-8-2024
7/19 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 7-19-2024
6/6 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 6-6-2024
5/23 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 5-23-2024
3/19 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 3-19-2024
2/29 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 2-29-2024
2/3 - 14 Month 5.40% Deal Gone!!
1/19 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 1-19-2024
1/10 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates as of 1-10-2024
11/27 - Sallie Mae Bank Boosts All CD Rates
11/24 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates As Of 11-24-2023
10/26 - Sallie Mae Bank CD Rates As Of 10-26-2023
8/31 - Sallie Mae Drops CD Rates
8/4 - Sallie Mae Bank 18-Month CD APY Jumps Up To Rate-Leading Level
8/2 - Sallie Mae Bank Cds: 18 Mo @ 5.55%, 12,13,15 Mo @ 5.50%
7/14 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 7-14-2023
6/24 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 6-23-2023
6/5 - Savebetter Sallie Mae 5.15% 27Mo Special Has Apparently Ended
4/21 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 4-21-2023
4/21 - Rate Changes
3/24 - Sallie Mae Bank Via Savebetter Raised The 27 Month CD To 5.15%
3/24 - Sallie Mae Rate Changes 03/24/2023
3/10 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Increases In Short Term Certificates
2/24 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 2-24-2023
2/14 - Sallie Mae Bank Drops 27 Month CD Rate Via Savebetter
1/27 - Sallie Mae Rate Changes 01/27/2023
12/23/22 - Sallie Mae Drops 5 Year Rate
12/22/22 - 14 Month 'No-Penalty' CD Up To 4.40% APY Thru Savebetter
11/23/22 - 5% 27-Mo CD @ Salliemae Via Savebetter, EWP=180, Min $1.00 No Max
11/17/22 - 14 Month No-Penalty CD Up To 4.05% APY Thru Savebetter
11/4/22 - Sallie Mae Rate Changes 11/4/2022
11/3/22 - No-Penalty CD @ 3.75% APY Thru Savebetter.Com
10/21/22 - Rate Changes For 10/21/2022
10/6/22 - Rate Changes For 10/6/2022
9/22/22 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 9-22-2022
9/9/22 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 9-9-2022
8/26/22 - Sallie Mae Raises Money Market And Savings Rates.
8/12/22 - Sallie Mae Bank Rates As Of 8-12-2022
7/29/22 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Changes For 7-29-2022
6/28/22 - Rate Changes 06/28/2022
6/3/22 - Sallie Mae Bank CD & MMA Rate Changes For 6-3-2022
5/13/22 - Sallie Mae Increases Money Market And CD Rates.
4/13/22 - Money Market Rate Increased To 0.65%
6/13/21 - Sallie Mae Bank Makes Two Small Rate Increases On Its Cds
4/5/21 - Sallie Mae CD Renewal
4/21/20 - Sallie Mae Bank Continues Rate Cutting Process.
3/17/20 - Sallie Mae Bank Drops All Deposit Rates
12/10/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Lowers Money Market & Savings Rates.
11/15/19 - Sallie Mae Drops Rates
11/8/19 - Sallie Mae Pays Interest From Day Of CD Application
11/7/19 - SallieMae Bank 12-Month CD Earns 2.35% APY
10/29/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Cuts Savings Rates
9/24/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Drops Deposit Rates.
7/8/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Cuts Money Market And 12 & 18 Month CD Rates
6/21/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Ups 18-Month CD To 2.80% APY
6/14/19 - Sallie Mae Increases Some CD Rates
6/12/19 - Sallie Mae CD Rate Changes
4/15/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Drops Most CD Rates
3/13/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Increases 24-Month CD Rate To 3.00%
3/5/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Money Market Rate Increases To 2.30% APY
3/4/19 - Sallie Mae Bank Increases Rate On Money Market Account To 2.30%
12/21/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Raises 12 & 24 Month CD Rates
11/17/18 - SallieMae Bank Money Market APY Increased
11/16/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Raises Savings And CD Rates.
10/22/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Increase On Money Market And High Yield Savings
10/6/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Ups Money Market Rate
10/5/18 - Sallie Mae Money Market Reaches 2.00%
7/4/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Money Market Rate Raised
7/2/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Money Market Account Now Yields 1.90%
6/8/18 - Sallie Mae Bank's 24-Month CD APY Raised
6/8/18 - Sallie Mae Bank 24 Month CD 2.75%
6/5/18 - Sallie Mae Bank -- 5-Yr. Brokered CD, 3.30%
5/25/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Ups Money Market Account Rate
5/25/18 - Sallie Mae Bumps Money Market & High Yield Savings Rates
5/2/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Brokered CD: 5 Yrs., 3.20%
4/18/18 - Sallie Mae Bank New Issue Brokered CD: 5Yrs., 3.05%
4/7/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Money Market Rate Raised
4/6/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Rate Increases
3/16/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Ups Money Market Acct Rate
2/9/18 - Sallie Mae Gives Money Market Account A Rate Bump
1/27/18 - Sallie Mae Bank's 24-Month CD Rates Jumps Up
1/26/18 - Big CD Rate Increases At Sallie Mae Bank
1/5/18 - Sallie Mae Bank Boosts Money Market Account
12/22/17 - Small .02% Increase In APY For Their Money Market - Now 1.32%
7/12/17 - SallieMae Bank Raises Money Market And 60-Month CD Rates
7/12/17 - Money Market Account And CD Rate Increases
6/16/17 - SallieMae Bank Ups Money Market Account Rate
6/16/17 - Rate Increase On Money Market And 36 Month CD
6/16/17 - Money Market Account Rate Increase
1/27/17 - SallieMae Bank Adds 15 Basis Points To Money Market Account
6/21/16 - SallieMae Bank Adds New Upromise GoalSaver Account
5/2/16 - Sallie Mae Bank Offers Money Market Promo Rate
10/14/15 - Sallie Mae Bank Has Money Market Promotional Rate
10/11/15 - 1.24% Interest Rate For The First 6 Months
7/4/15 - Sallie Mae Bank Raises Rates On 12-month and 36-month CDs
11/3/14 - Sallie Mae Bank's 12-month CD Rate Raised To Attractive Level - National
5/13/14 - FDIC Announces Settlement With Sallie Mae For Unfair And Deceptive Practices And Violations of the Servicemembers Civil Relief Act
5/9/14 - New Longer Term CD Rates At Sallie Mae Bank
3/22/13 - Sallie Mae CD Requirement Change
8/31/12 - Another Money Market Rate Increase at Sallie Mae Bank
7/20/12 - Sallie Mae Bank Raises Yield On Money Market And Savings Accounts.
9/30/11 - Sallie Mae Rate Drop On Online Savings And Money Market Accounts
9/3/10 - Update on Sallie Mae Bank's Internet Savings Account and CDs
7/5/10 - Sallie Mae Bank's Internet CD Rates - Available Nationwide
5/1/10 - Sallie Mae Bank Raises Its Online Savings Account Rate
3/2/10 - Review of the New Sallie Mae Internet Bank and Its Link to Upromise Rewards
2/15/10 - Anyone Know Anything About Sallie Mae's Online High Yield Savings Account With An Interest Rate Of 1
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.
Higher Education Isn't Worth It, They Literally Ruin Your Life
Please do not get a loan with Sallie Mae. They have destroyed my life and countless other lives with their predatory business practices and horrible treatment and harassment toward their borrowers.
I created a change.org petition to stop Sallie Mae because they have circumvented legal recourse for their actions long enough and its disgusting at this point, every signature helps:
https://chng.it/KmmChtrd4J
I just spoke to them today about the way they have treated my elderly grandmother and cosigner, because they have harassed her with calls that have alarmed her, insinuating that she owes something on a loan that hasn't even matured yet. They called up to 4 times a day and even estranged family members who I have never been associated with.
After months of inducing unsurmountable stress and anxiety in me and my grandmother, they admitted they shouldn't have been calling her and apologized. They never addressed their behavior and they immediately moved to get money from me. They still called my grandmother after being sent a cease and desist email and spoke to the consumer advocacy and they said they removed her, because it appears Sallie Mae knows they can circumvent the law. So their actions and the detriment to mine and my grandmother's wellbeing they caused had no consequence for them.
During all this harassment I am still in school and I lost my job. Just today I explained this and tried to defer my loan payments and they tried to tell me that I don't qualify because it says my course is part time. It is a part time masters program and that is the program they approved me in for the loan, that is not an enrollment status I chose, the program itself is called a professional part time masters because it involves distance learning and is structured differently.
They truly are a loan shark disguised in a shiny 'reputable' wrapping thanks to the broad scope of schools they are willing to cover. But they don't have any integrity, they will approve heinous loan terms to charge someone amounts knowing they can never feasibly pay, in my case someone with no income on government benefits (my grandmother). Their finance charges are absolutely absurd. The finance charge for one of my loans is nearly double what I borrowed (JUST the finance charge). That amount was justified by a cosigner they required, who is an elderly senior citizen with zero income and has been on government aid for years.
I am assuming they can get away with this because they have monopolized private student loans. Since I didn't qualify for a federal loan for my program/school (this seems to be the case with a lot of overseas schools) you have no choice but to take a Sallie Mae loan. A lot of these schools even say on their website the only private student loan option is Sallie Mae. So you are financially entrapped to accept whatever loan terms they put in front of you. They then harass you, drive you insane through incessant phone calls, texts, etc. with no regard for the mental or physical anguish they cause you.
They will absolutely set you up to fail - I know Im not the first and I won't be the last, there are a ton of stories from people who cannot get out of debt with Sallie Mae because they purposely set them up with egregious terms knowing that the person will never be able to pay it off and get out from under. They basically financially entrap you,
Please do not fall for their trap. Please do not put yourself in this position. They don't care if they harm vulnerable populations like the elderly. They don't care about how they treat their borrowers.
5% CD Is Still Available On Their Website
I have had CDs with Sallie Mae in the past and had no issues at all. It was easy and a positive experience. I had to search a bit to find the 27 month 5% CD but I found it! And signed up. Fingers crossed that it is as easy as last time. So far it definitely seemed easy and quick. Thank you again, Sallie Mae!
Data as of Q3 2024
Learn why bank health mattersHealth Grade Components
| Overall | |
|---|---|
| FDIC Certificate # | 58177 |
| Year Established | 2005 |
| Employees | 1666 |
| Primary Regulator | FDIC |
| Profit Margin | |
|---|---|
| Return on Assets - YTD | 2.61% |
| Return on Equity - YTD | 28.1% |
| Annual Interest Income | $1.97B |
| Assets and Liabilities | ||
|---|---|---|
| Assets | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $29.94B$29.15B |
| Loans | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $21B$20.94B |
| Deposits | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $21.7B$21.75B |
| Equity Capital | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $2.73B$2.42B |
| Loan Loss Allowance | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $1.42B$1.42B |
| Unbacked Noncurrent Loans | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $118.7MM$130.1MM |
| Real Estate Owned | Q3 2024vs Q3 2023 | $0$0 |