Western Alliance Savings Rates: Comprehensive Analysis

Business Insider’s personal finance team compared Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier to the best high-yield savings account and found that it ranks just under our top picks for industry leaders.

The Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier has a great annual percentage yield (APY) and no account fees. The bank may be worth considering if you’re looking for a straightforward savings account option and business banking accounts and services.

We’ve provided a breakdown of what Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier has to offer and how it compares to other accounts on the market to help you find the best savings account for you.

Compare the Western Alliance Bank Savings Account Rate

Current Western Alliance Bank Savings Interest Rates

Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier offers 4.30% APY. This is one of the highest interest rates you can currently get for an online high-yield savings account, making Western Alliance competitive with some of the best online banks.

Overview of the Western Alliance Bank Savings Account

How Western Alliance Bank Savings Accounts Work

Western Alliance Bank offers both business savings accounts and personal savings accounts. One of the latter is a Western Alliance Bank high-yield savings account called the High-Yield Savings Premier.

One of Western Alliance Bank’s savings account features is that it does not charge monthly service fees, making it great for avoiding bank fees. Interest compounds daily, which can add up over time depending on how much money you have in the account. Being able to withdraw money as frequently as you want sets it apart from other banks that might limit you to 6 withdrawals per month for their savings accounts.

Otherwise, the Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier doesn’t come with a lot of extra features. This account isn’t a savings account with buckets or other helpful budgeting features, and you will only be able to withdraw money into the one bank account you linked when you funded the account. If you’re looking for a feature-rich bank account, you might be better off looking elsewhere.

You can only ACH transfer money to one linked account. You can’t use wire transfers with this account, and you can’t withdraw money to any account besides the account you have linked.

To open a personal savings account with Western Alliance Bank, you’ll need to be a U.S. citizen or permanent resident with a physical address in the U.S. According to Western Alliance Bank’s website, you’ll also need to provide your Social Security number. If you don’t have a Social Security number, you might not be able to open an account, which means this might not be the best bank for immigrants. You’ll also need access to a pre-existing checking or savings account to fund your new account.

You’ll need to go to the Western Alliance Bank website and start an application for savings account opening. You’ll provide the information you need to open a savings account, and you’ll link an existing checking account or savings account to your new account in order to fund it. You’ll need at least $500 to fund your new account, so make sure to choose an account that has at least that much in it. This is also the account you’ll receive money in when you transfer money out of your Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier account.

Western Alliance Bank Savings User Experience and Accessibility

Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier is an online account, which means you won’t be able to go into physical branches to manage your account. However, you’ll be able to access your account any time through Western Alliance Bank’s website or through its personal mobile banking app, although its app has fairly low ratings on the Apple App Store and Google Play store.

Western Alliance Bank does not offer 24/7 customer service. However, it does offer customer service options on the weekends, albeit at limited hours; you can contact personal account customer service from 6:00 a.m. PT to 6:00 p.m. PT Mondays through Fridays and from 8:00 a.m. PT to 2 p.m. PT on Saturdays. You can also email customer support if you don’t want to make a phone call.

Western Alliance Bank Savings Security

Western Alliance Bank has good credit ratings from Moody’s, Bauer Financial, and Fitch. It’s also been FDIC-insured since 2003 when it was established.

As an FDIC-insured bank, up to $250,000 per depositor, per account ownership category is safe in a bank account. Western Alliance Bank has security features that may be especially helpful for business owners. It has Check Positive Pay, Check Payee Positive Pay, Reverse Positive Pay, ACH Positive Pay, and ACH Debit Block, which are tools for detecting fraud. Your information on online banking is also protected with standard protection features. For example, you’ll be locked out of your account if you enter the wrong password too many times.

Western Alliance Bank Savings Pros and Cons

Western Alliance Bank Savings Pros

• High interest rate
• No monthly service fees
• Unlimited withdrawals
• FDIC-insured
• Interest compounds daily

Western Alliance Bank Savings Cons

• Steep minimum opening deposit
• Can only link to one external bank account
• Can’t use checks or wire transfers to fund account
• Online-only account

Western Alliance Bank Savings Alternatives

Western Alliance Bank Savings vs. American Express Savings

When comparing Western Alliance Bank savings account rates with American Express rates, the Western Alliance Bank High-Yield Savings Premier account comes out on top. American Express® High Yield Savings Account pays 3.70% (as of 2/21/25) APY (Annual Percentage Yield), which is significantly lower than what Western Alliance pays. But American Express National Bank (Member FDIC) is a good option for people who already use the company’s credit cards — then you’ll qualify to open its rewards checking account, which pays interest and offers cash-back rewards.

American Express National Bank Review

Western Alliance Bank Savings vs. Ally Savings

You’ll earn 3.70% APY with the Ally Savings Account. While this is much less than what Western Alliance Bank pays, you still might like Ally Bank if you want organize your savings while planning how to budget. Its savings account has buckets, so you can organize your savings goals and set timelines for reaching them.

Ally Bank Review

Western Alliance Bank Savings vs. Openbank High Yield Savings

If you’re strictly searching for a high-yield savings account with a high interest rate, Openbank is more appealing. Openbank High Yield Savings pays 4.75% (vary depending on location)APY, which is more than Western Alliance Bank.

Openbank’s savings account isn’t available everywhere, though. If you live in Connecticut, Delaware, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, or Rhode Island, you won’t be able to open the account at all, though the Openbank website says that the account is going to be available to those areas soon.

With Openbank you’ll also have to be pretty comfortable using a mobile app.

Openbank Review

Is a Western Alliance Bank Savings Account Right For You?

Western Alliance Bank is a good choice overall if you’d like to get a great savings account interest rate with an online financial institution that also offers business banking products and services.

A few other online banks and credit unions pay more on high-yield savings accounts right now. Furthermore, the best banks may be a better if Western Alliance Bank if you want more standout savings account features or other bank products and services.

Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Western Alliance Bank

At Business Insider, we use our bank account rating methodology to review all of our banking products, including this one. For savings accounts, we consider an account’s minimum opening deposit, monthly service fees, interest rate, customer support options, mobile app ratings, miscellaneous features, security, and ethics.

We use a scale of one to five stars to review bank accounts. We use a weighted average to get our star rating, which means we weigh certain features, like interest rates and fees, at a higher weight percentage than others. We understand that these areas can more heavily impact a person’s overall banking experience.

We are editorially independent, meaning that the business team does not dictate what we cover or write. To understand how we cover and rate products, you can learn more about our editorial standards.

Western Alliance Bank Savings FAQs