Deposit or savings account: which earns more right now?
· 3 min read · Spaarradar editorial team
A fixed-term deposit gives you certainty about your rate, a savings account keeps your money free. This is how you work out, with today's rates, which of the two earns the most for your money.
The question seems simple: where do you get the most interest? Yet the highest percentage is not always the best choice. A deposit and a savings account are two different agreements with a bank, and which one fits best depends on when you need the money.
The difference in one paragraph
With an instant-access savings account you can get at your money any day. In return, the bank may change the rate at any moment. With a fixed-term deposit you lock away an amount for an agreed term, from a few months to ten years. The rate is fixed for all that time, but withdrawing early is usually not possible, or only for a fee.
Right now the highest instant-access rate in our comparison is 3.03% and the highest rate on a one-year deposit is 3.45%. The three big Dutch banks get no further than 1.85% on their ordinary savings account.
When a savings account is the better choice
- You may need the money within a year: a buffer, a renovation, a car.
- You expect rates to rise. A variable rate then rises along with them; a deposit does not.
- The difference with a deposit is small. For a few tenths of a per cent you give up a lot of freedom.
With a savings account, watch out for promotional rates. A high percentage that drops back after three months often earns less over a whole year than a slightly lower rate that stays. In our article on promotional rates we work that out.
When a deposit is the better choice
- You are certain you can do without the money for the whole term.
- You expect rates to fall and want to lock in today's rate.
- You want peace of mind: no rate changes to follow, no switching.
The price of that certainty is that you do not benefit if rates rise. You can limit that risk by spreading your money across several terms, a deposit ladder.
The in-between form: saving with a notice period
Between the two sits the notice account. You announce a withdrawal in advance, for example 31 or 90 days, and in return you usually get slightly more interest than on an instant-access account. The rate does remain variable. The highest rate with a notice period is now 2.25%; all offers are on the page notice accounts.
How to work it out for your amount
Comparing percentages is not enough. Some accounts pay the high rate only up to a maximum amount, others only from a minimum, and deposits differ in whether the interest is added yearly or only at the end. That is why the comparison converts everything to an effective annual rate for your amount.
- Enter your amount in the comparison and look at the instant-access accounts.
- Then look at the deposits per term for the same amount.
- Not sure? The guided choice asks three questions and puts the results side by side. To see what a rate does over several years, use the interest calculator.
Both forms fall under the same deposit guarantee: up to €100,000 per person per bank. So it is not a choice between safe and less safe, only between free and fixed.
Not everything in one place
Many savers choose a combination. A buffer of a few months of expenses in an instant-access account, and the money you can do without for longer in one or more deposits. That way you always have money to hand and you get a fixed, usually higher rate on the rest.
Not advice. Rates are gross and can change; the tables in this article show the position at the moment you open the page. How we calculate and check is described in the methodology.
