The Bankrate Monitor Index tracks money market interest rates paid on checking, savings, money market and CD accounts at banks and credit unions across the United States, giving savers a benchmark for comparing where their cash actually earns the most.
Origins Of A Rate Tracking Tool
Robert K. Heady built the original Bank Rate Monitor in 1976, though the index itself took shape after Congress passed the Garn St Germain Depository Institutions Act of 1982. That law deregulated savings and loan associations and cleared the way for banks to offer adjustable rate mortgages and money market accounts. Heady wanted a way for ordinary depositors to see where rates stood so they could move their money toward better deals instead of settling for whatever their local branch offered.
From A Print Index To Bankrate.com
The operation went online in 1996, a jump that reshaped what had been a niche rate tracking service into something closer to a full personal finance resource. In 2000 the company folded its two word name into one, becoming Bankrate Inc. Eleven years later it went public on the New York Stock Exchange under the ticker RATE. That run as a publicly traded company ended in November 2017, when Red Ventures, an online marketing firm, bought Bankrate and took it private again.
What The Site Does Now
Bankrate today functions as one of the more widely cited sources for interest rate research and personal finance news, feeding data to outlets including the New York Times, USA Today and the Wall Street Journal. Its website carries mortgage calculators, financial planning tools and a steady stream of consumer guides covering everything from car insurance to lines of credit.
| Account Type | What It Tracks | Typical Use |
|---|---|---|
| Checking accounts | Rates on transactional deposit accounts | Everyday spending and bill pay |
| Savings accounts | Rates on standard savings deposits | Building an emergency fund |
| Money market accounts | Rates on higher yield deposit accounts | Parking cash while keeping some liquidity |
| CD accounts | Fixed rates over a set term | Locking in a rate for months or years |
How Bankrate Ranks Credit Cards And Mortgages Today
The clearest modern descendant of that original index shows up in Bankrate's ongoing surveys of credit cards, mortgages and savings products. For credit cards, the site scores issuers on annual fees, credit requirements, interest rates and membership perks, then lets readers filter results based on which of those factors matters most to them.
Mortgage shoppers get a similar setup, with the added ability to narrow offers by zip code and by how much they plan to put down. That filtering approach traces directly back to Heady's original goal: give depositors and borrowers enough visibility into prevailing rates that they can actually shop around rather than accept the first offer in front of them.
Why Rate Comparison Still Matters For Savers
Money market accounts and savings accounts can carry meaningfully different yields depending on the institution, and gaps between the best and worst offers on the market often run wide enough to matter over a year of holding cash. Anyone deciding where to keep short term savings has reason to check current rate comparisons before choosing an account, a habit the Bankrate Monitor Index was built to encourage nearly five decades ago.
