Press and Data Use
What this site publishes, how often each figure changes, where the data comes from, and the terms for quoting it.
What does Banksparency publish?
Banksparency publishes deposit rates that it reads from bank websites, the FDIC call-report figures behind those banks, and a set of rate indices computed from both. These are the surfaces that carry them:
- Bank pages. One page for each bank, with its rate tiers and, where the bank files them, a call-report module that reports the rate paid on savings and money market deposits.
- The rate hubs: savings accounts, CDs and money market accounts, each with its own ranked table of the highest rates.
- The Banksparency savings rate indices, with their published methodology: the Core, Premier and Relationship savings indices, a money market index, and one index for each CD term.
- Bank-against-bank comparison pages, one page for each pair.
- The FDIC national average deposit rates, on the federal rates page.
- Embeddable rate widgets for publishers, free to use.
- A changelog of what changed on the site.
How often does the data change?
Different inputs move at different speeds, so each one has its own schedule. Rates are re-observed on a daily tier and a weekly tier. The daily tier runs at 10:00 UTC from Monday to Saturday. Sunday is left out on evidence: in the measured window, Sunday recorded no rate changes at all. The rest of the catalogue is re-observed once a week, at 02:00 UTC on Wednesday.
The FDIC call-report figures on the bank pages change once a quarter, and the FDIC publishes them in arrears. The ingest that collects them runs once a month, on the 15th. A monthly ingest of quarterly data means the newest quarter arrives when the FDIC releases it, not sooner.
The savings rate indices are recomputed every day, and the daily snapshot that publishes them runs at 12:00 UTC. The pages themselves are rebuilt every day at 12:05 UTC, and each rate hub also rebuilds on a six-hour cycle between those runs.
A schedule is not a claim about any single figure. Every rate on the site prints the date it was observed, and every call-report figure prints its quarter. Read that stamp, not the schedule.
Where do the figures come from?
Rates come from the banks themselves. Banksparency records rates as observed on each bank's website; a change may have occurred before the date it was observed.
The bank financial figures come from FDIC quarterly call reports, read through the FDIC BankFind Suite API. They are shown as reported, and the FDIC may amend them later. The national average deposit rates are also FDIC figures.
The rules that turn these inputs into a published figure are open. How these figures are computed sets them out, and the index methodology gives the inclusion rules for each index.
How do I cite a figure?
Cite the page the figure is on, the date or quarter printed beside it, and the URL. Use this form:
{Page title}. Banksparency, {observation date or quarter}. {URL}An example, with the date taken from the stamp on the page:
Savings Account Rates and Market Data. Banksparency, {newest reading date}. https://banksparency.com/savings-accountsThe date belongs in the citation because a rate is a reading, not a constant. A figure without its date is a figure a reader cannot check.
What are the terms for quoting?
Figures, tables and charts on this site may be quoted with a visible credit line that names Banksparency and links to the page the figure comes from. A nofollow link is acceptable.
The methodology behind any published figure is public, so a reader can check what a number measures before they repeat it.
The widgets carry their own attribution in the embed, and need no further credit line.
Who do I contact?
For a media inquiry, write to media@banksparency.com. For any other question, including a figure you are reading as a consumer, write to info@banksparency.com.
Include the URL of the page and the figure you are asking about. That pair is enough to find the exact reading and the date it was taken.
Who runs the site?
Banksparency is an independent site. Sponsored offers appear only in blocks labelled as sponsored, and they never change the order of a rate table.
