Yotta Savings is a bank account I’ve been using for the past while. It is a great option for your US bank account needs, especially if you are applying for US credit cards.

Over the past year, I’ve watched the markets fluctuate heavily.  For stability, I started transferring some money into high yield savings accounts, which were paying over 2% at the beginning of the year.  However, over time, these rates have since dropped to around 0.5%. So I started looking for another option.  I had two requirements:

1. Guaranteed positive returns.  This isn’t a speculative investment. This is cash I want available.
2. FDIC insured.  I’m not putting my money anywhere with risk.

After a bit of searching I found Yotta Savings, which has a bit of a twist. They have a 0.2% APR, paid monthly.  However, every week, for every $25 invested, you get one ticket into the drawing.  This is not purchasing a lottery ticket, as you’re not spending any money.  If you deposit $1000, you’ll get 40 tickets per week, and can withdraw the money whenever you want (and stop getting tickets).

Signing up with Yotta referral code SCOTT_KENNEDY1 will give you a 100 ticket bonus after depositing $25.

What’s also worth mentioning is that they do not issue 1099 forms for interest paid as long as it’s under $600 per year. This is highly relevant for Canadians who may have tax implications when depositing funds into American financial institutions. Be aware that Yotta does require an ITIN or SSN to be eligible to sign up.

Each ticket consists of 6 numbers chosen from a pool of 1-70, and 1 distinct number (the “Yotta Ball”) chosen from a separate pool of 1-70 (so there are no duplicate numbers in the first 6, but the Yotta Ball can be the same as one of the previous).  You can pick these yourself, or let the system do it. At the time of writing, the prizes work as follows:

The yellow balls represent the regular numbers, and the red Y ball is the Yotta Ball. One number is drawn every night at 9pm eastern time, with the Yotta ball always being drawn last, on a Sunday, after which, prizes are calculated. Each ticket that matches the Yotta Ball wins a prize, as does any other ticket with at least three numbers.

The prizes with the asterisk (and the Tesla) are split if there are multiple winners, so if 15 people match 5 numbers, they each receive $100. This may seem small, but to put it in perspective, 10 cents on a $25 investment over the course of a week is an APY of 20.8%, plus the base 0.2% you always earn. Most tickets will not win any money each week, but I’ve had weeks with an APY of over 6%, and my personal average is close to 3%.

If you’re looking for a savings account with no risk and better returns than traditional accounts, give Yotta Savings a try.

Application Link: Yotta Savings. Use referral code SCOTT_KENNEDY1 to earn 100 bonus tickets in the next drawing after depositing $25.