Honest Rates, No Zip Code Required
Blog by Samira Rajan July 04,2026
In the summer of 2025, Brooklyn Coop hiked up the rate on our High Yield savings account above local competitors. Do you all remember the 4%? It made a big impact by bringing in new members and new deposits, just as intended. As market rates lowered, we lowered our rate and, as of July 1, it is now 3.25%.
When we are making these decisions, we spend time researching other HY savings rates to make sure we are still competitive. It was seriously discouraging when I saw these screens pop up:
When did this start happening? It gives me a bad feeling. It feels too close to a system like red-lining from the mid-20th century in New York City when mortgage availability depended on which neighborhood you lived in rather than how strong your income was. It also reminds me of Uber’s “surge pricing”. Remember how bad that felt as well? The idea that prices would go up just when people needed a cab struck pretty much everyone as predatory, especially because Uber started off by undercutting so many ordinary cab drivers that had to go out of business. Now when there were fewer alternatives to Uber, Uber invents surge pricing… smh.
Regrettably, despite the consumer backlash, pricing that changes unpredictably became more common except now it is called ‘dynamic pricing’. From what I’m seeing, changing High Yield savings rates based on where you live is part of that phenomenon.
Brooklyn Coop is not on that track. It is one more thing that makes us different. To me, “dynamic pricing” is price gouging. I remember learning that clear prices were necessary in free markets because consumers would only be able to make rational choices among various products if they knew the prices. When companies change their prices constantly and hide what they are charging, consumers have a really hard time choosing. They get frustrated, assuming that all companies are lying to them. And that frustration extends even to honest businesses like Brooklyn Coop.
Anyway, I plugged in our zip codes and checked again on Friday July 3. For High Yield accounts closest to Brooklyn Coop’s HY account, BofA is offering 3.1%; Capital One is at 3.0%. Not only do you get a pretty good rate of 3.25% here, but you also know you’re investing in an organization that offers transparency and honesty.
Happy 4th of July!