Savings Accounts

• The basic type of deposit you can make with HSBC is in a savings account. These can take one of two forms: an online savings account, or a traditional savings account. These function in the same fashion as other traditional savings accounts; a basic account in which you deposit money which you can withdraw through an ATM machine at any time. The regular savings account allows you to make deposits or withdraws with a teller at a physical HSBC branch, but offers a lower interest rate. The online savings account offers a significantly higher APR on your money, but you cannot conduct transactions for the account at a physical branch location.
  
  

Money Market

• HSBC also offers money market accounts for deposits. Money market accounts are a bit of a hybrid between a savings account and a checking account: You can deposit money to earn interest, but also cut checks that will draw from your money market account. In addition to the ability to write checks on that money, the interest rate you earn is tiered in such as way that the more deposits you have sitting in your money account, the more interest you will earn on the balance.
  
  

CD

• HSBC also allows you to deposit money in certificates of deposit, or CDs. These will allow your money to earn a greater APR than it would with a traditional savings account you could access at a physical branch location. The price of this higher APR is that when you put your money in a CD, you select a term in which you cannot withdraw your money without paying a penalty. However, if you leave the money be for the entire term you will get the full amount plus the interest the money earned. Locking money away in a CD not only gives a higher APR than a traditional savings account, but can help you stick to a savings plan if you find yourself regularly tempted to tap into your savings for non-essential expenditures.
  
  

Premier Investor

• If you qualify for a "premier" relationship with HSBC, you can have access to a special type of deposit account called the Premier Investor Savings Account. This is a money market account that is meant for individuals who will be maintaining high balances and pays a higher APR than regular money market accounts on those balances. If you are interested in such an account, you can go to the HSBC website and fill out an application to become a Premier Client.