Savings Account Rate Increases after the Fed Rate Hike read and submit comments for this post

As expected the Fed raised the funds rate to 4.50%. It still seems likely that there will be another rate hike at the next Fed meeting on March 28. After that, there's some of uncertainty.

The two banks that I expected to follow the Fed's rate hike and bump up their savings account rates didn't let me down. HSBC raised its Online Savings account rate from 4.25% to 4.80% APY yesterday. It's still only shown on the rates page and not any other pages. I would have thought HSBC would have been able to update all of its pages within a full day. Even though not all of the HSBC's website is showing 4.80%, this new rate has been confirmed by HSBC's customer service representatives and is guaranteed till 4/30/06. I would still like to see the details of this new rate on HSBC's website to make sure that it will apply to all deposits and not just new money as in the case of ING Direct's Winter Save Up Sale.

The other bank that I expected would increase its rates was Presidential Bank, and sure enough, Presidential finally did it this afternoon. This is the first rate increase at Presidential since last September. The Premier Savings increased from 4.12% to 4.37% APY. The Internet Checking Account increased from 4.00% to 4.25% APY.

Another Bank that made a rate increase was UFB Direct. Its Jumbo Money Market Account went from 4.35% to 4.50% APY. This account requires a minimum of $50K to earn interest and to avoid a $10/month fee. The High Yield Money Market Savings account which has no minimums remained at 4.00% APY.

Corus Bank had a rate increase on its Managed Money Market Accounts. However, every Tuesday the rates on these accounts are adjusted based on the 91-Day Treasury Bill Discount Rate. So there's no direct relationship to today's Fed meeting. The Money Market Account yield for deposits under $100K went from 4.38% to 4.47% APY. For deposits over $100K, the yield went from 4.53% to 4.63% APY. It should be noted that there was no change at Corus to its 6 and 12-month CDs. They remain at 4.70% and 4.94% APY.

5% 11-Month CD at a Kansas CU read and submit comments for this post

BWCU is offering a 5% APY 11-Month CD special (link to pdf). The minimum opening deposit is $1,000.

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of many counties of Kansas. This includes Allen, Franklin, Jackson, Jefferson, Lincoln, Miami, Ottawa, Reno, Washington, and many more. BWCU has branches in Wichita, Andover and Derby with new branches being built in Lawrence and Haysville Kansas. BWCU is NCUA insured.

The best yield for a 1-year certificate of deposit listed at Bankrate.com continues to be Corus Bank with 4.94% APY. This may change today since Corus makes changes to its rates every Tuesday.

5% 5-Month CD at a Northeast Bank read and submit comments for this post

bcpbank is offering a 5% APY 5-month CD for customers of its Astoria, Union and New Bedford North branches only. This certificate special is not listed at the bank's website, but is published in this online ad. A minimum CD opening deposit of $5K is required. The maximum limit is $200K. For this special CD rate, a bcp Relationship Package may also be needed which requires $15K in combined balances. The bank is also offering a 4.07% APY Money Market account which is part of the relationship package. Credit for this find goes to this iBankDesign thread.

bcpbank has branches in the states of New York, New Jersey and Massachusetts. It also has branches in Ontario, Canada.

5% 16-Month CD at a New York CU read and submit comments for this post

Bethpage Federal Credit Union has two nice CD specials. The first is a 5% APY 16-month certificate. The second is a 4.75% APY 8-month certificate. Both have a minimum deposit requirement of $1K.

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of Nassau county or Suffolk county with the exception of the townships of East Hampton, Southampton and Shelter Island. This includes most of Long Island, New York.

HSBC Direct Raises Savings to 4.80% read and submit comments for this post

It looks like HSBC Direct intends to be the online savings account leader. It just raised its Online Savings Account rate from 4.25% to 4.80% APY. As was the case in December when it raised the rate to 4.25%, not all of the website has been updated with the new rate. The new rate is currently being shown at HSBC's rates page.

It has been reported on this fatwallet thread that the rate has been verified by an HSBC customer service representative. Another poster reported that HSBC's phone recordings are specifying that this is a promotional rate that'll last till April 30th. So this seems to be HSBC's version of ING Direct's Winter Save Up Sale (see post). The question now is will the 4.80% apply to all savings or just new deposits. We'll have to wait for the details to be published at HSBC.

Based on HSBC's rate history, I had predicted a rate bump to 4.50% this week. HSBC has been consistent in matching the Fed funds rate.

Here's a list of my latest HSBC posts that may be a good reference for those thinking about signing up:

• $25 Sign-up Bonus for the HSBC Online Savings Account
• My experiences with opening an HSBC Direct Online Savings Account
• Date line from signing up to receiving the bonus
• Delays in transfering money to your HSBC account
• HSBC Smart Checking Package $50 Bonus

For the commenter who informed me of this news, thanks!

$100 Bonus for Checking Account at a Texas CU read and submit comments for this post

The Neighborhood Credit Union is offering up to $100 cash for opening a checking account. You can get $50 for opening any checking account and another $25 for direct deposit. If you upgrade to an Advantage Checking Account, you get an extra $25. This deal is not being advertised at the credit union's website. However, it was advertised in the January 28th edition of the Dallas Morning News and is available online here.

Accounts must be maintained a minimum of 6 months and the direct deposit must be at least $200. Another important note is that the Advantage Checking has an $8/month fee unless you have an average daily balance of at least $5K. So the extra $25 may not be worth it. The Express Checking has no minimum requirements and no fees as long as branch transactions are kept to no more than 2/month. It does require direct deposit. The Classic Checking has no direct deposit requirements but has a $500 minimum balance requirement to avoid the $7 monthly fee.

The credit union also has a decent certificate of deposit special: 4.80% APY 19-month CD. It has a $2.5K minimum and requires new money.

The credit union's field of membership includes those living in the City of Arlington, Dallas County, Rockwall County, and those living within 8 miles of any branch. The credit union has 8 branches in the Dallas, Texas region.

$10 Bonus Every Month at a Texas Bank read and submit comments for this post

The Amarillo National Bank has one of the best deals I've found on an electronic banking account. Here's the link to the promo page. The account is called the Real Account and it's like a checking account but you can't write paper checks, however, the online bill pay is free. There are no minimum balance requirements. You get $10 every month that the following requirements are met:

• Must have $50 to open
• Must have at least one (1) direct deposit
• Must have at least one (1) utility payment automatically drafted from account
• Customer Must receive statements by email
• Must have ten (10) or more Real Card or ATM transactions per month
• Checks can NOT be written on this account
• For personal accounts only (no businesses at this time)
• Customers permanent address must be within a 180 mile radius
• During first two (2) months, will allow five (5) money orders per month with no fees
• The Real Card will replace current Visa Check Card if existing account

The main limitation is that you have to live within 180 miles of Amarillo National Bank, and all of their branches seem to be in Amarillo, Texas. The 10 Real Card or ATM transactions per month may take some work but once you get in a habit it shouldn't be difficult. Credit for this deal goes to this Fatwallet thread.

5% 6-Month CD Available Online. read and submit comments for this post

Dime Savings Bank of Williamsburgh has a special 5.00% APY 6-Month CD. The minimum deposit requirement is $500 and the maximum is $250K. The special expires February 21, 2006 and is limited to one account per household. It appears to be available online. The promo code is 3169615. Here's the link to the promotion page. You can also call 800-321-3463.

The Dime Savings Bank is based in Brooklyn, New York and has over $3 billion in total assets. It's rated 4 out of 5 stars by Bankrate.com.

Credit for this deal goes to Scott who left a comment here and EugeneV who posted the deal first on the Fatwallet CD thread. It appears from the promo page that the bank had sent mailings to specific people with the promotional code numbers. I guess there's a chance that the code could be tied to the mailings.

The best 6-month certificate of deposit listed at Bankrate.com is currently 4.75% APY at VirtualBank.

Will HSBC's Savings Reach 4.50% This Week? read and submit comments for this post

Looking at the history of HSBC Direct's rates over the last year, it looks like there's a chance that HSBC will raise its Online Savings Account rate to 4.50% APY this week. As can be seen on my chart, HSBC has been consistent in matching the Fed funds rate soon after the Fed meetings. Of course, things are a little different than last year. The Fed will likely end its rate hikes soon. Also, HSBC is already near the top of the savings rates. For accounts with no minimum requirements, it is at the top with 4.25% APY. So there's no guarantee of an increase.

Some other banks where we might see new rate hikes include UmbrellaBank, GMAC Bank, and Presidential Bank. Presidential Bank raised its savings account rate to 4.12% APY about a week after EmigrantDirect reached 4.00% last September. So Presidential is especially due for an increase.

4.60% Money Market Account at a New Jersey CU read and submit comments for this post

The South Jersey Federal Credit Union has a money market account with an APY of 4.60%. It's called the SUPER Money Market account, and it has a minimum deposit requirement of $25K. The standard money market account with a $1.5K minimum has an APY of 3.56% (rates page).

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of the New Jersey cities of Atlantic City, Bridgeton, Camden, Millville, Pleasantville, Salem and Vineland.

This 4.60% MMA with a $25K minimum beats out the best nationally available MMA at KeyDirect Bank which has a 4.55% APY Money Market Savings account with a $25K minimum (see post).

5.15% 11-Month CD at a Georgia CU read and submit comments for this post

Robins Credit Union is offering a 5.15% APY 11-month CD. The minimum deposit is $1000. This special is good for both the standard and IRA certificate.

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of 16 central Georgia counties. It's a good size credit union with branches in many Georgia cities including Macon, Athens, Gray and Perry.

Credit for this deal goes to the CD thread at fatwallet.

Best Cash Back Credit Cards read and submit comments for this post

If you pay off your credit card balances consistently, you should consider a credit card that gives you cash back. There are many now that give 5% cash back on everyday purcashes (defined as purchases from gas stations, supermarkets and drug stores) and 1% elsewhere. Many of these cards limit your cash back in one year to $300. That comes out to $6000 in everyday purchases per year. A Fatwallet thread does an excellent job at listing the top 5% reward cards. Two of them currently have sign-up bonuses:

The Chase Cash Plus Rewards Visa Card currently has a $100 gift certificate sign-up bonus. According to this thread this sign-up bonus is still valid with the code HG1. The card offers 5% cash back on everyday purchases and 1% elsewhere. It has the typical $300/year cash back limit. There are no annual fees.

There's also a $50 sign-up bonus for the Chase Rewards Plus MasterCard. This one has the same 5%/1% cash back policy, but the reward limit per year is $750 instead of $300. This sign-up bonus is only valid until 1/31/06.

If you spend a lot on non-everyday purcashes, you'll want a card with cash back rewards of over 1% on all puchases, however, there are not too many of these. There was hope that EmigrantDirect would launch a credit card with some high cash back percentage, but it turned out to just be 1.25% along with the very tough condition of maintaining $10K in your account. The GM Card gives 5% on all purchases but you don't get cash back but rebates for a new GM car. The best pure cash back percentage that I've found is 1.50% from Fidelity's Investment Rewards Card which requires a Fidelity account. Another good card is from Pentagon Federal Credit Union. Its Visa Platinum Cash Rewards card gives 1.25% cash back on all purchases and doesn't have balance requirements like EmigrantDirect has.

$200 Citibank Checking Account/Credit Card Deal read and submit comments for this post

Citibank has a very good checking account/credit card deal. Two people have reported receiving this offer in the mail and have posted it on fatwallet and slickdeals. The deal requires opening a Citi checking account by 3/3/06. The first $100 will be given after 120 days. The second $100 will be given 90 days after linking the checking account to a Citi credit card and paying the bill by transferring funds. Offer is not valid to existing Citibank checking customers.

The checking account can be opened by phone, but not online. The number is 1-866-810-9040 and you must mention code MVR3.

Many on the threads have reported success by calling that number. The Citibank EZ Checking Account qualifies for this deal and has the lowest requirements to avoid fees. These include either maintaining a $1,500 combined average balance during the statement period, making 2 bill payments, or direct deposit. Citibank is offering a 4.25% 6-month CD which would count as part of the $1,500 combined balance.

If you don't have a Citi credit card, you may want to consider the Citi Diamond Preferred Rewards Card which has a $100 gift card sign-up bonus (see post). Another good one is the Citi Dividend Platinum Select Card. There's no sign-up bonus, but it has a great cash back program. You get a full 5% cash back on supermarket, gas station and drugstore purchases and 1% on all other purchases, up to $300 a year. Here's the Citi page that lists all of available cards.

Bank Deal Summary for Jan 28, 2006 read and submit comments for this post

After four months, EmigrantDirect finally raised the rate of its savings account. Unfortunately, it wasn't the 0.5% increase like in September, but only a 0.25% increase. The new rate is 4.25% APY. HSBC Direct's Online Savings account has been at 4.25% since December 15th.

I've updated my rate chart comparing ING Direct, HSBC and EmigrantDirect. It also includes the changes in the Federal funds rate. Based on history, I wouldn't be surprised if HSBC increases its rate to 4.50% after Tuesday's Fed meeting. It's widely expected that the Fed will up the funds rate to 4.50%. As my chart shows, HSBC has matched the funds rate for the last two Fed meetings. In fact, the only time it didn't raise the savings rate right after the Fed meeting was in September when it raised its savings account rate to 3.75% about 20 days before the Fed raised the funds rate to 3.75%.

MetLife Bank increased the rate of its money market account from 3.75% to 4.00% APY. However, the $50 sign-up bonus seems to have gone away.

Both Corus Bank and CapitalOne/Costco had slight increases in their money market accounts. Corus increased from 4.35% to 4.38% APY and CapOne/Costco went from 4.27% to 4.30% APY.

Virtual Bank took over the lead 6-month CD rate after World Savings' 4.86% expired today. Virtual Bank's 6-month CD has an APY of 4.75%. Corus Bank increased its 1-year CD from 4.89% to 4.94% APY to pull ahead of Virtual Bank. However, Patelco Credit Union continues to offer its 5% APY CD.

Yesterday, a reader informed me of a credit union called Unified Federal Credit Union that is open to all and has a 14-month CD special with an APY of 5.10%. To be eligible to join just requires membership to a non-profit group. The credit union even offers to pay for the first year's annual dues of $15 (which is all that is required for permanent CU membership).

Finally, not all CD rates increased this week. ING Direct reduced the rates on most all of its CDs. The rates of both the 6-month and 12-month CDs went down by 0.05%. Perhaps, ING is trying to pay for its 4.75% Save Up Sale.

The rates listed below are based on Annual Percent Yield (APY). No minimum balances are required unless noted. MMA next to the rates indicate a money market account. Most MMAs have check writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these. Previous weekly summaries are available for Jan 21st, Jan 14th, Jan 8th, Dec 31st, Dec 17th and Dec 10th.

As of January 28, 2006

Savings/Money Market Accounts:

• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.40% MMA (min $1K), offers checking, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.38% MMA (min $10K to open)
• GMAC Bank - 4.30% MMA (min $500), offers checking, my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.30% MMA (min $5K, Costco members only, $50 deal for exec. members)
• HSBC - 4.25%, offers checking, (rate history), my post ($25 bonus)
• EmigrantDirect - 4.25%, my post, ($10 signup bonus), (rate history)
• Western Financial Bank - 4.25% MMA, offers checking, my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.25% (closed to CA residents), my post
• Presidential - 4.12% (min $5K, only first $35K receives this rate), offers checking, my post
• MyBankingDirect - 4.10% MMA (min $5K), my post
• CapitalOne - 4.00% (MMA has same rate, but with checks and ATM. $100 min.)
• UFB Direct - 4.00% MMA, offers checking, my post
• MetLife Bank - 4.00% MMA (min $5K), my post
• Self-Help Credit Union - 3.96% MMA (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 3.80%, my post (4.75% promo and $25 bonus), (rate history)
• VirtualBank - 3.55% (min $100), offers checking, my post ($20 bonus)
• NetBank - 3.52% MMA ($500 min), requires checking, my post ($175 deal)
• ebank - 3.30% MMA ($1K min, rate for $10K-25K balance), offers checking

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• VirtualBank - 4.75% (min $10K), my post ($20 bonus)
• Corus Bank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.65% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.65% (min $1K)
• ETrade Bank - 4.62% (min $1K), my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.52% (min $10K), my post
• NetBank - 4.40% (min $1K)
• ebank - 4.35% (min $1K), 4.60% for ePremium checking customers
• UFB Direct - 4.30% (min $8K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.38% (min $500), my post
• MyBankingDirect - 4.25% (7-month term) ($500 min)
• MetLife Bank - 4.25% ($1K min)
• ING Direct - 4.15%
• Western Financial Bank - 3.75% ($100 min)

8-Month Certificate of Deposit:

World Savings - 4.76% ($10K min with new funds), my post

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Patelco Credit Union - 5.00% (min $1K), not NCUA insured, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.94% (min $10K)
• VirtualBank - 4.90% (min $10K), my post ($20 bonus)
• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 4.87% (min $10K), my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.85% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.85% (min $1K)
• FirstFedDirect - 4.84%, (min $10K) my post
• ebank - 4.75% (min $1K), 5.00% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.70% (min $1K), my post (iPod or $25 bonus)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.78% (min $500), my post
• MetLife Bank - 4.51% ($1K min)
• ING Direct - 4.35%
• Western Financial Bank - 4.40% ($100 min)
• UFB Direct - 4.40% (min $8K)

14-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Unified Federal Credit Union - 5.10% (min $1K), my post

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 4.92% (min $10K), my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.81% (min $5K, Costco members only)

26-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Third Federal - 5.00% (min $500) my post

36-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.50% (min $1K), my post

60-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.75% (min $1K), my post
• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 5.23% (min $10K), my post

84-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 6.00% (min $1K), my post

High Rates with Conditions - Open to All

• 10% Savings Account for kids ($500 max)
• 5.01% 3-month intro rate on checking account
• 5.00% Money Market with $30K (3-month intro rate)
• 4.55% Money Market with $25K min
• 4.54% Money Market with $50K min
• 4.50% Money Market with $25K min
• 4.00% checking account (CU that's open to all)

Checking and Saving Accounts at Local Credit Unions

• 4.50% money market account, $25K min (Pennsylvania)
• 4.50% no-minimum savings account (New York)

CD Specials at Local Credit Unions/Banks

• 6.39% 60-month / 5.10% 6-month CDs Variable? (Michigan)
• 6.25% 60-month Variable CD (Carolinas)
• 5.97% 60-month / 5.45% 36-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.63% 60-month CD (Texas)
• 5.38% 48-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.25% 25-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.25% 60-month No-Penalty CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5.20% 8-month CD (Missouri)
• 5.15% 19-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.12% 24-month CD (Texas)
• 5.10% 13-month CD (South Florida)
• 5.10% 25-month CD (Illinois)
• 5.09% 12-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.09% 15-month CD (Virginia/Maryland/DC)
• 5.03% 25-month CD (Florida)
• 5.01% 6-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 7-month CD (Missouri)
• 5% 7-month CD (Kentucky)
• 5% 10-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 12-month CD (New York)
• 5% 12-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 12-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 12-month CD (Oregon)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 13-month CD (Indiana)
• 5% 15-month / 4.90% 9-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 15-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 15-month CD (Connecticut)
• 5% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 18-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 19-month/4.75% 10-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 24-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 25-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Minnesota)
• 5% 27-month CD (Ohio)
• 5% 29-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 30-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 30-month CD (Wisconsin)
• 5% 30-month CD (Ohio)
• 5% 50-month CD (California)
• 4.95% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.85% 12-month CD (Texas)
• 4.80% 12-month CD (Dallas)
• 4.75% 6-month CD (California)
• 4.75% 9-month CD (New Jersey)
• 4.70% 7-month CD (Georgia)
• 4.70% 11-month CD (Nebraska)
• 4.65% 7-month CD (New Jersey)
• 4.65% 9-Month CD (Arizona/Texas)
• 4.55% 6-month CD (Austin, Texas)
• 4.51% 4-month CD (San Francisco)

CD Alternatives

• I Bond Article, New I Bond Rate, I Bonds as CD Alternatives

5.10% 25-Month CD at an Illinois Bank read and submit comments for this post

First DuPage Bank has several CD specials which include a 5.10% 25-month CD and a 4.90% 15-month CD. The minimum deposit requirement for these certificates is $5K.

First DuPage Bank is a small community bank located in Westmont, Illinois. It's likely that you'll have to visit the branch to open a CD. The bank does have internet banking that includes ACH transfers to and from other financial institutions.

The best 2-year CD rate listed at Bankrate.com is currently 5% APY from AM Trust Bank. However, AM Trust's website only lists an APY of 4.80% for its special 24-month CD. I suppose the 5% could be available only for a specific region, however, I have seen mistakes by Bankrate.com in the past.

5.10% 14-Month CD at a CU Open to All. read and submit comments for this post

The Unified Federal Credit Union has two great CD specials: 5.10% APY 14-month CD and a 5.35% APY 30-month CD. On the promotion page, there's no description of the minimum required deposit. The standard minimum for CDs of terms of 12 months or more is $1K. IRA accounts are not eligible for this promtional offer.

The Unified FCU is another credit union like Self-Help or Penfed that anyone can join. Here's an excerpt from the credit union's introduction page:

Unified FCU serves employees of our corporate sponsors, those working within a ten-mile radius of downtown Amesbury, Massachusetts (including southern New Hampshire) as well as members' families.

However, virtually anyone can now join Unified FCU through our relationship with the Wakefield Repertory Theater (WRT). Membership in this non-profit theater group qualifies anyone for membership at our credit union. To make matters easy, Unified will pay for the first year's annual dues of $15 to WRT and do all the necessary processing. Once you are a member of Unified, there is no obligation to continue membership at WRT.

As is typical with a credit union, you have to fund a savings account, but the required amount is only $25. Unified FCU doesn't seem to have an online ACH transfer system. It does provide wire transfer forms and instructions. To avoid wire transfer fees, you may be able to link an online bank with this credit union's checking or savings account. Then you could fund a CD from this account. When the CD matures and you wish not to renew, you should be able to specify that the funds be deposited to the checking or savings account where they can be pulled from your online bank. One thing to note, however, is that these special CD rates are for a limited time. Except for the 5-year 5.12% APY CD, the standard CD rates are low. You'll want to make sure you initiate the CD in time.

Credit for this deal goes to Scott who left a comment in my Finding Bank Deals page. Thanks!

5.01% 6-Month CD at a Florida CU read and submit comments for this post

The Sarasota Municipal Employees Credit Union has rates over 5% on all terms of its CDs. The share certificate rates include a 5.01% APY for a 6-month term and a 5.12% APY for a 12-month term. The rate goes up to 5.35% for a 60-month CD. The only problem is that these rates require a $50K minimum deposit. There are three other tiers with lower minimums with much lower rates.

Another problem with this credit union is a very restrictive field of membership which seems limited primarily to City of Sarasota employees.

GDP Growth Slows - Effect on Fed and Rates? read and submit comments for this post

The GDP report that came out today shows that the economy grew in the fourth quarter at only 1.1%, its slowest pace in three years. Economists had forecasted a 2.8% growth rate. As mentioned in this CNN article, this may serve as an incentive to stop the Fed from overshooting the rate hikes. The Fed is expected to raise interest rates once more in its next meeting on Tuesday. This news makes it more likely the Fed may stop the rate hikes after this meeting. However, the GDP report also showed that inflation had risen in the fourth quarter. So there is still uncertainty.

High much higher will money market and CD rates go this year?

This year will likely not match last year's constant increases in money market and savings account rates. Even with all the short-term rate increases last year, longer term CD rates didn't move much. It's still not easy to find CDs with rates over 5%, and this trend is not changing. Several banks have slightly reduced long-term CD rates in the last month. The highest 5-year CD that's nationally available is 5.75% from Penfed. However, the highest rate listed at Bankrate.com is only 5.05% APY with only 7 banks at or above 5% APY. Penfed states that the current rates are good till February. I wouldn't be surprised if 5.75% goes away after that.

$75 Checking Account Bonus at CU Open to All read and submit comments for this post

The America's Credit Union is offering a $75 bonus for opening a new Checking Direct or Choice Checking account with direct deposit. Both accounts only require an opening deposit of $1, however, $50 in the regular share savings account is required. The Checking Direct has no minimum balance requirements.

To receive the bonus, the direct deposit must be initiated within 30 days of account opening and the direct deposit must be at least $250. Also, the checking account must be opened for 12 months with direct deposit or the $75 bonus will be debited from the account at closing.

The credit union has branches in several Washington State cities including Olympia and Tacoma.

Credit Union Open to All

This is another credit union like PenFed and Self-Help in which anyone can join. All that is required is a one-time membership fee of $33 to the Association of the United States Army. You can apply online here, and you can fund the intial deposit by mailing in a check, by an electronic transfer (probably ACH) or even by credit card.

Unfortunately, this credit union doesn't have any high deposit rates. The best at this time is a 4.15% APY 12-month CD with a bump-up feature.

Perhaps one of these days we'll see a credit union like RateEdge.com which offers a very high-rate no-minimum savings account and also has easy membership eligibility. The banks probably won't be too happy.

5.12% 2-Year CD at a Texas CU read and submit comments for this post

The Randolph Brooks Federal Credit Union (RBFCU) has some high rates on its 24-month share certificate. The rate for a $1K minimum deposit is 5.01% APY. 5.17% APY is available for deposits of at least $75K. The list below summarizes the CD rates for the different minimums. These are also available as an IRA. The penalty for early withdraw is 120 days of interest which is lower than the typical 180 days for terms over 1 year.

2 Year Certificate of Deposit
APY    Minimum
-----  -------
5.17%   $75K
5.12%   $20K
5.06%    $5K
5.01%    $1K

RBFCU has consistently been offering rates over 5% for its 5-year, 6-year and 7-year CDs, however, the shorter term CDs haven't been competitive. This is the first time I've seen a rate over 5% on terms under 5 years.

RBFCU's field of membership includes residents of the Texas cities of San Marcos, Seguin and parts of Austin and San Antonio. It also includes residents of the Texas counties of Wilson and Caldwell.

EmigrantDirect Now at 4.25% read and submit comments for this post

EmigrantDirect just raised the rate of its AmericanDream Savings Account from 4.00% to 4.25% APY. The last rate change by EmigrantDirect was in September 20, 2005 when it made a 0.5% increase from 3.50% to 4.00%.

This move looks more like EmigrantDirect trying to keep up with the others rather than being the leader. It has been over a month since HSBC Direct raised its Online Savings Account to 4.25%. Since EmigrantDirect had fallen behind, there was hope that it would do another 0.5% increase, perhaps right after the Fed's next meeting on Tuesday.

As many have pointed out, EmigrantDirect probably doesn't have much of a need for new deposits since it has made a name for itself. However, ING Direct's 4.75% Winter Save Up Sale promotion might have had some effect. With online transfers, it's easy for people to be rate chasers. Emigrant's new credit card seems to be one attempt to discourage this. To get the 1.25% cash back on the credit card, you have to maintain $10K in deposits. I would be surprised if this is successful. I wonder what ING Direct has in mind to keep deposits after April 15th?

5.09% 12-Month CD at a Ohio CU read and submit comments for this post

Maumee Valley Credit Union is offering a 5.09% APY 12-month certificate of deposit. The minimum deposit requirement is $500.

The credit union's field of membership includes the Ohio city of Perrysburg and the townships of Perrysburg, Waterville and Whitehouse. It has branches in Toledo and Perrysburg.

One important note about this credit union is that it's not NCUA insured. Like Patelco Credit Union it's insured by ASI, a private company.

4.65% 7-Month CD and Bonuses at a New Jersey Bank Branch read and submit comments for this post

Columbia Bank has several bonus offers at its new Sicklerville branch. One is a 4.65% APY 7-Month CD with a minimum deposit requirement of $500. If a new certificate of deposit is funded with at least $1K, you have a choice between a $25 cash bonus or a George Foreman Grill.

The checking account bonus is $50 cash when opening a new Totally Free Advantage Checking account with $250 or more. There doesn't seem to be any direct deposit requirement for this checking account.

These deals were advertised in today's issue of The Philadelphia Inquirer. This CD rate is not listed at the bank's online rates page. The new branch at Sicklerville, New Jersey is located at 505 Cross Keys Road. Refer to the bank's website for location details.

4.85% 1-Year CD at a Texas Bank read and submit comments for this post

The State Bank of Texas is offering a 4.85% APY 1-year CD. This ad in today's Dallas Morning News claims there is a $10K minimum deposit requirement. However, this rate is also listed at the bank's website and it shows only a $1K minimum. There's also a 5% APY 5-year CD being offered with the same minimum.

The State Bank of Texas is a community bank with 4 branches in the Dallas Forth Worth area.

The best 1-year CD currently listed at Bankrate.com is 4.94% APY from Corus Bank. Virtual Bank is second with a rate of 4.90% APY. Both have a $10K minimum deposit requirement.

$75 for New Checking Account at Bank of America read and submit comments for this post

Bank of America is offering $75 check when you open a new MyAccess checking account with at least $50. This offer was received my mail and was posted along with the scanned image to this SlickDeals thread. To receive your $75 check, bring in the ad to your nearest banking center, mention the code MGCDC0106, and sign up for new checking account by 6/15/06. Limit one check per household. Offer doesn't apply to second or multiple checking accounts and/or existing checking customers.

It was discussed in the thread whether a printout of the scanned ad would be adequate. As is often the case, it will depend. If your local Bank of America won't accept a printout, you could open a new MyAccess checking account online at this link for $50. I posted on this offer couple of times last year, and it continues to be extended. The latest expiration date is 4/15/2006.

As is typical for Bank of America, there's a monthly fee. However, the fee is waived with direct deposit. ACH transfers from ING Direct or other banks may count as direct deposit based on some reports at fatwallet.

$50 for New Checking Account at a Dallas WAMU Branch read and submit comments for this post

The new Washington Mutual Preston Alpha Financial Center in Dallas is offering a $50 American Express Gift Cheque for opening a new Free Checking account. The new financial center is located at 13655 Preston Rd. Dallas, Texas 75240 (972) 392-7809. To qualify you must bring in this ad as published in the January 26th Dallas Morning News by February 25, 2006. The amount necessary to open the free checking is the amount of check printing charges or $1 if no checks are ordered.

The nice thing about this checking account deal is that it doesn't require direct deposit, and there are no direct deposit requirements for the Free Checking account to avoid monthly charges. One thing mentioned in the small print of the ad is that the original ad must be presented at the bank to qualify. So you might have to pick up a copy of the Dallas Morning News.

4.75% 6-Month CD at a California Bank. read and submit comments for this post

Guaranty Bank is offering a 4.75% 6-month CD special. The minimum deposit requirement is $1K. A new or active checking account is required. This certificate of deposit is valid through January 31, 2006 and is only available at the Corona, California branch. This special is not listed at the bank's website, however, this special was advertised in PE.com on January 24, 2006.

5% 7-Month CD at a Missouri Bank read and submit comments for this post

There most be some competition among banks in Missouri. Last week I posted on a 5.20% 8-month CD at Bank of Washington in Missouri. I just found another great certificate special at another Missouri bank. The United Bank of Union is offering a 5.00% APY 7-month CD, a 5.10% APY 11-month CD and a 5.25% APY 18-month CD. There is a minimum deposit requirement of $500. The penalty for early withdraws is 6-months of interest for terms of 1-year or less and 12-months for terms of over 1-year.

As was the case for the Bank of Washington, The United Bank of Union looks like a rather small community bank that may require visiting one of its 3 branches to open a CD. The city of Union is located about 10 miles south of Washington and about 50 miles west-southwest of St. Louis.

5.63% 5-year CD at a Texas CU read and submit comments for this post

At some banks and credit unions, you can get substantially better rates with deposits of at least $50K. This is a large amount but well within the NCUA and FDIC limits. The Greater Texas Federal Credit Union publicly offers 0.50% higher rates on CDs with terms of 3-years and over for deposits of $50K or higher. This results in some nice rates on long-term CDs such as 5.63% APY 60-month, 5.47% APY 48-month, 5.26% APY 42-month and 5.16% 36-month. Even without the $50K deposit, the rates are not bad. These term share certificates only require a $1K minimum deposit. The 5-year rate is 5.13% and the 4-year rate is 4.97% APY.

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of Bryan-College Station, Bastrop, East or Central Travis County or Central Hidalgo County areas. Branches are located in Austin, Arlington, Bastrop, Bryan, College Station, Dallas, Edinburg, Houston and San Antonio.

The best long-term CDs continue to be at Penfed Credit Union which offers 3-year, 4-year, 5-year and 7-year CDs with rates of 5.50%, 5.50%, 5.75% and 6.00% APY (see post). The best 5-year CD rate listed today at Bankrate.com is 5.10% APY at Assurance Partners Bank of Bethesda, Maryland.

New Money Market Account Leader read and submit comments for this post

KeyDirect Bank just became the money market account leader based on the rules defined in this fatwallet thread. KeyDirect's new rate on its Key Optimum Money Market Savings account is 4.55% APY. It has a rather high minimum opening deposit requirement of $25K. You can still earn this rate with smaller balances, however, a monthly service charge of $20 will then apply.

KeyDirect Bank's 4.55% just edges out Hillcrest's 4.54% rate. KeyDirect has the advantage of only requiring $25K rather than $50K to get this rate without fees.

One bad thing about KeyDirect is that it only serves those in states where KeyBank doesn't have branches. People living in states with KeyBank branches will have to depend on a local KeyBank branch.

$100 Gift Card Citicard Deal read and submit comments for this post

You can get a $100 gift card for signing up for a Diamond Preferred Citicard credit card. You must make one purchase with the new card within 3 months of account opening. Sign up at apply.citicards.com by March 15, 2006 and enter the promo code F3A1 or call 1-800-514-8589. Credit for this deal goes to jeremiah who left a comment on it at my finding deals page. Thanks!

Citibank seems to have several similar promos. Here's one that is mentioned at Fatwallet. These credit card deals can be easy money. Last year I did a Charles Schwab credit card deal that was similar to this Citicard deal but with a $150 Visa gift card. There still seems to be an active $100 Visa gift card deal for the Charles Schwab credit card. This fatwallet thread has the link and more info.

5% 30-Month CD at a Florida CU read and submit comments for this post

The Power 1 Credit Union is offering several promotional CDs. These include a 5% APY 30-month CD, a 4.80% APY 19-month CD and a 4.70% APY 15-month CD. All of these certificates have a minimum balance requirement of $2.5K and are eligible for an IRA or SEP.

The credit union's field of membership includes residents of Broward, Miami-Dade and Palm Beach Counties of Florida.

Compass Bank's $50 Checking Account Promotion read and submit comments for this post

Compass Bank is offering a $50 Amazon gift card when you open a new Compass Free Checking account. Here's the link to the promotion. It only requires a deposit of at least $50 into the checking account within 30 days of registering for this offer. Be sure to review the terms and conditions at the bottom of the promo page, but it seems like an easy deal.

To qualify, you must be a resident of Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico or Texas, and you must not already have a Compass checking account.

If you're looking for a new checking account, Compass Bank's Free Checking account may be worthwhile even without this promotion. Some nice features include no minimum balance requirements, no direct deposit requirements, free checks for the life of the account and rebates of other banks' ATM fees. However, the rebates do require mailing Compass the receipts showing the ATM surcharges.

Credit for this deal goes to this SlickDeals thread. Compass had this same promotion last year and several people mentioned that it was an easy $50. However, there were a couple of people on this thread who reported problems with Compass Bank although there are not many details.

ING Direct Reduces Rates on Most CDs read and submit comments for this post

After this latest CD rate change at ING Direct, new money in the Orange Savings Account even beats out a 5-year CD. ING Direct lowered the rates on all of its CDs except on the 18-month term. The short-term CD rates were reduced by 0.05%. The long-term CDs over 18-months were reduced by 0.15%. The below list has the details:

CD Term   APY
6 month   4.15% (down from 4.20%)
9 month   4.20% (down from 4.25%)
12 month  4.35% (down from 4.40%)
18 month  4.50%
24 month  4.60% (down from 4.75%)
30 month  4.60% (down from 4.75%)
36 month  4.60% (down from 4.75%)
48 month  4.65% (dowm from 4.80%)
60 month  4.70% (down from 4.85%)

As I mentioned in this previous post, the rates of long-term CDs have been trending down over the past month or two. This move by ING Direct continues this trend. However, this is the first I've seen a decrease in short-term CD rates by a major online bank. With the Fed expected to be ending its tightening policy this year, this trend may continue.

Refer to this post for more info on ING's 4.75% promo and this post for info on ING's last certificate of deposit rate change.

5% 15-Month / 4.90% 9-month CDs at a Chicago Bank read and submit comments for this post

First Bank is offering a 5.00% APY 15-Month CD and a 4.90% APY 9-month CD. Both have a minimum deposit requirement of $10K. Credit for this find goes to a commenter who left a note on it here. The commenter mentioned that it was advertised on page 12 of the front-page section of the Chicago Tribune. The ad gave the Chicago branch location of 20 N. Wacker Dr. (phone: 312-236-3400).

I was able to find First Bank's website. The website doesn't mention this special, but this is typical for brick-and-mortar banks. First Bank has been FDIC insured since 1934, and it has 167 offices in the states of Illinois, Missouri, Texas and California.

4.75% 12-Month CD at a Dallas Bank read and submit comments for this post

Century Bank advertised a 4.75% APY 12-month CD in the January 17th Dallas Morning News. It's a limited time offer with a $1K minimum deposit requirement. It's a decent rate for a brick-and-mortar bank. This special is not advertised on the bank's website.

In addition to Dallas, Century Bank has branches in Addison, Atlanta, New Boston and Texarkana Texas. There are also 4 branches in Arkansas.

The best 1-year CD rate from a bank that's listed at Bankrate.com is 4.90% APY from Virtual Bank (see post) with a $10K minimum. 1st Source Bank of Indiana has a 4.85% APY CD with only a $500 minimum. I've listed several 5%-plus 12-month CDs (mostly local) at my weekly summary.

4.51% 4-Month CD at World Savings Bank read and submit comments for this post

World Savings Bank advertised in the January 19th San Francisco Chronicle a 4.51% APY 4-month certificate of deposit. The minimum required deposit is $25K, and it must come from a financial institution other than World Savings.

As is typical with World Savings, this CD isn't being advertised at World Savings' website. The branch-rates page has the 4-month CD with a rate of 4.41% APY. The internet-rates page has a 4-month Internet CD with a rate of 4.16% APY ($10K min).

The unadvertised 4.86% 6-month CD that I first reported about in late December may still be active. Two other good CD deals at World Savings' Internet Rates page includes a 5.14% 5-year CD and a 4.61% APY 8-month CD. Both have a $10K minimum deposit requirement. The 8-month CD requires new money.

HSBC Smart Checking Package $50 Bonus read and submit comments for this post

Open a new HSBC Smart Checking package and get $50 with your new HSBC Debit MasterCard. The promotion code is GET50. Here's the link to the promotion.

One important note is that the promotion webpage specifies an expiration date of December 12th, 2005. However, this deal was posted at this Fatwallet thread by a person who received a postcard in the mail from HSBC with an expiration date of February 6, 2006. As usual with HSBC promotions, this is not a promotion advertised at HSBC's website. So there's no guarantee.

This promotion requires opening either a Smart Package or a Smart plus Package. The best deal is probably the Smart Package. This includes a checking account that is free with either direct deposit or a combined balance of $3K. According to the Fatwallet thread, the Online Savings Account can be included in the combined balance. Also, deposits from ING Direct or other banks may count toward the direct deposit.

Some of the important small print includes:
* HSBC reserves the right to charge your checking account an amount equal to the bonus if your Debit MasterCard account does not remain active for at least 180 days.
* Cannot be combined with other offers.

Based on the last rule, I don't know if you could get both the $25 bonus for the Online Savings account and this $50 bonus. I have seen some on Fatwallet who have reported receiving both when similar promotions were made last year.

This promotion is similar to what HSBC offered last August. However, in that promotion, HSBC advertised it on its website so it was clearly a promotion open to everyone.

One good reason to get a HSBC checking account is to avoid the long transfer times when you transfer between HSBC Online Savings Account and other banks. The HSBC checking account will allow you to link your ING Direct account or EmigrantDirect account to HSBC. Then you wouldn't have to rely on HSBC's slow Bank-to-Bank transfer system to move money and thereby avoid 2 to 4 days of no interest. Transfers between HSBC's checking and savings should be immediate.

Bank Deal Summary for Jan 21, 2006 read and submit comments for this post

The big news for this week was ING Direct's new promotion. All new deposits will earn 4.75% APY through April 15, 2006. It looks like this is ING's attempt to win back deposits lost to other banks with better yields. The day after ING's promo, EmigrantDirect announced its new credit card with a 1.25% cash back rebate. Like ING, Emigrant seems to be trying to reduce rate chasing. The 1.25% cash back rebates require maintaining a deposit of $10K.

Comparing the new promos at ING and Emigrant this week, I would say ING Direct was the clear winner. There's a lot more to like about it than Emigrant's new card. However, I don't see how ING Direct will be helped in the long-term. When the 4.75% rate ends, the rate chasers will just move their money to the latest high-rate bank. ING's customers who had been loyal and kept most all of their savings at ING will feel resentment and may become rate chasers.

In terms of standard rates, this week was fairly quiet. The interest rate on Corus Bank's money market account went up from 4.23% to 4.35% APY for deposits under $100K. For deposits over $100K, the rate went up to 4.51% APY.

For short-term CDs, Virtual Bank became a top contender this week. Virtual Bank's new 3-month, 6-month and 12-month CD rates are 4.50%, 4.75% and 4.90% APY. Unfortunately, its money market account is stuck at 3.55% APY. However, this account has no minimum balance requirements, has a nice referral bonus program, and can be useful in the CD opening process allowing all transactions to be done online.

For longer-term CDs, I've added Pacific Mercantile Bank to the top list since it appears that it can be funded by mail from any state. Its 12-month, 18-month and 5-year CDs have rates of 4.87%, 4.92% and 5.23% APY which make them near the top in the nation.

There is not all good news. The Digital Federal Credit Union ended its 5% 16-month CD. This was the second time in the last 6-months that this CD special was offered. Perhaps it'll be back again.

The rates listed below are in APY. No minimum balances are required unless noted. MMA next to the rates indicate a money market account. Most MMAs have check writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these. Previous weekly summaries are available for Jan 14th, Jan 8th, Dec 31st, Dec 17th, Dec 10th and Dec 3rd.

As of January 21, 2006

Savings/Money Market Accounts:

• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.40% MMA (min $1K), offers checking, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.35% MMA (min $10K to open)
• GMAC Bank - 4.30% MMA (min $500), offers checking, my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.27% MMA (min $5K, Costco members only, $50 deal for exec. members)
• HSBC - 4.25%, offers checking, (rate history), my post ($25 bonus)
• Western Financial Bank - 4.25% MMA, offers checking, my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.25% (closed to CA residents), my post
• Presidential - 4.12% (min $5K, only first $35K receives this rate), offers checking, my post
• MyBankingDirect - 4.10% MMA (min $5K), my post
• CapitalOne - 4.00% (MMA has same rate, but with checks and ATM. $100 min.)
• EmigrantDirect - 4.00%, my post, ($10 signup bonus), (rate history)
• UFB Direct - 4.00% MMA, offers checking, my post
• Self-Help Credit Union - 3.96% MMA (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 3.80%, my post (4.75% promo and $25 bonus), (rate history)
• MetLife Bank - 3.75% MMA (min $5K), my post ($50 deal)
• VirtualBank - 3.55% (min $100), offers checking, my post ($20 bonus)
• NetBank - 3.52% MMA ($500 min), requires checking, my post ($175 deal)
• ebank - 3.30% MMA ($1K min, rate for $10K-25K balance), offers checking

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• World Savings - 4.86% (min $10K), branch only, my post
• VirtualBank - 4.75% (min $10K), my post ($20 bonus)
• Corus Bank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.65% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.65% (min $1K)
• ETrade Bank - 4.62% (min $1K), my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.52% (min $10K), my post
• NetBank - 4.40% (min $1K)
• ebank - 4.35% (min $1K), 4.60% for ePremium checking customers
• UFB Direct - 4.30% (min $8K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.31% (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 4.20%
• MyBankingDirect - 4.20% ($2.5K min)
• Western Financial Bank - 3.75% ($100 min)

8-Month Certificate of Deposit:

World Savings - 4.61% ($10K min with new funds), my post

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Patelco Credit Union - 5.00% (min $1K), not NCUA insured, my post
• VirtualBank - 4.90% (min $10K), my post ($20 bonus)
• Corus Bank - 4.89% (min $10K)
• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 4.87% (min $10K), my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.85% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.85% (min $1K)
• FirstFedDirect - 4.84%, (min $10K) my post
• ebank - 4.75% (min $1K), 5.00% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.70% (min $1K), my post (iPod or $25 bonus)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.67% (min $500), my post
• MetLife Bank - 4.51% ($1K min)
• ING Direct - 4.40%
• Western Financial Bank - 4.40% ($100 min)
• UFB Direct - 4.40% (min $8K)

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 4.92% (min $10K), my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.81% (min $5K, Costco members only)

26-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Third Federal - 5.00% (min $500) my post

36-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.50% (min $1K), my post

60-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.75% (min $1K), my post
• Pacific Mercantile Bank - 5.23% (min $10K), my post

84-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 6.00% (min $1K), my post

High Rates with Conditions - Open to All

• 10% Savings Account for kids ($500 max)
• 5.01% 3-month intro rate on checking account
• 5.00% Money Market with $30K (3-month intro rate)
• 4.54% Money Market with $50K min
• 4.50% Money Market with $25K min
• 4.00% checking account (CU that's open to all)

Checking and Saving Accounts at Local Credit Unions

• 4.50% money market account, $25K min (Pennsylvania)
• 4.50% no-minimum savings account (New York)

CD Specials at Local Credit Unions/Banks

• 6.25% 60-month Variable CD (Carolinas)
• 6.16% 60-month / 4.88% 6-month CDs (Michigan)
• 5.65% 60-month / 5.16% 36-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.50% 12-month CD (New York)
• 5.38% 48-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.25% 25-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.25% 60-month No-Penalty CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5.15% 19-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.10% 13-month CD (South Florida)
• 5.09% 15-month CD (Virginia/Maryland/DC)
• 5.05% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5.03% 25-month CD (Florida)
• 5.01% 12-month CD (North Florida)
• 5% 7-month CD (Kentucky)
• 5% 10-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 12-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 12-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 12-month CD (Oregon)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 13-month CD (Indiana)
• 5% 15-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 15-month CD (Connecticut)
• 5% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 18-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 24-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 25-month/4.75% 14-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Minnesota)
• 5% 27-month CD (Ohio)
• 5% 29-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 30-month CD (Wisconsin)
• 5% 30-month CD (Ohio)
• 5% 50-month CD (California)
• 4.95% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.75% 9-month CD (New Jersey)
• 4.70% 7-month CD (Georgia)
• 4.70% 11-month CD (Nebraska)
• 4.65% 9-Month CD (Arizona/Texas)
• 4.55% 6-month CD (Austin, Texas)

CD Alternatives

• I Bond Article, New I Bond Rate, I Bonds as CD Alternatives

5.20% 8-Month CD at a Missouri Bank read and submit comments for this post

The Bank of Washington has some very nice special rate certificates. The best deal is a 5.20% APY 8-month CD. Below is the list of all of these CD specials:

Term       APY
8 month    5.20%
20 month   5.25%
30 month   5.30%
36 month   5.40%

All of these CDs have a $500 minimum deposit requirement.

The bank has four branches in the Missouri cities of Washington and Gray Summit.

I found the history of the bank interesting. It first opened for business in 1877. During its 128-year history it has had only 9 presidents and has grown its assets from $53K to $440M. After 128 years, it's surprising there are still only 4 branches.

EmigrantDirect Releases Cash Back Card read and submit comments for this post

EmigrantDirect finally releases its new credit card called the AmericanDream Credit Card. Info on the card is available at EmigrantDirect. Unfortunately, it's not quite as good as what everyone was anticipating. It was suppose to have the highest cash back reward. But the maximum cash back rebate is only 1.25%, and this requires $10K in your savings account for 6 months to qualify for this percentage. If your balance is less than $10K, the cash rebate is only 0.5%.

I'm still reading over the small print. I'll try to post more about it later.

Looks like this is a way that EmigrantDirect hopes to reduce rate chasers who'll run to the bank with the highest savings account rates. The $10K and 6-month requirement seems intent to encourage account holders to keep their money at Emigrant. Interesting that it comes only one day after ING Direct's 4.75% announcement.

Credit for this find goes to Neo.

Netbank's iPod CD/Money Market Promo Update read and submit comments for this post

Update 9/28/07: NetBank closed by the FDIC. See post for more details.

Last October Netbank came out with an Apple iPod shuffle promotion. This was scheduled to end in December. It has been extended until the end of February, however, there has been one important change. It now requires funding the money market account or a 1-year (or longer) certificate of deposit with at least $2.5K. The previous requirement was only $1K.

Some other of the important rules from the promo page include:

• This offer is available only for first-time NetBank deposit customers who apply through the links on this page and will be rewarded only once to any individual.
• We will ship your iPod shuffle when (1) you fund a NetBank Money Market with a $2,500 average daily balance for 30 consecutive days; or (2) 30 days have occured since funding a NetBank CD. The iPod shuffle will be shipped within 4 weeks after you have met these promotional requirements.

It looks like you could transfer most of the money out of the money market account after the 30 days. Note, there is a $500 average daily balance requirement to avoid a monthly service charge. If you close the money market account within 6 months, there's a $25 fee. There's a $7.50 account closure fee regardless of how long the account has been opened. Refer to Netbank's money market account page for more details.

There's also a combined $175 promotion that Netbank has with drugstore.com. I had first posted on this last August. It still seems active. I don't see any expiration date on the promo page and the ad link is still listed at drugstore.com. This drugstore promo only requires a $100 deposit to the money market account to get a $75 bonus. Another $75 bonus is for opening a checking acount with at least a $50 deposit.

The third sign-up bonus on the drugstore/Netbank promotion page is a $25 Visa gift card for opening a CD with a $1K deposit. Instead of using this CD promo, you might be able to open a CD for the iPod bonus and then open the checking and money market account for $150 in cash.

If you want to do more research into these Netbank specials, refer to these forum threads at Fatwallet and SlickDeals.

New High CD Rates at Virtual Bank read and submit comments for this post

Virtual Bank made some substantial increases to some of its CDs today. The new rates on the 3-month, 6-month and 12-month CDs are 4.50%, 4.75% and 4.90% APY. These rates are now the highest for banks with nationally available CDs. All of the Virtual Bank's CDs have a $10K minimum deposit requirement. Here's a summary of the old and new certificate rates:

Term      Old APY   New APY   Change
3 months   4.25%     4.50%    +0.25%
6 months   4.40%     4.75%    +0.35%
9 months   4.40%     4.40%          
12 months  4.70%     4.90%    +0.20%
18 months  4.70%     4.70%          
2 years    4.80%     4.80%          
3 years    4.90%     4.90%          
4 years    4.95%     4.95%          
5 years    5.00%     5.00%          

The 3-month CD has a one month early withdrawal penalty. The 6 and 9-month CDs have a 3-month penalty. All others have a 6-month penalty. This is based on an email that I received from Virtual Bank's customer service.

One important thing to note is that the 1-year CD has a 6-month early withdrawal penalty. So 6-months interest would be lost for an early withdrawal even if the interest hasn't yet been earned. Many 1-year CDs at other banks only have a 3-month penalty.

Some other information that I received from Virtual Bank's customer service is that CDs can be funded completely online without having to mail the application or check. Applications can be submitted online. If you had an eMoney Market, you could request in your CD application that Virtual Bank transfer funds from the eMoney Market to open your new CD. Otherwise, you would need to either mail a check, or wire the funds.

Once a CD matures, you have 14 calendar day grace period to make any changes to the CD. You can instruct Virtual Bank to transfer the funds to your existing eMoney Market account through the bank's secure messaging system. From there, it's easy to initiate an ACH transfer to your linked checking account. You could also instruct Virtual Bank to mail you the check.

Virtual Bank's Money Market Account and Bonus

Virtual Bank's eMoney Market account is still only paying 3.55% APY for deposits under $50K. Deposits over $50K earn only 3.45% APY. These rates haven't changed since last September 27th.

Although Virtual Bank's money market account hasn't remained competitive, it has done a decent job at keeping its certificates of deposit competitive. It also has a good referral program for its money market account that's comparable to ING Direct's program. Here's a summary:

• You can refer up to 50 friends to open eMoney Market accounts.
• Each friend that opens an eMoney Market account earns $20.
• You then earn $20 for each friend who opens an account.
• You can earn up to $1000.
• A minimum deposit of $100 is required to open an eMoney Market account.

If you are interested in the $20 sign-up bonus, send me an email with your first and last name to [ bankdeals at gmail dot com ], and I'll send you a referral.

As I described above, even if you're only interested in CDs, the money market account is still useful for transfering money for CDs.

ING's Save Up Sale: 4.75% Savings Rate read and submit comments for this post

ING Direct has just announced its Winter Save Up Sale, and it's better than what I had expected. Here's the link to the details at ING.

New deposits to a new or existing Orange Savings Account from now till April 15, 2006 will earn 4.75% APY. After April 15th, the rate will return to the current APY that's in effect at that time (currently 3.80% APY).

For those who had transferred most everything into EmigrantDirect or HSBC, this will be easy money. Just transfer that back to ING Direct and you'll earn 4.75% on that through April 15th.

For those who had kept the money at ING Direct, you won't get anything extra. You can't withdraw and re-deposit the money to get the 4.75%. The rules say that withdrawals will be subtracted from the amount that will be eligible for the 4.75% rate. This is a good example of the benefits of being a rate chaser. The loyal customers are losing out big time.

ING Direct's $25 referral sign-up bonus plan is still valid. I still have a few more referrals to give.The person joining gets $25 and the referrer gets $10. Just send an email with your first and last name to bankdeals at gmail dot com. I will enter your name into ING Direct's referral page, and it will send you an email with the info to sign up. It requires a deposit of $250.

5.50% 15-Month CD at Georgia CU. read and submit comments for this post

The North Georgia Credit Union is having a grand opening special (pdf) with a 5.50% APY 15-month CD. The minimum deposit requirement is $500, and the money must be new to the credit union. This special ends this Friday, January 20th.

My last report on this credit union was back in November when it was offering a special 5% 15-month CD. Since November the credit union has continued to offer very competitive rates: 4.75%, 5.00% and 5.39% APY on 1-year, 2-year and 3-year terms for both share and IRA certificates.

The one problem with this credit union is that its field of membership is primarily employer based and not open to a geographical area. However, there is a long list of employers.

The grand opening must be for the Lavonia, Georgia branch. The main office is in Toccoa, Georgia. Both are in northeast Georgia near the South Carolina border.

4.65% 9-Month CD at a AZ/TX CU. read and submit comments for this post

TruWest Credit Union is offering a 4.65% APY 9-month CD. The certificate has a minimum deposit requirement of $1K and a maximum deposit limit of $250K per person or $500K per household. There's an early withdrawal penalty of 90 days dividends.

The credit union's field of membership includes those who live in Maricopa County and parts of Pinal County, Arizona. Also, it includes those who live in Travis County and parts of Williamson County, Texas.

TruWest has branches in Phoenix, Mesa, Chandler and Scottsdale of Arizona and in Austin, Texas.

This rate is not quite as good as the 4.75% APY rate at the New Jersey Bank that I posted on last week. The best 9-month certificate of deposit rate listed at Bankrate.com is still 4.70% APY at American United Bank of Lawrenceville, Georgia. GMAC Bank's 9-month CD rate went up 0.05% to 4.65% APY.

Small Declines in Long-Term CDs read and submit comments for this post

Although short term rates on money market accounts and short term CDs are slowly rising, long term rates haven't been moving up as much. In fact over the last month, there has been declines. Here are a few examples of changes in 5-year CD rates in the last month:

Bank                Dec. APY   Jan. APY
----                --------   --------   
Mutual Bank         5.50%      4.95%
GMAC Bank           5.10%      5.00%
Countrywide Bank    5.10%      4.90%
ETrade Bank         5.15%      5.00%

As mentioned by BestCashCow, the yield curve fell yesterday to its most inverted point since 2000. The yield on the 10 year Treasury trading 8 basis points below that of the 6-month Treasury.

So this trend of lower long-term CD rates may continue, and if the Fed stops increasing the funds rate, there won't be as much pressure on short-term rates. Currently, PenFed Credit Union is offering 60-month certificates at 5.75% APY. This may not last past this month.

Up to $75 in Bonuses at PNC Bank read and submit comments for this post

By enrolling a new or existing PNC Bank check card in Visa Extras, PNC Bank will reward you with 10,0000 Visa Extras points. This equals a $25 gift card. Some of the gift cards that are offered at Visa Extras include Starbucks, Red Lobster/Olive Garden, Blockbuster and CVS Pharmacy. You can earn additional 20,000 points by various banking activities including opening a new savings account, money market account, CD or IRA. Also, establishing direct deposit and paying your first bill using PNC's Web Bill Payment service will earn points.

This promotion was originally scheduled to end in December, but it has been extended until 3/31/2006. Credit for this find goes to this fatwallet thread. Many on the thread have reported getting the points and gift cards easily, although some gift cards may take time to get.

I also noticed a decent promotional certificate of deposit at PNC Bank. For Premium Plan customers the 9-month CD rate is 4.60% APY with a $1K minimum deposit requirement. The Premium Plan, however, requires a checking account and a $20K combined balance to avoid monthly fees.

PNC Bank has branches in many states including Delaware, Virginia, Pennsylvania, Florida, New Jersey, Ohio, Kentucky and Indiana. Most of its branches seem to be in Kentucky and Ohio.

Bump-Up Bank CDs: Compass vs. CapitalOne Part 2 read and submit comments for this post

The Bump-Up certificate of deposit rates from both Compass Bank and Capital One have improved a little since I last compared them back in November. Capital One's No Regrets CDs are still not a good deal. The rates have risen about 0.15%. The current rates for the 3, 4 and 5 year CDs are only 3.90%, 4.00% and 4.15% APY. Considering Capital One's High Yield Savings account is paying 4.00% APY, I don't see any advantage from these CDs. However, if you purchased one of these certificates a year or two ago, you might be hoping for increases so you can get a higher bump-up rate. If you have a 5-year CD, you'll have to keep waiting. Back in July 2004, the 60-month rate was 4.33% APY which is higher than today's 4.15% APY rate. However, for the shorter term CDs, there have been some increases.

The following is a summary of the Capital One's No Regrets CD rates:

Term       July 04  Nov 05  Jan 06
36 months  3.30%    3.74%   3.90%
48 months  3.84%    3.86%   4.00%
60 months  4.33%    4.00%   4.15%

Compass Bank's Option CDs are still a much better deal than Capital One's No Regret CDs. For terms of 3-years and up, rates are about 0.70% higher and you get the option of an additional bump-up. If you have to give up a significant amount of interest to get the bump-up option, it's probably not worth it. However, the Compass fixed-rate CDs have rates that are only 0.05% higher than the corresponding Option CDs. Giving up 0.05% interest is probably worth the bump-up option. However, the rates of corresponding fixed-rate CDs at other banks are between 0.25% to 0.50% higher than these Option CD rates. That's too much of a premium for the bump-up option. Perhaps it would make sense if rates looked to be rising a lot this year. But based on the last Fed meeting, we might be seeing rates rise less than last year.

The following is a summary of Compass Bank's Option CD rates for Texas:

Term       Sept 05  Nov 05  Jan 06
36 months  4.15%    4.60%   4.65%
48 months  4.20%    4.65%   4.70%
60 months  4.25%    4.70%   4.75%

These Option CDs have a minimum deposit requirement of $5K. Two rate bump-ups are allowed. Plus, two additional deposits are allowed, however, the amount of the deposit may not exceed the amount of your initial deposit. Compass Bank has branches in Alabama, Arizona, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico and Texas.

5.03% 25-Month CD at a Florida Bank read and submit comments for this post

The First State Bank has some very high rates on its long-term CDs. The best deal is a 5.03% APY 25-month CD. All of the CDs have a minimum deposit requirement of $1000. Below is the list of the certificate of deposit rates:

Term       APY
---------- -----
6 months   4.00%
1 year     4.50%
15 months  4.78%
18 months  4.75%
2 years    4.80%
25 months  5.03%
3 years    5.00%
4 years    5.10%
5 years    5.25%

The bank has six branches in the Florida cities of Sarasota, Seminole and St. Petersburg.

5% 50-Month CD at CA CU read and submit comments for this post

The California Community Credit Union has a special 50-month 5.00% APY CD offer. It requires a $5K minimum deposit, and it's a limited time offer.

It's not the best deal for a CD with a term just over 4-years, but I gave it extra credit for the ad on its home page. I've never seen a CD look this fun before...

The credit union's field of membership includes those who live in Sacramento, Placer and Stanislaus County of California. The credit union has 5 branches in the cities of Sacramento, Elk Grove, Modesto and Roseville.

The highest 4-year certificate of deposit listed at Bankrate.com is currently 5.03% APY at Intervest National Bank. The best long term CD rates are still from Pentagon Federal Credit Union which is offering a 4-year rate of 5.50% APY.

5% 27-Month CD at an Ohio CU. read and submit comments for this post

Bay Area Credit Union is offering a 5.00% APY certificate special with a $1K minimum and a 27-month term. The special is for a limited time and requires new money.

Bay Area Credit Union is located in the city of Oregon in Northwest Ohio. The field of membership includes those who live in the Ohio cities and townships of Oregon, Northwood, Genoa, Walbridge, Millbury, Allen, Clay, Lake and Jerusalem. The credit union is NCUA insured.

Since Bankrate.com doesn't list 27-month CDs, I'll compare this to what's currently listed for 30-month CDs. The highest rate is 4.95% APY at AMTrust Bank of Cleveland, Ohio and Intervest National Bank of New York, New York.

3-Month CD Deals read and submit comments for this post

If you prefer to stick with brick-and-mortar banks, you may want to look into short term CDs as an alternative to money market accounts. Often you can get a much better rate in 3 or 6-month CDs than a money market or savings account. The downside is that you lock up your money, but since the term is short it may be a worthwhile tradeoff.

The Royal Bank America is offering a 4.00% APY 3-month CD with a minimum deposit requirement of $5K. The bank has branches in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. This CD special is also good at Royal Asian Bank which has three branches in Philadelphia and Upper Darby, PA along with two branches in Fort Lee, NJ. For the commenter who noted this deal, thanks!

The best 3-month CD rate listed at Bankrate.com is 4.40% APY at UmbrellaBank.com. Everbank is the second top one with a rate of 4.36% APY. Some of the top 3-month certificate of deposit rates at brick-and-mortar banks include: 4.21% at M&T Bank, NA of Oakfield, New York and 4.10% at Security Savings Bank of Las Vegas, Nevada. In addition to the 3-month CD, Security Savings Bank also has a decent 3.55% APY money market account and a 4.60% APY 1-year CD. These accounts can also be opened by mail.

5% 15-Month CD at a Florida Bank read and submit comments for this post

The First Florida Bank is advertising two CD specials in this Sunday's Orlando Sentinel. The first is a 5.00% APY 15-month CD. The second is a 4.50% APY 6-month CD. Both have a minimum deposit requirement of $1K. The branch listed in the ad was at Winter Park, Florida (phone: 407-691-7006).

The specials are not listed on the bank's website, and it's not known if these special certificates are available at the bank's other branches.

In addition to the Winter Park branch, First Florida Bank has branches in Naples and Ft. Myers, Florida.

For the person who emailed this deal to me, thanks! If you find a similar deal, an email [ at bankdeals at gmail dot com ] or a comment here is greatly appreciated.

5.23% 5-yr / 4.92% 18-mo CDs at a CA Bank. read and submit comments for this post

Pacific Mercantile Bank continues to have very high rates on CDs with terms of one year and longer. I had first posted on this bank on January 4th. Since then, it has already increased rates on its 1-year and 18-month CDs. Here's a list of the current rates:

Term        APY
12 month    4.76%
18 month    4.92%
24 month    4.92%
36 month    4.97%
60 month    5.23%

The bank has 8 California branches. However, it looks like you can open a CD from any state by phone or online/mail.

Thanks to a commenter, I took notice of the bank's high rate of 5.23% APY on its 5-year certificate of deposit. The highest 60-month CD rate listed at Bankrate.com is only 5.10% APY at Assurance Partners Bank of Bethesda, Maryland. It's interesting to note that Bankrate.com listed Pacific Mercantile with the top 1.5 and 2-year CDs but didn't list it with the top 1, 3 and 5-year CDs.

Bank Deal Summary for Jan 14th, 2006 read and submit comments for this post

This week there was a new money market rate leader with a rate of 4.54% APY at Hillcrest Bank. The only problem is that this rate requires a $50K balance. Due to the high balance requirement, I excluded it from my main MMA list and added it to the "High Rate with Conditions" list. For my main MMA list, UmbrellaBank remains the leader with its 4.40% Pot of Gold Money Market Account. I'm starting to give up on the hope that EmigrantDirect will take the lead with a 4.50% rate.

In addition to being the MMA leader, UmbrellaBank has always been near the top on my 6-month and 12-month CD lists. This week it got closer with new CD rate increases. The 6-month CD increased from 4.50% to 4.65% APY and the 12-month CD increased from 4.80% to 4.85% APY. The only problem with UmbrellaBank is that you don't get any better rates for the longer terms. The 5-year CD only earns 4.90% APY.

GMAC Bank also had some CD rate increases. Both the 6-month and 12-month CDs increased by 0.05% and now equal UmbrellaBank's rates of 4.65% and 4.85%. I give the edge to GMAC Bank due to better rates on long-term CDs, lower minimum deposit requirements and an easy online ACH transfer system.

Another significant CD rate increase was made by ebank. Its 12-month CD was raised from 4.60% to 4.75% APY. You can actually receive 5% APY if you open an ebank's ePremium checking account. Unfortunately, ebank's $50 sign-up bonus for the checking account expired last month. I wouldn't be surprised if ebank offers a similar deal in the next few months.

The rates listed below are in APY. No minimum balances are required unless noted. MMA next to the rates indicate a money market account. Most MMAs have check writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these. Previous weekly summaries are available for Jan 8th, Dec 31st, Dec 17th, Dec 10th, Dec 3rd and Nov 26th.

As of January 14, 2006

Savings/Money Market Accounts:

• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.40% MMA (min $1K), offers checking, my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.30% MMA (min $500), offers checking, my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.27% MMA (min $5K, Costco members only, $50 deal for exec. members)
• HSBC - 4.25%, offers checking, (rate history), my post ($25 bonus)
• Western Financial Bank - 4.25% MMA, offers checking, my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.25% (closed to CA residents), my post
• Corus Bank - 4.23% MMA (min $10K to open)
• Presidential - 4.12% (min $5K, only first $35K receives this rate), offers checking, my post
• MyBankingDirect - 4.10% MMA (min $5K), my post
• CapitalOne - 4.00% (MMA has same rate, but with checks and ATM. $100 min.)
• EmigrantDirect - 4.00%, my post, ($10 signup bonus), (rate history)
• UFB Direct - 4.00% MMA, offers checking, my post
• Self-Help Credit Union - 3.96% MMA (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 3.80%, my post ($25 deal), (rate history)
• MetLife Bank - 3.75% MMA (min $5K), my post ($50 deal)
• VirtualBank - 3.55% (min $100), offers checking, my post
• NetBank - 3.52% MMA ($500 min), requires checking, my post ($175 deal)
• ebank - 3.30% MMA ($1K min, rate for $10K-25K balance), offers checking

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• World Savings - 4.86% (min $10K), branch only, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.65% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.65% (min $1K)
• ETrade Bank - 4.56% (min $1K), my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.52% (min $10K), my post
• VirtualBank - 4.40% (min $10K)
• ebank - 4.35% (min $1K), 4.60% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.35% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• UFB Direct - 4.30% (min $8K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.32% (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 4.20%
• MyBankingDirect - 4.20% ($2.5K min)
• Western Financial Bank - 3.75% ($100 min)

8-Month Certificate of Deposit:

World Savings - 4.61% ($10K min with new funds), my post

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Patelco Credit Union - 5.00% (min $1K), not NCUA insured, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.89% (min $10K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.85% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.85% (min $1K)
• FirstFedDirect - 4.84%, (min $10K) my post
• ebank - 4.75% (min $1K), 5.00% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.70% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• VirtualBank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.70% (min $500), my post
• MetLife Bank - 4.51% ($1K min)
• ING Direct - 4.40%
• Western Financial Bank - 4.40% ($100 min)
• UFB Direct - 4.40% (min $8K)

16-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• DCU - 5.00% (min $1K), my post

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.81% (min $5K, Costco members only)

26-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Third Federal - 5.00% (min $500) my post

36-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.50% (min $1K), my post

60-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.75% (min $1K), my post

84-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 6.00% (min $1K), my post

High Rates with Conditions - Open to All

• 10% Savings Account for kids ($500 max)
• 5.01% 3-month intro rate on checking account
• 5.00% Money Market with $30K (3-month intro rate)
• 4.54% Money Market with $50K min
• 4.50% Money Market with $25K min
• 4.00% checking account (CU that's open to all)

Checking and Saving Accounts at Local Credit Unions

• 4.50% money market account, $25K min (Pennsylvania)
• 4.50% no-minimum savings account (New York)

CD Specials at Local Credit Unions/Banks

• 6.25% 60-month Variable CD (Carolinas)
• 6.16% 60-month / 4.88% 6-month CDs (Michigan)
• 5.65% 60-month / 5.16% 36-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.50% 12-month CD (New York)
• 5.38% 48-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.25% 25-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.25% 60-month No-Penalty CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5.15% 19-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.10% 13-month CD (South Florida)
• 5.09% 15-month CD (Virginia/Maryland/DC)
• 5.05% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5.01% 12-month CD (North Florida)
• 5% 7-month CD (Kentucky)
• 5% 10-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 12-month CD (Florida)
• 5% 12-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 12-month CD (Oregon)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 13-month CD (Indiana)
• 5% 15-month CD (Connecticut)
• 5% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 15-month CD (Massachusetts)
• 5% 18-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 24-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 25-month/4.75% 14-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Minnesota)
• 5% 29-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 30-month CD (Wisconsin)
• 5% 30-month CD (Ohio)
• 4.95% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.92% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.75% 9-month CD (New Jersey)
• 4.70% 7-month CD (Georgia)
• 4.70% 11-month CD (Nebraska)
• 4.55% 6-month CD (Austin, Texas)

CD Alternatives

• I Bond Article, New I Bond Rate, I Bonds as CD Alternatives

5% 12-Month CD at an Illinois Bank read and submit comments for this post

Plaza Bank is offering a 5.00% APY 12-month CD promotion. This requires you to open a checking account with direct deposit. Without the checking account, the rate is 4.75% APY. The minimum deposit requirement is $5K for both options. The checking account must remain open for 6 months to maintain the extra 0.25% rate. Its free checking account requires $100 to open and it has no minimum balance requirements or monthly fees.

Plaza Bank has 10 branches in Chicago and several other cities in Illinois.

The best 1-year certificate of deposit currently listed at Bankrate.com is 4.89% APY at Corus Bank.

$100 Checking Account Bonus at a NC CU read and submit comments for this post

You can make $100 from a checking account at Allegacy Federal Credit Union. Opening the checking account with direct deposit earns $50. Signing up for eStatements and WebPay earns an extra $50. The offer is good for any of its checking accounts including its free checking acount.

The field of membership includes those who live in parts of Mecklenburg and Stokes County, North Carolina. There's also a long list of employers and associations.

The credit union has branches in several cities of North Carolina including Charlotte, Winston-Salem, Greensboro and Kernersville. It also has a branch in New Jersey and one in New York.

$25 Sign-up Bonus for Opening Online Account read and submit comments for this post

HTH Worldwide Bank is offering $25 for opening one of its online accounts. The account must be funded with at least $50 to obtain the $25 bonus. Bonus will be deposited within 6 weeks of account funding. Enter the code "25FREEHTH" on your application. Offer expires 4/30/2006.

For an internet bank the interest rates are low (even lower than ING Direct). The bank's OnePoint Savings accont's interest rate is only 2.02% APY. The Premium Money Market account earns a maximum of 3.05% for balances over $25K. The CD rates are also low.

The bank does have a decent free checking account with no minimum balance requirements or monthly service fees. You can get up to $10 per month in rebates on ATM fees that other banks charge. However, you are required to mail in your ATM receipts for the reimbursement.

The list of fees is not easy to find. The bank does have ACH transfer capability. However, outgoing ACH transfers are charged $1.50. Incoming transfers are free. The fee for closing an account within 90 days of opening is $30.

HTH Worldwide Bank has been around for a while. It had a similar promotion way back in 2002 although in that case it required a $500 deposit. This MSN message thread listed the promotion in 2002 along with a customer's bad experience. This MoneyBB thread listed the promotion in 2003 along with more bad experiences. One interesting thing I noted was a mention of HTH's interest rates being better than ING Direct. That sure has changed.

5% 30-Month CD at a Wisconsin Bank read and submit comments for this post

The BLC Community Bank has several 5% CDs. The best is a 5.00% APY 30-month CD. This rate also applies to the 3-year and 4-year CDs. The bank is also advertising two special certificates: 21-month 4.80% APY CD and a 11-month 4.50% APY CD. The minimum deposit requirement for all these CDs is $1K.

The bank has a decent money market account for brick-and-mortar banks. You can get 3.75% APY for deposits over $10K.

BLC Community Bank is located in Little Chute, Wisconsin.

The best 2.5-year CD rate listed at Bankrate.com is currently 4.95% APY at AmTrust Bank and at Intervest National Bank. For the last several months, Mutual Bank of Chicago had been offering a 5% 30-month CD in addition to a 5.50% 60-month CD. However, just this week, it ended these rates. Mutual Bank's 30-month and 60-month rates are now only 4.75% and 4.95% APY.

4.75% 9-Month CD at a New Jersey Bank read and submit comments for this post

Sterling Bank is offering a special CD promotion. It's a 9-month 4.75% APY CD. The minimum deposit requirement is $500.

Sterling Bank has several branches in the New Jersey cities of Mount Laurel, Maple Shade, Medford, Vincentown, Voorhees and Cherry Hill.

The best 9-month certificate of deposit rate listed at Bankrate.com is 4.70% APY at American United Bank of Lawrenceville, Georgia. The second highest rate listed is from GMAC Bank with a 9-month CD at 4.60% APY.

ING Direct Winter Save Up Sale? read and submit comments for this post

In my ING Direct statement notification I received the following note:

Coming Soon to an Orange Savings Account near you - the ING DIRECT Winter Save Up Sale!

Get ready to save money like you've never saved before.

Maybe ING is trying to respond to the high rates at HSBC, EmigrantDirect and other online banks. Since ING doesn't seem intent on keeping its interest rates near the top, perhaps it's trying something new to encourage deposits.

This sounds a little like Bank of America's Keep the Change program. Will ING Direct be issuing a debit card and starting a program like the KTC or the American Express One Card? Since ING Direct doesn't offer checking accounts, it seems more likely that it would issue a credit card like what EmigrantDirect had been planning. I wonder what happened to EmigrantDirect's credit card that was suppose to have the highest cash back award. It was suppose to launch before the end of 2005.

Another possibility is tiered rates. Instead of a flat rate for all deposits, perhaps ING Direct will give higher rates for larger deposits. This might be what they mean by "save up sale".

6.25% 60-Month Variable CD at a Carolina CU read and submit comments for this post

Sharonview Federal Credit Union is offering a 6.25% APY 60-month CD. It's a variable rate based on the Prime Lending Rate minus 1%. It changes according to that rate every January 1 and July 1. The minimum required deposit is $500. The early withdrawl penalty is 180 days of interest.

Even though this is a variable rate certificate, it still seems like a good deal. The Prime Lending Rate will likely not go down any time soon. A history of the Prime Rate is available here.

Sharonview FCU also has some high fixed-rate CDs. A 36-month CD with a $10K minimum deposit has a rate of 5.25% APY. Sharonview is also advertising some high-rate IRA CDs on its front page. The best is a 5% APY 21-month CD.

Sharonview is based in Charlotte, North Carolina. It has branches in several cities of North Carolina and South Carolina. It also has three banches in Bridgewater, New Jersey. The field of membership is primarily employer based.

For the person who emailed this deal to me, thanks! If you find a similar deal, an email [ at bankdeals at gmail dot com ] or a comment here is greatly appreciated.

[Edit: Correction made to early withdrawal penalty]

5.15% 19-Month CD at a Ohio CU read and submit comments for this post

CommStar Credit Union is offering a 5.15% APY 19-month CD special. The minimum deposit requirement for this rate is $10K. There's only a $500 minimum for a rate of 5.00% APY. There are two other good certificate specials. Below is a list of all these special CDs:

CD        APY    APY
Term      $10K   $500
--------  -----  -----
13 month  4.90%  4.75%
19 month  5.15%  5.00%
38 month  5.50%  5.25%

The field of membership includes those who live in Lorain County, Ohio. Commstar has two branches in Elyria and Lorain, Ohio.

Hillcrest Money Market Now the Leader read and submit comments for this post

Hillcrest Bank's Index Money Market rate was increased from 4.31% to 4.54% APY for deposits between $50K and $250K. Hillcrest has surpassed Superior Savings of New England as the new money market/savings account leader based on the rules in the Fatwallet MMA rate thread.

One fatwallet rule is that the minimum deposit requirement for the rate to apply shouldn't be over $200K. This allows all of the account to be protected by FDIC insurance assuming the use of joint or trust accounts to get over the $100K limit. Without this rule, Hillcrest's money market rate can be considered as high as 4.85% APY for balances over $500K. Balances between $250K and $500K earn 4.70% APY.

In my weekly summaries, my balance limit is $10K which allows Corus Bank to be included. For this reason I've been excluding both Hillcrest Bank and Superior Savings. Superior Savings has been offering 4.50% APY money market for balances over $25K since October. UmbrellaBank's 4.40% APY money market rate continues to be the best rate for a low balance requirement of $1K. Next week, I'll place Hillcrest's 4.54% MMA in the "High Rate with Conditions" list. I consider these high balance requirements a significant condition.

5% 12-Month CD at a Florida Bank read and submit comments for this post

If you see a new bank branch opening in your area, there's a good chance they may be offering some good deals. That's the case for Federal Trust Bank. The bank has a 12-month 5% APY CD special that's only available at its new Lake Mary, Florida branch. There is a $500 minimum opening balance requirement, and it's valid through Feb. 10, 2006. This special is being advertised to local residents by mail and is not listed at the bank's website. The new branch is located at 791 Rinehart Road, Lake Mary, Florida 32746 (phone number: 407-562-0453).

Federal Trust Bank's standard rates on its certificates of deposit are not too good. The best is the 1-year CD with a rate of 4.65% APY.

In addition to the new Lake Mary branch, Federal Trust Bank has branches in the Central Florida cities of Sanford, Winter Park, Casselberry, Orange City, Deltona and New Smyrna Beach.

For the person who emailed this deal to me, thanks! If you find a similar deal, an email [ at bankdeals at gmail dot com ] or a comment here is greatly appreciated.

4.70% 11-Month CD at a Nebraska CU read and submit comments for this post

The Liberty First Credit Union is offering a 4.70% APY 11-month CD special. The minimum deposit requirement for this rate is $10K. Only a $1K minimum is required for a certificate of deposit with a rate of 4.55% APY.

Liberty First has three branches in Lincoln, Nebraska. The field of membership includes those who live in Lancaster County Nebraska.

Insights into Banking Deals read and submit comments for this post

When you get a good deal at a bank, you can bet there's something in it for the bank. Banks may be willing to take a loss in the short term, but the hope is that it'll pay off in the long run. This article provides insights into some of this strategy from the banks. Many banks are focusing on the checking accounts.

Bank executives used to focus on savings accounts and commercial lending, but now see consumer checking as a foundation of their business, cheaper than ever to manage and something of a loss leader for loans, investment accounts and the broad supermarket of services that banks can offer since deregulation in the 1990s.

The good news is that we should see more checking account deals and better checking account features. Here's what the article says about how checking accounts are changing:

Free, no-minimum-balance checking, introduced three years ago, is now the norm, and banking experts who follow this market closely say a variety of so-called nuisance fees -- foreign ATM charges, overdraft fees and the like -- will disappear next.

The problem for banks is getting people to switch. The article quoted a 2001 industry survey which estimated only 2% of all bank customers nationally switch their accounts for better deals on fees or rates. You would think with online banking that it would make it easier for people to switch banks. However, with online bill pay and other services, online banking is seen as something that will prevent customers from switching since customers won't want to go through the hassle of setting up and learning a new system.

I wonder if banks will have this same feeling about checking accounts as more and more people start linking their checking accounts to online savings accounts and brokerage accounts. Seems like this will cause the checking accounts to have less profit potential.

$50 Checking Account Bonus (Maybe $1K...) read and submit comments for this post

If you can find a better checking account than First National Bank and Trust's Ultimate Free Checking Account, the bank will give you $1,000. However, you'll have to find another checking account from a bank in Indiana that beats all of this account's features . I wouldn't hold much hope of receiving the $1K. It's easy for the bank to claim that some feature isn't better. There might a chance if the other bank didn't have to be in Indiana.

Ignoring this marketing ploy, the Ultimate Free Checking account has some good features. In my opinion, the top four are:

• $50 bonus with direct deposit
• One box of checks free per year
• Free wire transfers
• First two overdraft or NSF fees waived

However, it could be better. Some things it lacks include:

• No interest is earned
• No mention of rebates of fees for using other banks' ATMs.

The bank also has some very nice CD specials (see post).

Branches are located in several Indiana cities including Indianapolis, Kokomo, Brazil and Richmond.

CD Specials (5% 13-mo) at an Indiana Bank read and submit comments for this post

The First National Bank and Trust has three very good CD specials: 5% 13-month, 4.75% 7-month and 4.50% 4-month. Rates are in APY, and all have minimum deposit requirements of $500.

The bank has a few FAQs regarding the CDs although they don't answer the question if these are available for those outside Indiana. It does say that you can purchase a certificate of deposit without already being a customer. So you shouldn't have to open a checking account to qualify for these CDs (which is often the case for CD promotions at banks.)

Branches are located in several Indiana cities including Indianapolis, Kokomo, Brazil and Richmond. Credit for this find goes to this fatwallet thread.

5% 24-Month CD at a Michigan Bank read and submit comments for this post

The Community Central Bank is offering a 5% APY 2-year CD special. You can also get 5% for the 3, 4 and 5-year CDs. All have a minimum deposit requirement of $1K.

The bank has branches in Mt. Clemens and Rochester Hills, Michigan.

Currently, the best 2-year certificate of deposit listed at Bankrate.com is 4.92% APY at Pacific Mercantile Bank.

Some Concerns with GMAC Bank read and submit comments for this post

There's a lot to like about GMAC Bank. It has great rates on its money market accounts and CDs. It has a relatively low minimum deposit requirement of $500. Also, GMAC Bank has been praised for its online banking features. It has a quick sign-up process and an easy ACH transfer system. External accounts can be linked completely online without verification of any trial deposits. Also, ACH transers initiated from GMAC have been reported to complete within one day. Although this can make account management easier, it may also make it less secure. Here were a few concerns about GMAC Bank listed in this fatwallet thread:

• Little or no verification of linked accounts - There are no trial deposits as done by ING Direct or HSBC. GMAC claims to do some verification.
• No masking of social security or account numbers on the user's profile
• No email notifications of transactions
• Passwords limited to 8 characters

There also have been worries regarding GMAC Bank's connection with GM. However, the bank's financial situation is solid, and I wouldn't consider this an issue.

Perhaps with the new security requirements from the banking regulators, GMAC will be implementing improvements this year. Improvements in security don't necessarily have to make things slower and more difficult.

Bank Deal Summary for Jan 8th, 2006 read and submit comments for this post

The first week of the new year was fairly quiet for new rates. I had hoped EmigrantDirect would be kicking off the new year with a 0.50% rate increase, but still no luck. There was a no-minimum savings account that did reached 4.50% this week, but it was at RateEdge.com, a credit union with a limited field of membership. The only news regarding EmigrantDirect were problems related to ACH transfers.

One of the few banks to increase rates was UFB Direct. Its no-minimum money market account had been at 3.80% since late September. UFB Direct finally raised it to 4.00% APY this week. In addition, the rate of its jumbo money market account was increased from 4.08% to 4.35% APY. This jumbo account requires a minimum balance of $50K. One other change I noticed at UFB Direct was some decent certificate of deposit rates. For a minimum of $8K, the 6 and 12-month CD rates are 4.30% and 4.40% APY. For a minimum of $100K, the rates are 4.60% and 4.70% APY.

Corus Bank's money market account had a rate increase almost as large as UFB Direct. Its money market account for deposits under $100K went from 3.98% to 4.15% APY. Corus also had some small 0.05% CD rate increases. Corus Bank's 1-year CD rate is inching closer to 5% and remains the top 1-year non-special bank CD.

CD specials with 5%-plus rates and terms under 2 years are becoming more common. A Georgia Bank and a Connecticut credit union have 5% 15-month CD specials. A Michigan credit union has a 5% 10-month CD special. Patelco Credit Union is offering a 5% 12-month CD special. Like the Digital Credit Union, Patelco can be joined by anyone. The Digital Credit Union continues to offer its 5% 16-month CD.

On the other hand, the Self-Help Credit Union has been going away from the 5% CD trend. Its CD rates went down slightly this week. It looks like we won't be seeing top CD rates from SHCU any time soon. However, SHCU's money market account rate increased 0.10% and is now close to 4%. Even though SHCU CDs aren't as attractive as they use to be, they still have the useful feature that allows additional deposits. This can be used to make a CD ladder that can better handle changing interest rates.

The rates listed below are in APY. No minimum balances are required unless noted. MMA next to the rates indicate a money market account. Most MMAs have check writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these. Previous weekly summaries are available for Dec 31st, Dec 17th, Dec 10th, Dec 3rd, Nov 26th and Nov 19th.

As of January 8, 2006

Savings/Money Market Accounts:

• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.40% MMA (min $1K), offers checking, my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.30% MMA (min $500), offers checking, my post
• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.26% MMA (min $5K, Costco members only, $50 deal for exec. members)
• HSBC - 4.25%, offers checking, (rate history), my post ($25 bonus)
• Western Financial Bank - 4.25% MMA, offers checking, my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.25% (closed to CA residents), my post
• Corus Bank - 4.15% MMA (min $10K to open)
• Presidential - 4.12% (min $5K, only first $35K receives this rate), offers checking, my post
• MyBankingDirect - 4.10% MMA (min $5K), my post
• CapitalOne - 4.00% (MMA has same rate, but with checks and ATM. $100 min.)
• EmigrantDirect - 4.00%, my post, ($10 signup bonus), (rate history)
• UFB Direct - 4.00% MMA, offers checking, my post
• Self-Help Credit Union - 3.96% MMA (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 3.80%, my post ($25 deal), (rate history)
• MetLife Bank - 3.75% MMA (min $5K), my post ($50 deal)
• VirtualBank - 3.55% (min $100), offers checking, my post
• NetBank - 3.52% MMA ($500 min), requires checking, my post ($175 deal)
• ebank - 3.30% MMA ($1K min, rate for $10K-25K balance), offers checking with ($50 bonus)

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• World Savings - 4.86% (min $10K), branch only, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• GMAC Bank - 4.60% (min $500)
• ETrade Bank - 4.56% (min $1K), my post
• FirstFedDirect - 4.52% (min $10K), my post
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.50% (min $1K)
• VirtualBank - 4.40% (min $10K)
• ebank - 4.35% (min $1K), 4.60% for ePremium checking customers
• NetBank - 4.35% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• UFB Direct - 4.30% (min $8K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.27% (min $500), my post
• ING Direct - 4.20%
• MyBankingDirect - 4.20% ($2.5K min)
• Western Financial Bank - 3.75% ($100 min)

8-Month Certificate of Deposit:

World Savings - 4.61% ($10K min with new funds), my post

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• Patelco Credit Union - 5.00% (min $1K), not NCUA insured, my post
• Corus Bank - 4.89% (min $10K)
• FirstFedDirect - 4.84%, (min $10K) my post
• GMAC Bank - 4.80% (min $500)
• UmbrellaBank.com - 4.80% (min $1K)
• NetBank - 4.70% (min $1K), my post ($25 CD deal)
• VirtualBank - 4.70% (min $10K)
• Self-Help Credit Union - 4.64% (min $500), my post
• ebank - 4.60% (min $1K), 4.85% for ePremium checking customers
• MetLife Bank - 4.51% ($1K min)
• ING Direct - 4.40%
• Western Financial Bank - 4.40% ($100 min)
• UFB Direct - 4.40% (min $8K)

16-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• DCU - 5.00% (min $1K), my post

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

• CapitalOne/Costco - 4.81% (min $5K, Costco members only)

26-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Third Federal - 5.00% (min $500) my post

36-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.50% (min $1K), my post

60-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 5.75% (min $1K), my post
• Mutual Bank - 5.50% ($5K min), my post

84-Month Certificate of Deposit:

• Pentagon Federal CU - 6.00% (min $1K), my post

High Rates with Conditions - Open to All

• 10% Savings Account for kids ($500 max)
• 5.01% 3-month intro rate on checking account
• 5.00% Money Market with $30K (3-month intro rate)
• 4.50% Money Market with $25K min
• 4.00% checking account (CU that's open to all)

Checking and Saving Accounts at Local Credit Unions

• 4.50% money market account, $25K min (Pennsylvania)
• 4.50% no-minimum savings account (New York)

CD Specials at Local Credit Unions/Banks

• 6.16% 60-month / 4.88% 6-month CDs (Michigan)
• 5.65% 60-month / 5.16% 36-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.50% 12-month CD (New York)
• 5.38% 48-month CD (Ohio)
• 5.25% 25-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.25% 60-month No-Penalty CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5.10% 13-month CD (South Florida)
• 5.10% 14-month CD (Tennessee)
• 5.10% 19-month CD (Virginia)
• 5.09% 15-month CD (Virginia/Maryland/DC)
• 5.05% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5.01% 12-month CD (North Florida)
• 5% 7-month CD (Kentucky)
• 5% 10-month CD (Michigan)
• 5% 12-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 12-month CD (Oregon)
• 5% 12-month CD (Illinois)
• 5% 15-month CD (Connecticut)
• 5% 15-month CD (Georgia)
• 5% 15-month CD (Massachusetts)
• 5% 18-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 25-month/4.75% 14-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Chicago)
• 5% 25-month CD (Minnesota)
• 5% 29-month CD (Pennsylvania)
• 5% 30-month CD (Ohio)
• 4.95% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.81% 18-month CD (California)
• 4.70% 7-month CD (Georgia)
• 4.55% 6-month CD (Austin, Texas)

CD Alternatives

• I Bond Article, New I Bond Rate, I Bonds as CD Alternatives

First No-Minimum Savings Account to Hit 4.50% read and submit comments for this post

EmigrantDirect won't be the first with a no-minimum savings account with a rate of 4.50% (assuming it is on the verge of a rate hike to 4.50%). The little known RateEdge.com takes that honor. The rate on its Edge Savings Account went from 4.25% to 4.50% APY this week. I first noticed this savings account back in mid November when it was at 4.25%.

This savings account is just like those at EmigrantDirect, HSBC or ING Direct. It's an online savings account that links to your checking account and has no minimum balance requirements (There is a $5 minimum deposit requirement but I consider this essentially a no-minimum account.)

The only problem with RateEdge.com is that it's a credit union with a field of membership that's primarily restricted to areas of New York State.

RateEdge.com is a division of Sunmark Federal Credit Union. Sunmark decided to open this online-only financial entity to offer high yield savings products to its members. My question is why don't more credit unions do the same? I've already emailed my credit union about this. My email got the interest of a VP. If you belong to a credit union, I recommend emailing them a link to RateEdge.com and requesting that they start a similar online-only division with a high yield savings account. With credit unions' non-profit and tax-favorable status, they should be able to beat the banks on interest rates or at least provide more competition.

4.89% 6-month CD - Another Look at SBI read and submit comments for this post

The US operations of the State Bank of India (SBI) continues to have some very competive short term CD rates although they're not quite as good as when I first posted on the bank in November. For a minimum deposit of $1K, the 6-month and 12-month CD rates are 4.68% and 4.78% APY. For a $50K minimum deposit the 3, 6 and 12-month rates are 4.58%, 4.78% and 4.89% APY. For deposits over $95K, the 1, 3, 6 and 12-month rates are 4.52%, 4.68%, 4.89% and 4.99% APY.

Although the CD rates have gone down slightly since November, the money market rate has gone up substantially. The rate for deposits under $25K is 4.23% APY. A minimum balance of $2.5K is required to avoid fees.

The longer term CDs don't have rates much better than the 1-year CD. Only the 5-year CD has a rate that's higher at 4.89% for deposits under $50K. These longer term CDs have a Flex option with deposits over $10K. This gives you the option to bump up the rate once during the term. The rates of these Flex CDs are the same as the convential CDs. Another nice feature of these CDs is a fairly lenient early withdrawal penalty. The 1 and 2-year CDs only have 90 day of interest penalty.

As I mentioned in my previous post, SBI is FDIC insured and its California branch has a sound rating (4/5 stars) at Bankrate.com. The website is still weak with no apparent online banking capability. Transactions would have to be done by mail and by phone. I have found some interesting info about fines issued against SBI by US regulators in 2001. However, these fines don't seem related to financial problems but a lack of compliance to transaction reporting to prevent terrorist financing and money-laundering.

One way of dealing with banks like SBI which offer very good CD rates but lack online banking is to open a money market account and connect it with an online account like HSBC's Online Savings. This can then make it easy to manage a certificate of deposit. You can request SBI to transfer money from the money market to fund the CD. When the CD matures, you should be able to request that the money be transfered to the money market account. From there you can use the external online account to pull the money out.

5% 12-Month CD Available to All read and submit comments for this post

The Patelco Credit Union is offering a 5.00% APY 12-month CD. The minimum deposit requirement is $1K. This special CD also has a bump-up option. You may request a bump in the CD rate once during the term to equal the rate of the regular 1-year CD.

It's probably unlikely that the bump-up feature will be useful. Currently, the regular 12-month CD has a rate of 4.54% APY. However, for this special CD, you don't give up any interest by chosing the bump-up feature since there's no no-bump option.

Patelco has another nice savings type account called the Treasury Income Account. The current rate is 4.73% APY and is tied to the average of the previous 12 weeks' auction yields of the 6-month U.S. Treasury Bill. The minimum deposit to open this account is $25K. It also has some withdraw restictions.

Patelco Credit Union is one of the few credit unions that is open to residents of any state. If you don't meet the FOM, you can join the California Association for Older Americans.

Patelco has some nice online banking features. It looks like you can open the certificate of deposit online and transfer funds from other financial institutions online.

The only issue I have with Patelco is the lack of NCUA insurance. Instead of being federally insured, Patelco has chosen to be privately insured by American Share Insurance. With private insurance, you have to worry about the financial health of the insurer. With federal insurance through NCUA or FDIC, you don't have this additional worry.

Timing Your HSBC External Transfers read and submit comments for this post

One bad thing about HSBC Direct is the slowness of external ACH transfers. Not only is it slow but there are several days where the money gets debited from your external account before it is deposited at your HSBC account. During this time, you lose interest. This fatwallet thread provides some tips about when to initiate transfers. Wednesday and Thursdays are the worst days since the weekend will add two more days to the time between the debit and deposit.

Looks like my pre-holiday transfer was probably the absolute worst time. In that case the debit occurred on December 22nd and the deposit wasn't made until December 27th.

ACH Problems at EmigrantDirect? read and submit comments for this post

It looks like there may have been some problems for people who scheduled external transfers from their EmigrantDirect accounts before last New Years weekend. According to this fatwallet thread, most transfers scheduled before the weekend did not occur. Apparently the company that handles the ACH transfers was having some problems and still doesn't know as of today if the transfers will take place.

This is probably a good reason to leave enough in your checking accounts to cover bills that may come up. You may not always be able to transfer money from your online savings account as fast as you expect.

This may also be a good reason to go with a high-yield money market account (which has limited check writing capabilities) over a high-yield savings account like EmigrantDirect. The other possibility would be to open a checking account at the same bank that has the high-yield savings account. This can be done at banks like HSBC and Presidential. Internal transfers usually can be done with no delays.

5% 15-Month CD at a Connecticut CU read and submit comments for this post

The Achieve Financial Credit Union is offering a 5% APY 15-month CD with a $2.5K minimum deposit requirement. You may also get an extra 0.25% on the certificate of deposit if you're an Achieve Advantage Member. I wasn't able to find out what this requires.

The field of membership includes students and employees of schools in several areas of Connecticut. It also includes employees of several Connecticut hospitals.

4.70% 7-Month CD at a Georgia Bank read and submit comments for this post

American United Bank is offering a 4.70% APY 7-month CD with only a $1K minimum deposit requirement. There's also a special 12-month CD with a rate of 4.85% APY with the same $1K minimum. Except for the 12-month special certificate of deposit, all the others are available for a range of terms. For example, the 4.70% APY is available for terms between 7 to 12 months. If you just look at the highest rates for the shortest terms, you get several high rates for terms just 1 month longer than the typical terms. Below is a list of the rates and terms:

CD Terms  APY
1 month   4.00%
4 month   4.45%
7 month   4.70%
12 month  4.85%
25 month  4.90%
37 month  4.95%
49 month  5.00%

The bank is located in Lawrenceville, Georgia. It's not apparent from the website if you have to be a Georgia resident to open an account. One thing I found interesting about the website is the ".biz" top-level domain name. Looks like another bank beat them to the ".com" name.

High Long-Term CD Rates and Future Interest Rates read and submit comments for this post

The Pacific Mercantile Bank has some good rates on CDs with terms of one year and longer. A 2-year CD has the rate of 4.92% APY. An 18-month CD has the rate of 4.81% APY. Below is the full list. All have a minimum deposit requirement of $1K.

Term        APY
12 month    4.66%
18 month    4.81%
24 month    4.92%
36 month    4.97%
60 month    5.23%

The bank has 8 California branches. However, it looks like you can open a CD from any state by phone or online/mail.

Planning for Declining Interest Rates

One nice CD feature that I noticed from the account disclosure details is the ability to make 3 deposits into your account before maturity. A certificate of deposit with this feature can be very useful when rates may be peaking. From yesterday's news on December's Fed meeting, interest rates may peak this year and start coming down. If that's the case, a high-rate 5-year CD this year might make sense. However, there's always a chance that rates may continue to rise. By putting the minimum into a high-rate 5-year CD that allows additional deposits, you can wait and see how interest rates move. If rates do fall, you can then make additional deposits into the high-rate 5-year CD. The Self-Help Credit Union CDs also have this feature.

5.25% 60-Month No-Penalty CD at a PA CU read and submit comments for this post

The Sun East Federal Credit Union has a unique type of CD special. You can get 5.00% APY on a 60-month term. You can get 5.25% APY if you open a checking account with direct deposit. The minimum deposit requirement is $500. What's interesting about this certificate of deposit is that there's no penalty after the first 12 months.

This no-penalty feature potentially makes this 60-month CD better than a 5.25% 12-month CD. Like a 12-month CD, you can have access to the money for better investments or for other needs after 12 months. Unlike a 12-month CD, you're guaranteed the rate for 4 additional years which could be useful if rates fall.

I've mentioned this credit union in a previous post regarding its 4.50% money market account for deposits over $25K.

The credit union has a field of membership that includes all those who live, work or worship in parts of the Philadelphia area. There's also a long list of eligible companies and organizations. The main office is in Aston Pennsylvania.

5% 10-Month CD at a Michigan CU read and submit comments for this post

Access First Federal Credit Union has a special 5.00% APY 10-month CD. There is a minimum deposit requirement of $500.

The field of membership includes those who live in Kalamazoo and Van Buren Counties of Michigan.

5.05% 15-Month CD at a Georgia Bank. read and submit comments for this post

McIntosh State Bank is offering a 5.05% APY 15-month CD with a $500 minimum deposit requirement.

You must be a Georgia resident to open an account. This bank has 4 branches located in the Georgia cities of Jackson, Monticello, Locust Grove and McDonough.

Special CapitalOne/Costco $50 Bonus read and submit comments for this post

Costco Executive members can now get a $50 new account bonus for opening a Capital One Money Market Account or CD. This had been just $25. In addition, regular Costco members can get a $20 new account bonus. This deal is not shown on the CapitalOne/Costco webpage. It was mentioned at this TMF thread. The person saw this special in a booklet of coupons being handed out at Costco. The coupon instructs members to call a toll free number to take advantage of the special offer (866-439-0850). It's good through April 2.

The rate of this CapitalOne/Costco Money Market account is 4.26%. Capital One has been fairly consistent in keeping the rate of this account about 0.25% higher than the rate of the regular Capital One Money Market account.

The thread mentioned that all of the current requirements with this money maket account apply for this special. This includes a $5K minimum initial deposit requirement. Note that after the initail deposit, the balance requirement is only $100 to maintain the 4.26% rate.

UFB Direct Raisies Money Market Rates read and submit comments for this post

UFB Direct finally raised the rate of its no-minimum High Yield Money Market Savings Account to 4.00% APY. It had been at 3.80% since late September. It also raised the rate of its Jumbo Money Market Account from 4.08% to 4.35% APY. This jumbo account requires a minimum balance of $50K. Credit for this find goes to this anonymous comment.

I forgot about UFB Direct when I put together the list of no-minimum savings accounts. One drawback about UFB Direct accounts is the lack of an ACH transfer system. Another drawback is its low bankrate safe and sound rating. Bankrate.com now rates the parent of UFB Direct (Union Federal Bank of Indianapolis) with only 1 out of 5 stars (weak). The last time I checked it had 2 stars (below average). If UFB Direct is serious about getting more deposits, it's going to have to raise rates more than this or bring back its $25 sign-up bonus that it had back in August.

5% 29-Month CD at a Pennsylvania CU read and submit comments for this post

The Members 1st Federal Credit Union has a 5% APY 29-month CD. The minimum required deposit is $500. The term of this certificate is a little long, but it's still a rate that's better than the rates of most 30-month CDs.

The field of membership includes those who live and work in several Southcentral counties of Pennsylvania (Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lebanon, Perry, or York). It has many branches through out these counties.

One thing I found interesting about this credit union is a lawsuit that the American Bankers Association (ABA) has filed against the NCUA concerning this credit union's community charter. It appears that the bankers claim this credit union went to far in its expansion to include seven counties. Bankers have a history of keeping a close eye on field of membership expansions from credit unions. Instead of throwing money at lawsuits, they should use it to give better services and rates.

Credit for this find goes to this anonymous comment.

Savings Account Leader for 2006? read and submit comments for this post

Happy New Year! For 2005, I would say EmigrantDirect had the highest no-minimum savings account rate for most of the year. Even though it's not the highest now, it was on top more often than the others. Will this change?

At the start of 2006, there are now 3 online banks offering no-minimum savings accounts with rates 0.25% higher than EmigrantDirect's 4.0% rate (HSBC, Western Financial Bank and FirstFedDirect). EmigrantDirect's rate is the same as Capital One and only 0.20% higher than ING Direct.

My guess is that EmigrantDirect will still be the leader for 2006. Perhaps EmigrantDirect doesn't need to worry about deposits so there may not be an incentive to be the highest. This looks like what happended with ING Direct. Once you become established, you can focus on profits rather than reputation. But I still think EmigrantDirect wants to have the top-rate reputation. If that's true, we should see a 0.50% increase some time this month.

Another question is how many other banks will get into this game? Just last month First Federal Bank of California started an internet division called FirstFedDirect which is now offering a no-minimum savings account with a rate of 4.25%. I wouldn't be surprised to see several more banks getting into the Direct Bank game.

Perhaps we'll also see some credit unions getting into direct bank game. Sunmark Federal Credit Union started an internet division called RateEdge.com which has a no-minimum savings account that is currently at 4.25%. The credit unions still have to maintain their field of membership, but they should be able to benefit from the low cost structure of internet banking allowing them to offer better rates. In fact, credit unions should be able to offer rates better than these online banks since they are non-profit institutions that are taxed less. I've emailed the president of my local credit union about RateEdge.com and asked if he could start something similar. He replied and was very interested in this. I recommend everyone do the same with your credit union. The more competition, the better the rates.

Here's a list of the top no-minimum online savings accounts:

• 4.25% HSBC Direct Online Savings Account
• 4.25% Western Financial Bank Online Money Market Plus
• 4.25% FirstFedDirect Internet Advantage Savings Account
• 4.00% EmigrantDirect American Dream Savings Account
• 4.00% Capital One High Yield Savings
• 3.80% ING Direct Orange Savings Account