Doral Bank NY is offering a nice checking and money market promotion at its New York branches. The checking account special guarantees a 1.10% APY on the Gold Interest Checking for the first 12 months. Minimum deposit is $500. The money market special guarantees a 1.20% APY or the first 6 months. Minimum balance is $5,000. Balances under $5,000 earn 0.50%. This special is listed in the bank's promotions page as of 5/16/2012.

These promotions are only offered by Doral Bank's New York branches, and accounts must be opened in person. Also, new money...

A DepositAccounts.com reader brought to my attention a break-in of a private vault service in Las Vegas that happened last month. He had a box at that place, but his box wasn't affected. I had not been aware of these types of services. They are a lot like safe deposit boxes from banks. However, they offer more privacy. As you might guess, these types of private safe-deposit box firms are often accused of being used by criminals who want to hide their ill-gotten gains. The DA reader mentioned that this service appealed to him...

Crescent Bank & Trust is offering several very competitive mid-term and long-term CD rates. My last report of this bank was back in 2010. Its rates haven't changed much while rates of other banks have fallen. That has made its rates very competitive. The best one is a 2.50% APY 5-year CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. There are also 3 very competitive CD specials with a $5,000 minimum deposit. These include a 2.25% APY 44-month CD, a 2.20% APY 37-month CD and a 2.15% APY 35-month CD. These rates are listed in the bank's rates page...

In today's interest rate environment it's rare to see a bank increasing deposit rates. That happened yesterday at CIT Bank when it increased rates of its savings accounts and CDs. The savings account had the largest rate increase. The top-tier yield went up from 0.90% to 1.05% APY. The most noteworthy CD rate increase was on the 2-year Achiever CD. Its yield increased from 1.20% to 1.25% APY. Below is a summary of all of the CIT Bank rate increases (as of 5/15/2012):

CIT Savings Account

• 1.05% APY $25K+, 0.90% APY under $25K [was 0.90%/0.85%]

Achiever CDs, $25,000 minimum deposit

• 2-Year: 1.25% APY...

Ally Financial made news yesterday when it announced that its mortgage unit, Residential Capital (ResCap), has filed for bankruptcy protection. Ally also reported that it was pursuing "strategic alternatives for its international operations." What does this mean for Ally Bank? Here's what Ally Bank's Straight Talk blog explained:

ResCap is a separate mortgage subsidiary of our parent company, Ally Financial. We want to reassure our customers that this action does not have any impact on Ally Bank customer accounts or the terms and conditions of Ally accounts. Ally Bank operations will continue to be conducted, uninterrupted, and unaffected...

In the last couple of years I've seen more credit unions offering relationship certificate rates. These are higher CD rates if the member has certain relationships with the credit union or has accumulated a certain number of points for those relationships. Often the relationship is an active checking account, credit card or loan. For those who just want to open a CD and forget about it, these relationship requirements can be a deal killer. However, for those willing to put in some work, there can be a nice payoff with substantially higher CD rates. That's the case with Fairwinds...

The main idea behind a CD ladder is that you are not locked into just one CD. The ladder should be composed of several CDs each maturing once a year or in some regular interval. This provides two benefits. First, it gives you regular access to your CD money without having to worry about early withdrawal penalties. Second, it allows you to take advantage of higher rates of long-term CDs, and it gives you the opportunity to reinvest in higher rates as the CDs mature.

Poll: Are you still using a CD ladder?

With today's interest rates being so low, do CD...

In the last couple of weeks I've been taking new looks at some of the old reward checking accounts that continue to be good deals and nationally available. Today's updated review is on the reward checking account at Lake Michigan Credit Union (LMCU) which it calls Max Checking. I first reviewed this account in August 2007 when it had a 5% APY. The rate has fallen, but it remains competitive for reward checking accounts. Max Checking has the following rates and features if certain monthly requirements are met (as of 5/14/2012):

• 3.00% APY on balances up to...

Both the election results in Europe and the $2 billion loss at JPMorgan Chase worried the markets this week. With this being a light week for US economic data, concerns over Europe and Chase were the main market drivers that pushed Treasury yields lower. Another thing that may soon be a drag on the market and the economy is worry about the fiscal cliff that will hit the US at the start of 2013 unless the government takes action. According to a major bond fund manager interviewed for this NYT article:

“It’s only a matter...

If you read all the surveys and studies, the answer to the question are you ready to retire is a very loud no!

The recently released Northwestern Mutual Longevity & Preparedness study reveals that Americans appear to be startlingly unprepared financially to live into their 70s, 80s and 90s. Of those surveyed, only 56% said they feel financially prepared to live to 75, 46% said they feel financially prepared to live to 85, and just 36% said they feel prepared to live to 95.

The findings were even worse for women, who on average live five years longer than...

One bit of good news this week was at Ally Bank which increased its 5-year CD yield from 1.66% to 1.69%. Ally now has some competition on 5-year internet CDs with a mild early withdrawal penalty. Barclays officially launched its internet bank this week, and its 5-year CD yield of 1.75% is higher than Ally's yield. Barclays' early withdrawal penalty is 3 months of interest which is just a little larger than Ally's 2 months of interest. You can see how these two CDs compare when closed early in my new CD comparison post.

Another bit of good news was...

A reader just informed me of these CD specials at Valley National Bank. The rates are very competitive, but there's a catch. The two specials are a 2.30% APY 5-year CD and a 1.60% APY 30-month CD. Minimum deposit is $5,000, and the maximum deposit is $100,000. The specials are listed in the bank's promotions page as of 5/11/2012.

The catch is that these CD specials require an active checking account. The details are described in the offer's small print. Below is an excerpt of the important details:

To qualify for promotional CD rates, a Perfect Promo Checking...