We've added a new section at DepositAccounts.com for Bank Health Ratings. This is intended to make it easy for you to learn about the financial health of your bank or credit union. The "Bank Health Ratings" link is now in the sub-menu under the "Bank Reviews" menu.

At the Bank Health Ratings page, just type in the name of you institution in the search box, click the search button, and it will take you directly to the financial health page for your institution. If the name you provide is not precise enough to narrow down the search to...

If you want anything close to a decent yield today that's safe and without balance caps and hassles (i.e. reward checking), a long-term CD is the only option. Most internet savings accounts and short-term CDs have yields under 1.50%. On the other hand, several long-term CDs have yields from 3.00% to close to 4.00%. The main concern with long-term CDs is being stuck in the CD if interest rates and inflation shoot up. However, if the CD's early withdrawal penalty is mild, this risk may be smaller than you think.

I've recently been posting on some long-term CD deals....

F&A Federal Credit Union is offering several very competitive money market, CD and IRA CD rates. I just came across this credit union as I was reviewing a list of California's largest credit unions. Even though it's a large credit union, I'm afraid they don't make it easy to join. F&A's money market account has a yield that ranges from 1.50% APY on balances of at least $2.5K to 1.60% APY for balances over $100K. These yields are listed in the credit union's rates page as of 9/02/2010.

The CD and IRA CD...

Pentagon Federal Credit Union (PenFed) is yet another rate leader to make cuts to its CD rates. Economic data of a slowing economy and falling Treasury yields last month had pointed to a deposit rate environment that would become worse. Unfortunately, that did happen as we saw last week when several CD rate leaders including Alliant Credit Union, Melrose Credit Union, Ally Bank and Discover Bank reduced their CD rates. In this new month PenFed joins this group with its own CD rate cuts. Below are the new CD yields for September 2010. I've noted the old yields in...

First State Bank is listing on its home page its Barbell Investment Strategy which includes a top yield for a money market account and a 7-year CD. The yields are in fact quite competitive. The 7-year CD has a 3.80% APY. The money market account has tiered rates with a top rate of 1.39% APY for balances of at least $90K. The rates fall quite a bit for lower rates: 0.90% for $50K-$90K and 0.79% for $25K-$50K. There's also a competitive 5-year CD: 3.04% APY (3.15% APY for a $100K minimum). These yields are listed in...

The FDIC released its second quarter 2010 profile on the banking industry. Here are some of the noteworthy excerpts from the press release:

• Commercial banks and savings institutions insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) reported an aggregate profit of $21.6 billion in the second quarter of 2010, a $26 billion improvement from the $4.4 billion net loss the industry posted in the second quarter of 2009.
• The number of institutions on the FDIC's "Problem List" rose from 775 to 829.
• The total assets of "problem" institutions declined from $431 billion to $403 billion.
• The Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) balance...

EverBank has long offered a variety of MarketSafe CDs. Their latest version is called the MarketSafe Currency Returns CD. It's not the typical CD in that there is no guaranteed rate of return. However, it does guarantee that you will not lose any principal over the 4 years if you avoid early withdrawals.

The last EverBank MarketSafe CD that I reported on was in June when they were offering the MarketSafe Diversified Metals CD. One problem with that one was that it was based on quarterly averages which appeared to reduce the potential upside. For this...

I first reported on Coastal Commerce Bank's reward checking account in 2008 when the yield was 6.01%. Rates have fallen and other changes have occurred, but the account is still a good deal. It has recently been re-branded as Kasasa Cash Checking. The top yield as of 8/31/10 is still competitive at 4.01% APY. One downside is that the balance cap has fallen. The top yield used to apply up to $35K. It's now $20K. Here's a summary of the account as of 8/31/2010:

• 4.01% APY up to $20,000
• 1.01% APY for portion over $20,000
• 0.20% base rate...

Sea Comm Federal Credit Union has several competitive rates for its share and IRA certificates. The best deals are its long-term and mid-term certificates which include a 3.49% APY 5-year CD and a 3.13% APY 3-year CD. Other top rates include a 3.25% APY 4-year CD and a 2.28% APY 2-year CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000. These rates are listed at the credit union's rate table as of 8/31/2010.

Membership is open to those who live, work, worship or attend school anywhere in St. Lawrence County or in parts of Franklin County. Membership requires a...

When a bank fails and the FDIC arranges for another bank to take over, depositors often lose out. All of their insured deposits are safe, but if they have CDs, rates have often been cut. Depositors are free to make a penalty free early withdrawal, but it's unlikely that depositors will be able to find CD rates as high as their old CDs with the failed bank.

Depositors don't always lose out when a bank fails. The latest example is ShoreBank's closure. On August 20th, regulators closed ShoreBank, and a new bank assumed all deposits. That new bank...

First Tennessee Bank has a new-account promotion in which you can earn $250. Here's the bank's promotions page link. The bank has a link to this page in its Life Event Resources page. The offer is scheduled to expire 11/30/2010. Here's what is required to earn the $250 in bonuses:

• $100 when you open a new checking account
• $100 when you open a Money Market Savings Account
• $50 when you start using Bill Pay Online

There's also a $100 Visa Gift Card when you open a Home Equity Line of Credit or Home Equity Loan....

With last week's CD rate cuts at Discover Bank and Ally Bank, I thought it would be useful to review these banks' new long-term CD rates taking into consideration the early withdrawal penalties.

Ally Bank's 5-year CD yield is currently 2.74% APY. Hopefully, this will hold for a while. It seems like Ally has recently stepped up the rate cuts on this CD. Even with this lower rate, the CD is a better deal than most short-term CDs due to the mild early withdrawal penalty of 60 days of interest.

Discover Bank was the other major...