Banking Deal Summary for Dec 31st

Dec 31, 2005 - 5:46 PM by Ken Tumin

The one disappointment this last week of 2005 was the change in the short-term CD rates of the Self-Help Credit Union (SHCU). For the last two months, SHCU consistently maintained the top 6-month and 12-month CD rates. The 12-month CD rate hit 5% right before Christmas. However, on Tuesday of last week, the short term CD rates went down by as much as 0.50%. Yesterday, the 1-year CD rate was 4.70% APY and the 6-month CD rate was 4.29%. SHCU has lost its leadership.

Rates for most other banks and credit unions either had slight increases or remained the same. For savings and money market accounts, the banks that have lagged had a few increases. CapitalOne/Costco went from 4.05% to 4.26%, MetLife went from 3.50% to 3.75%, Netbank went from 3.36% to 3.52%, and ING Direct went from 3.75% to 3.80%. As for non-SHCU CDs, there were just a few small increases.

I've added a new bank to the list. It's a new online bank called FirstFedDirect. The bank's website had some troubles this month, but the bank looks solid. It has a 4.25% no-minimum savings account. Also it has some high-rate CDs.

I also added some new CDs to the list. World Savings has a 6-month CD with a rate of 4.86% APY. This CD is only available at the bank's branches and not online. The Pentagon Federal Credit Union made some big rate increases to its long-term CDs. The new rates for the 3, 4, 5 and 7-year CDs are 5.50%, 5.50%, 5.75% and 6.00% APY. Like SHCU, anyone from the US can be eligible to be a member by joining an organization with a one-time small membership fee.

MMA next to the rates indicate a money market account. Most of these money market accounts have check writing and ATM cards. Online savings accounts usually lack both of these.

The rates listed below are in APY. No minimum balances are required unless noted. Previous weekly summaries are available for Dec 17th, Dec 10th, Dec 3rd, Nov 26th, Nov 19th and Nov 12th.

As of December 31, 2005

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, $25 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%, 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)
Corus Bank - 3.98% MMA (min $10K to open)
Self-Help Credit Union - 3.86% MMA (min $500), my post
ING Direct - 3.80%, my post ($25 deal), (rate history)
UFB Direct - 3.80% MMA, offers checking, my post
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)