Bank Deal Summary for Jan 8th, 2006

Jan 8, 2006 - 3:23 PM by Ken Tumin

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)