6.01% 9-Month CD at World Savings - It's Official

I've finally been able to confirm the latest unadvertised CD special at World Savings. As one of my readers had mentioned, it is a 6.01% APY CD with a term of 9 months. Below are the details I received from World Savings:

• 6.01% APY (5.84% interest rate)
• 9-month term
• $10K minimum deposit
• $100K maximum deposit
• Requires money new to WS
• Starts today. Ends 8/26/06.
• in-branch only. Not listed nor available on web.
• After the maturity date, there's a 6-calendar-day grace period
• Early withdrawal penalty equals 3 months of interest

The CSR gave me a little background on these certificates. World's marketers specifically target customers for these deals and send them the letters with these CD promotions. About 400K of these letters were sent. There is no other advertising done for these promotions. The marketers somehow come up with a targeting method. Fortunately, World Savings allows others who have not been sent the letter to participate if they mention that they are aware of the promotion through a friend.

I've participated in two of the previous CD promotions at my local branch and never had a problem in receiving the special CD. However, I have read about people who had problems with their local World Savings (see post). Sometimes, the staff may not be aware with these promotions. I recommend to first call the branch and verify the promotion. If the local branch is not aware of this, you can then call the national help number at 1-866-467-3776.

Unfortunately, I was told that this CD special is a branch-only deal. World has branches in Arizona, California, Colorado, Florida, Kansas, Illinois, Nevada, New Jersey, New York and Texas.

In the past, some branches had been willing to accept a certificate of deposit application by mail. This seems to be very dependent on the branch.

For those not near a branch and are unable to participate, the best deal currently available to everyone through World Savings' website is a 5.51% APY 5-month CD. See post for more details.

Another thing I was told by the CSR is that you can get the Ambassador Checking Account with no monthly fee if you maintain at a balance of at least $25K in CDs. This could be useful for depositing a matured CD. You then can pull this money from your online money market account (such as from GMAC Bank) and use it to fund another World CD that requires new money. The only problem is if World stops having these CD specials, and your CD balance falls below $25K, there would be $12/month fee unless you keep $1,500 in the account.