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April Series I Savings Bonds - Better Deal Than 1-Year CDs
Best. Investment. Ever. Or Is It?
Survey of the Best CD Rates for April 11, 20144.80% 7-Month CD at a Chicago Bank (Pan American)
POSTED ON BY Ken Tumin
Update 9/13/08: A commenter has reported that the bank has lowered the yield from 4.80% to 4.30% APY.
Update 8/30/08: A commenter has reported that the bank has increased the yield from 4.70% to 4.80% APY.
Pan American Bank is offering a special 4.80% APY 7-month CD. The minimum deposit is $500, and there's no maximum deposit. This special CD doesn't seem to be listed at the bank's website. A reader emailed me info on this, and I called the bank this afternoon. According to the CSR, there's no checking account requirement for this CD. The CSR said this promotion just came out last week, and he expected it to last for at least another 2 weeks. But there's no guarantee.
A branch visit is required to open a new account. Branches are located in Chicago and in Bellwood, Illinois (see bottom of this page).
Pan American Bank has a 3.5 star rating (good) at BauerFinancial and a 2 star rating (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both are based on 3/31/08 data. As I recommend with any bank, it's best to stay under the FDIC limits. The bank has been FDIC insured since 1995 (FDIC Certificate # 34108).
Thanks to the reader who emailed me info on this special CD.
Update 8/30/08: A commenter has reported that the bank has increased the yield from 4.70% to 4.80% APY.
Pan American Bank is offering a special 4.80% APY 7-month CD. The minimum deposit is $500, and there's no maximum deposit. This special CD doesn't seem to be listed at the bank's website. A reader emailed me info on this, and I called the bank this afternoon. According to the CSR, there's no checking account requirement for this CD. The CSR said this promotion just came out last week, and he expected it to last for at least another 2 weeks. But there's no guarantee.
A branch visit is required to open a new account. Branches are located in Chicago and in Bellwood, Illinois (see bottom of this page).
Pan American Bank has a 3.5 star rating (good) at BauerFinancial and a 2 star rating (below peer group) at Bankrate.com. Both are based on 3/31/08 data. As I recommend with any bank, it's best to stay under the FDIC limits. The bank has been FDIC insured since 1995 (FDIC Certificate # 34108).
Thanks to the reader who emailed me info on this special CD.
According to the rep who helped me, the bank recently changed ownership to one that is more aggressive about attracting customers. The reason why promotion is not on web site is because they've been behind in upgrading web capabilities.
The topic of this blog came up and he actually remembered speaking to Banking Guy.
I don't think they did a hard pull. Maybe just Chexsystems. I'll check my credit report on Monday to double check.
I think the maximum on the CD might be $200,000.
The main branch has a parking lot, it's only about a 15 minute drive from the Chicago Loop area and this offer is in-branch ONLY.
I don't think the deal is going to last much longer because he said that they are going to offer this deal until they meet a certain cap and the cap is pretty low.
If I didn't need the money, I would have renewed my CD.
They will def. be my first choice next time I'm opening a CD.