Best Bank Account Interest Rates - Summary for November 27, 2010

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Nov 27, 2010 - 7:34 AM by Ken Tumin

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I hope everyone had a happy Thanksgiving. I'm spending time with family, so I'll be keeping this weekly summary short. In addition to being thankful for my family and health, I'm thankful for the supportive readers who have helped make this website a useful resource for us savers. This has been a challenging year for us savers, and it looks like it'll continue to be challenging as ultra low interest rates continue. So we savers have to stick together and help each other find the best deals and avoid those banking gotchas.

The Fed fund rate futures show that expectations for rate hikes next year went down from last Saturday. The implied probability of a higher Fed funds rate by next June went down from 14.2% to 9.0%. For next September, it went down from 37.7% to 29.2%.

Updated Texas Ratios for All Banks and Credit Unions

The FDIC took a holiday break this Friday. There were no bank failures. Before Thanksgiving, the FDIC released its third quarter report on the banking industry. The number of problem banks increased from 829 to 860. The FDIC also updated its database with the September 30th call reports from all the banks. My technical partner has already pulled in all of this data, and he has updated all of the Texas Ratios and health scores for all banks and credit unions. You can view our list of Texas Ratios of banks and credit unions in our Bank Health Ratings page. The table of Texas Ratios is at the bottom half of the page. You can select between banks and credit unions. Also, you can view the institutions by state or by asset size. If you don't find your bank on the list, use the search box above the table to find your institution.

Savings Account Rates

This was a quiet week for bank rates. One bit of good news is that it was reported that Alliant Credit Union will be maintaining the 1.35% APY on its savings account and High Rate Checking account through December.

For those who don't have an ING Direct Electric Orange checking account, this is a good time to open one. ING Direct is having its Black Friday special which last through 11/28/2010 in which you can get a $103 bonus for opening an ING Direct Electric Orange checking account.

I removed one bank from my list of the best savings accounts this week. Palladian Private Bank is no longer accepting applications for its 1.50% savings account. This has been common for reward checking accounts. Sometimes small banks start to offer their accounts nationwide, but when they attract too many customers they stop accepting accounts online or from out-of-state. It can be difficult to notice this change since the banks don't always mark this change on their websites. If you contact a bank and you are told they no longer accept customers outside their market area, please post a comment.

Rate Hikes:

  1. None

Rate Cuts:

  1. Note

Certificate of Deposit Rates

iGObanking.com's sister bank GiftsforBanking.com continues to offer 2.00% APY on a 2-year CD along with an iPad camera package (see post). However, this is scheduled to end on 11/29/2010. Based on reports from several readers on their experiences with iGObanking.com and GiftsforBanking.com, I'm concerned that those who apply may have trouble locking in the advertised rate. There have been several reports of poor customer service and a slow application process especially if the bank requires additional documentation. So please keep that in mind if you consider applying for this CD.

One good nationwide 3-year Jumbo CD deal that is still available is at USAA Bank. It's still offering a 2.30% APY on its 3-year Super Jumbo CD which requires a $175K minimum deposit. That's 30 basis points over their standard CD rates which requires only $1K. USAA Bank used to offer an extra 25 to 30 basis points on most of its long-term Super Jumbo CDs. However, in the last month or two, they have been only giving an extra 10 basis points for their Super Jumbo 5-year and 7-year CDs.

Reward Checking Accounts

I reported on a new nationwide reward checking account this week. It has a 4.11% APY. However, the 4.11% APY only applies to balances up to $10K. It's another example of a low balance cap. This is becoming more common for reward checking accounts. Fortunately, there are still many reward checking accounts with $25K balance caps. You can use our reward checking table to review rates and balance caps for both nationwide and local deals.

Recap for the Week - Links to This Week's Posts

Banking News/Resources

Savings/Checking Accounts - Nationwide

Reward Checking Accounts

CD and Money Market Deals - Local

The rates listed below are based on Annual Percentage Yield (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 at this page. Quick Links: Refer to the following links for the savings accounts and CDs that interest you: Liquid Account Rates: Savings Accounts, Reward Checking, Bank alternatives CD Rates: 3 Mo CDs, 6 Mo CDs, 9 Mo CDs, 12 Mo CDs, 18 Mo CDs, 24 Mo CDs, 36 Mo CDs, 48 Mo CDs, 60 Mo CDs, 84 Mo CDs, CDs by state.

Rates as of November 27, 2010

Checking/Savings/Money Market Accounts:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

3-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

6-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

9-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

12-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

18-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

24-Month Certificates of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

36-Month Certificate of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

48-Month Certificate of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

60-Month Certificate of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts Available Nationwide:
  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

84-Month Certificate of Deposit:

  • Noteworthy Accounts - Local Only

Various Deposit Account Deals

Bank Account Alternatives

Historical Rates from the Federal Reserve (Federal funds, Treasury bills, CD's)


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Anonymous

Anonymous - #1, Saturday, November 27, 2010 - 12:31 PM

Gistsforbanking.com/Igobanking.com customer Service

Reading all your concerns about these banks, and the comments of banking guy, I decided to e-mail them some of your and my concerns. I sent the e-mail Sunday November 21 at 9:13pm est. They responded Monday November 22 at 10:47am est.

Their responses are in Bold.

I am also in the process of opening up one with them, details I will post.

 

  • My concerns as stated by others is the time it takes from when I first open the Cd till you actually open it. As one person describes a 2-week gap and then got a reduced rate...
  •  Your rate is locked in at the time of application date.  Should you start an application today, and the rate lowers you would be guaranteed for the higher rate.  In some cases there were gaps in opening due to documents that we may have required from the customer and they have delays in sending to us
 

  • Also asking access to my outside funding account vie my password with that bank...   
  • ·         We have 3 different ways to fund your accounts.  They are as follows real time deposits,  trial deposits and check deposits.  Should you  opt to transmit your  transaction real time you can input your financial institutions online id and password and they confirm via real time which eliminates time delays etc. This is a total electronic process and no person is involved and we are unable to obtain the information from that real time transaction for your security. 
  •  Trial deposits are when you input your routing number and account number and we try       deposit 2 credits into your checking of savings account, you go into your account  verify the amounts and revisit our application and validate the amounts.
  •  Check deposits- good old fashion check is mailed to us.  You make the check payable to yourself  and mark on the back for deposit only and mail via US postal mail to our address 1979 Marcus Ave LL C103 Lake Success, NY 11042
  • Also heard story's of terrible customer service, with the inability of getting anyone on the phone, email etc.One even stated he hasn't heard from you in 3-weeks since he opened his account and is WORRIED about his money
  •  Our normal turnaround time is 24- 48 hours not including weekends or holidays.  I am unable to validate your concerns at this time. Without specific persons, or email address etc.  Sorry I cannot elaborate more on this question.


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