Comments For: 5.50% 25-Month / 5.30% 7-Month CD at Key Bank in Some States

Anonymous - #1, Tuesday, January 1, 2008 - 6:02 PM CT

Dear Banking Guy:

FYI, the Bank of Illinois in Normal, IL has a 'VIP Elite Checking Account' which pays 5.5 APY and compounds monthly.

great site, and keep up the good work.

amy

Kate - #2, Monday, January 7, 2008 - 3:44 PM CT

Sounds good, and I intend to open an account when another CD I have matures in a few days. Does anyone know what the funding options are, i.e., if we can do ACH transfer from another institution?

Kate - #3, Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 10:02 PM CT

Well, I called to open a CD and a a Key Privilege checking account (which can't be opened online) last night and am awaiting receipt of the paperwork. Unfortunately they don't allow funding of CDs by ACH transfers and require you to send in a check with the paperwork. It looks like I was just in time (I hope!) as I just checked right now and found that the rate for 25-35 month CDs, at least in NY state, has gone down to 5.15% APY! :-(

Banking Guy - #4, Saturday, January 12, 2008 - 11:14 PM CT

Thanks for the info and update. Sorry to see the rates go down. Hope they honor the higher rate for you.

Kate - #5, Sunday, January 13, 2008 - 11:03 AM CT

The person I spoke with over the phone Friday night did say that they will honor the 5.50% APY rate as long as they receive my funding check within 10 days. I was trying to convince them to let me do an ACH transfer to fund the CD to ensure the CD is funded as soon as possible, but they wouldn't budge. Well, I just hope the postal service will deliver in time and Key won't give me trouble about getting the higher rate.

Kate - #6, Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 12:04 PM CT

Update: finally my CD got opened all right and I am getting the higher 5.50% APY rate. Quite a relief. But the opening process was slow and glitchy. I did not receive all the paperwork until last weekend, and I also got errors when I tried to enroll in online banking and had to call them and wait a long time before my online access got set up all right. My checking account is still not showing up in their system, and the customer service people said that the department that handles it is open only Monday through Friday. I opened up the checking account only because it was required to get this CD, so I wouldn't mind that much if the checking account never gets opened if the CD has no problems. But the account opening process has been annoyingly slow and cumbersome so far.

Banking Guy - #7, Sunday, January 27, 2008 - 2:36 PM CT

Thanks for the new update. Glad to read you got the 5.50% APY. After last Tuesday's massive Fed rate cut, I don't think we'll see another 5.50% CD deal for a long time.