Minnesota Banking Rates and News

Wings Financial Credit Union continues to offer competitive CD and IRA CD rates. Rates have slowly fallen, but they have fallen less than many other credit unions. Below is a list of the most competitive rates as shown on the credit union's rates page as of 5/2/2012:

• 2.22% APY 5-year CD
• 1.86% APY 4-year CD
• 1.71% APY 3-year CD
• 1.31% APY 2-year CD

Minimum deposit is $500. According to the account disclosure, the early withdrawal penalty is 180 days of interest for terms over 1 year and 30 days of interest for terms of 1 year and less.

Membership

Wings...

It's hard to find CD rates over two percent these days. I'm glad to report a credit union that's offering this and provides an easy way for anyone to join. It's Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union, and it's offering a 2.25% APY 5-year CD and IRA CD. Its 3-year and 4-year CD rates are not quite as competitive, but they're still pretty good. These rates are 1.75% APY for 4 years and 1.50% APY for 3 years. Minimum deposit is $500. These rates are listed in the credit union's savings rates page as of 4/20/2012.

I wasn't...

Endura Financial Federal Credit Union is offering three special share certificates with competitive rates. These include a 2.32% APY for 5 years, 2.02% APY for 4 years and 1.87% APY for 3 years. Minimum deposit is $1,000, and new money is required. These are listed at the top of the credit unions share certificates page as of the morning of 4/10/2012. The 5-year and 3-year rates are also available in an IRA.

Credit union membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Minneapolis and a few other Minnesota cities. There are other...

Update 5/25/2012: The 5-year Premium Money Market CD rate has fallen. According to the CSR, it's now 1.65% APY (down from 1.80% APY on 5/11). This is for California. Rates may vary for other states.

It's not common to find competitive CD rates at large brick-and-mortar banks, but I found one at Bank of the West. It's offering a 2.00% APY 5-year CD. This is the bank's Premium Money Market CD which requires a $2,500 minimum deposit. The rate isn't listed online, and it may vary by state. I called the bank yesterday (3/27/2012) and verified it for the bank's...

Bank of the West has just started a new checking account promotion with a bonus of up to $100. In addition, the bank will donate $25 to local schools. You can also earn another $25 by opening a credit card with the checking account. I didn't include this in the total bonus since there are many credit card bonuses that are over $25.

Bonus Details are listed in this Bank of the West promotions page. The checking account must be opened by 4/27/2012.

If you decide to give this promotion a try, don't forget Bank of the West...

Central Bank is offering four CD specials with competitive rates. These are a 2.10% APY 59-month CD, a 1.25% APY 25-month CD, a 1.00% APY 17-month CD and a 0.85% APY 11-month CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000, and the maximum is $100,000. These special rates are listed at the bottom of the bank's Minnesota rates page as of 1/24/2012. I was told these also apply to the bank's Florida branch.

A branch visit is required to open an account. Most of Central Bank branches are located in Minnesota and Wisconsin in the Minneapolis/St. Paul...

AnchorBank is offering up to $150 for opening any new personal checking account and performing certain activities. This is a nice upgrade from last year's promotion which had just a $100 bonus. This offer is listed in the bank's promotion page. It's scheduled to end on 4/15/2012.

The required activities include:

• $50 for opening a checking account
• $50 for setting up direct deposit
• $50 for making three debit card purchases

The direct deposit and debit card purchases must be completed within 60 days of account opening. Existing checking account customers are not eligible for the bonus. Another important note...

On Friday US Bank did something that's rare these days. It raised the rate of its competitive long-term CD. The rate of the 59-month CD special increased from 2.00% to 2.25% APY. The two other special CDs with shorter terms are not nearly as competitive. One is a 1.25% APY 37-month CD and the other is a 1.01% APY 19-month CD. Minimum deposit is $1,000, and the maximum is $249,999. These rates are listed in US Bank's CD page as of 10/31/2011. Rates could change at any time, but they typically change on Friday mornings.

Bank of the West has just started a new checking account promotion with a $100 bonus that's scheduled to last until 9/16/2011. Here's the link to the offer. Unlike previous Bank of the West promotions, this one requires direct deposit. There doesn't seem to be online bill pay option. Like previous promotions, only those who reside in their market area are eligible (see below for the eligible states). The bank is still advertising a free checking account with no monthly service charges or monthly fees. This is becoming rare for large banks.

Below is the...

There were quite a few rate changes to my list from last week. We lost some more 3.00%+ 5-year CDs. PEF Federal Credit Union in the Cleveland area reduced its 5-year CD yield from 3.29% to 2.93%, and Liberty Bank in Iowa and Southwest Florida is no longer listing its 3.00% 5-year CD special. Bay Ridge Federal Credit Union that's based in Brooklyn, New York also cut its 5-year CD rate, but it still remains very competitive with a 3.25% APY for a $20K deposit. Its shorter-term CDs had bigger cuts and fell off my list.

Not all...

Update 10/31/2011: The promotion has been extended. However, it now requires 15 qualifying transactions.

TCF Bank is offering a $100 cash bonus for opening a checking account and performing 10 qualifying transactions within 60 calendar days of account opening. The offer is scheduled to end on Dec 31, 2011 June 30, 2011. No direct deposit is required. This special is listed at TCF’s home page. The details are provided in this TCF promotions page. Below is the promotion’s small print:

Offer applies to TCF non-interest bearing checking accounts. The account must have a total of 10...

Wings Financial Credit Union did something that has been rare this year. It raised its CD rates. The rates went up by 15 basis points which makes it rates for CD terms of 2 to 5 years very competitive. These CD and IRA CD rates as listed at the credit unions rates page as of 2/19/2011 include:

• 1.81% APY 2-year CD
• 2.07% APY 3-year CD
• 2.22% APY 4-year CD
• 2.73% APY 5-year CD

Minimum deposit is $500. According to the CSR, the early withdrawal penalty is 180 days of interest for terms over 1 year and 30 days of interest for...