Bank Deals Blog

I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Thanks for all of your support this year.

It’s sort of my blog tradition for Thanksgiving to look back at some of the bank deals this year that we can be thankful for. As you might expect, I’m going to have to keep this post short.

Last year I started off by saying that it was a disappointing year for interest rates. I’m afraid this year has been much worse.

Before the pandemic struck in March, there were a few long-term 3% CD...

Thanks to the DA reader who informed me about this Black Friday CD special available at BHCU (formerly Boeing Helicopters Credit Union). CD specials have been rare this year, so it’s nice to see this Black Friday CD special even though it isn’t widely available and there is a small maximum deposit.

Available on November 27, 2020...

Louisiana-based Pelican State Credit Union (Pelican) has been offering Kasasa brand products for more than five years. Although the Kasasa Cash has always had a competitive rate, the $7.5k balance cap limited its overall appeal. The current 4.25% APY is one of the best rates...

The question remains about where the bottom will be for online savings account rates.With several major online savings accounts rates falling to 0.50%, the bottom may be under 0.50%.

The major online banks that lowered their online savings or money market account rates to 0.50% in the last two weeks include Discover Bank, Marcus by Goldman Sachs, CIT Bank and Citizens Access. Other major online banks had already fallen to 0.50%. These include Capital One, Barclays and FNBO Direct.

Hopefully, we won’t see more cuts from these online banks. This might be...

Tuesday was another record day for the stock market. Both the Dow and the S&P reached record highs. Vaccine optimism contributed to these gains. Also helping the gains was the news that President-elect Joe Biden had selected former Fed Chair, Janet Yellen, to be the next Treasury secretary.

Even with the recent surge of COVID-19 cases, signs are pointing to the continuation of the economic recovery. The concerns that there might be a double-dip recession are falling. Economist Tim Duy described recent good news in the housing market in his FedWatch...

More than four years ago, I wrote about Texoma Community Credit Union’s (Texoma CCU) Ultimate Rewards Checking, which earned 3.51% APY on qualifying balances up to $10k. While that rate and balance cap are still in effect, the name of Texoma CCU’s reward checking account is now Cashtastic Checking. Qualifying balances over $10k earn 0.25% APY, with non-qualifying balances earning 0.05% APY.

The Cashtastic Checking monthly...

The 12-month Save to Win CD (1.00% APY) offered by Diversified Members Credit Union (DMCU) is an add-on CD, which allows unlimited deposits (in any amount) throughout the term. The minimum opening deposit is $25, with no stated balance cap. There is a limit of one Save to Win CD per member

In another relevant Forum post yesterday, DA reader, ichaelm, pointed out that the 0.85% APY offered on Paramount Bank’s High-Interest Checking “beats most savings accounts [rates].” The nationally available High-Interest Checking account is NOT a rewards checking account. I’m just going to quote ichaelm for some of the details, because I really enjoyed his description:

While 0.85% APY may not seem like a competitive rate, it’s currently the highest APY available for a nationally available standard checking...

About two months ago, TEXAR Federal Credit Union (TEXAR) restructured its Share Certificate by offering the same 1.21% APY on all Share Certificates. Earlier this week, TEXAR raised the “uni-rate” to 1.25% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $1k, with each individual member limited to a maximum...

One of the “New to Summary” CDs in this week’s CD Rates Summary is DuTrac Community Credit Union’s (DuTrac CCU) 12-month Jumbo Certificate Special, which currently earns 1.11% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $100k, with no stated balance cap. DuTrac also has a 12-month Certificate Special (1.01% APY) that only requires...

The last time I wrote about KS StateBank’s reward checking account (RCA), Checking PLUS, was in early 2016. At that time, KS StateBank had just started offering Checking PLUS on a nationwide basis. The Checking PLUS online market area was recently changed to Arizona, Kansas, and Missouri.

My first Checking PLUS blog post was way back in 2008 and DA...

DA reader, ichaelm, has been diligent over the past few months with Forum posts about CD rates offered by Advancial. Because of uncertainty about the field of...