Recap of Recent Bank Deals and News

I'm happy to report that I finished my TX-to-FL move, and I arrived safely at my new Florida home on Sunday. Now begins the long process of unpacking and settling in.

Thanks for everyone's well wishes, and for the DepositAccounts members for keeping the discussion forum active. In this post, I'll highlight some of these forum threads. On Tuesday I plan to return to my normal blog postings.

DA member pearlbrown reported on the Washington leaders reaching a debt deal on Sunday. Now it must pass both houses of Congress.

DA member WhataBummer reported on Friday's 3 bank closures. The FDIC was busy in July with 13 closures. That ties April for the month this year with the most bank failures. The total number of bank failures for the year is now 61.

With the new month, many banks and credit unions may be changing their rates. Unfortunately, this usually means rate cuts. DA member cumulus reported on the SFGI Direct rate cut. The APY fell from 1.16% to 1.11%. Also, it has again stopped taking new applications.

It looks like M&T Bank has effectively killed WTDirect's online savings account by slashing the rate from 0.76% to 0.25%. Cumulus reported on this rate cut last Thursday. There had been concerns that M&T Bank's acquisition of Wilmington Trust was going to lead to this.

There have also been several reward checking rate cuts and changes. DA member 51hh reported Liberty National Bank in Oklahoma is ending its reward checking account on 8/31. 51hh also reported on rate cuts at UICCU and La Capitol FCU.

Not all banks are cutting rates. There continues to be a few CD specials with competitive rates. Pearlbrown reported on special CDs at Beacon Federal Bank (looks to be limited to their market area) and competitive CD rates at FirstBank Florida.

With today being the first day of the month, I'll be monitoring the websites of several banks and credit unions to see how they will be changing rates and if they're offering any new deposit account specials. If you learn of any new specials or rate changes, please post news of these in the discussion forum.