Bank Deals Blog: Internet Banks

There weren’t many CD rate changes in the last two weeks. No major online bank had any CD rate changes. For the less-well known online banks and easy-membership credit unions, about half of the noteworthy rate changes were rate hikes.

The two most noteworthy of the CD rate changes were rate hikes at the credit unions PenFed and Veridian.

On October 8th, PenFed increased three of its long-term CD rates. Its 7-year CD had the largest rate gain, rising 40 bps to 1.50% APY. The 5-year and 3-year CD rates went...

In today’s world of low rates and high inflation, CDs have little appeal. Unfortunately, there aren’t many alternatives today for your “safe” money. In this type of environment, it can seem to make more sense to keep all of your “safe” money in liquid bank accounts while you wait for rates to rise. The problem is that it may be a longer wait than...

Discover has been offering a $150 bonus or $200 bonus when opening a new Online Savings account since late 2017. (In early 2017, the bonus was only $100.) This current promotion runs through December 15, 2021, and is available to new customers only: existing or prior Discover savings customers are not eligible.

Bonus Requirements

• Open a new Online Savings account by December 15, 2021 at this promo...

Rate changes on savings, money market and checking accounts have become rare. There were only four noteworthy rate changes in the last two weeks. Two were rate hikes and two were rate cuts.

The most noteworthy one was the rate cut at Advancial Credit Union. Its Premium Money Market Account yield fell from 1.01% to 0.81% APY for balances of at least $100k. This had been one of only three liquid accounts that had a 1%+ yield for large balances.

Also noteworthy was the rate hike at PenFed. Its Premium Online Savings...

In addition to Columbus Day, today is National Online Bank Day. Ally Bank established National Online Bank Day in 2015 to “emphasize the value, ease and convenience of banking with online-only institutions on Columbus Day, a day when most traditional banks are closed.”

In 2018 on National Online Bank Day, Ally emphasized the interest rate advantage of online banks. With all-time low deposit rates at Ally Bank and other online banks, I thought it was a good time to revisit the question I posed during last year’s National Online Bank Day:

Tomorrow’s Best Bank Rates Summary will feature a new rate-leading savings account from a new bank: the Bo Savings account offered by Bank Onward currently earns 0.65% APY on all balances. While there is no minimum balance requirement to earn the stated APY, opening a Bo Savings account requires a minimum $250 deposit.

Bank Onward is the new online division of ConnectOne Bank, which gives me some hope that the new Bo...

The number of online banks and credit unions increasing CD rates has been on the rise, and this trend has continued in the last two weeks. Longer-term CDs have generally had a higher number of hikes with larger rate increases.

Two popular online banks that had noteworthy CD rate hikes were Discover Bank and Live Oak Bank. Most noteworthy for Discover Bank was the rate increase of its 5-year CD (0.60% → 0.80%). For Live Oak Bank, the 1-year CD rate hike was most noteworthy (0.60% → 0.75%).

It’s been almost a year since my last blog post about CDs offered by North Carolina-based Live Oak Bank. As of this week, Live Oak Bank’s 1-year, 18-month, 2-year CDs all earn 0.75% APY, following rate increases of 15, 10, and 5 bps, respectively. These rates are currently the highest offered by any internet bank on these specific term-lengths. Any Live Oak Bank...

Since the start of September, there have been just a few noteworthy rate changes on savings, money market and standard checking accounts. That trend has continued into the last half of September. In the last two weeks, there were only two noteworthy rate changes.

LendingClub Bank (formerly Radius Bank) has decided to make its online savings account competitive. Its High-Yield Savings account rate increased from 0.25% to 0.60% for balances of $2.5k and above. Before the pandemic, Radius Bank had offered competitive rates on this High-Yield Savings account. When the pandemic...

The CDs offered by Utah-based Merrick Bank have been featured in the bi-weekly CD Rates Summary for a couple of years. While never appearing at the top of any term-length category, Merrick Bank’s CDs have consistently been solidly competitive. This week’s CD Rates Summary includes Merrick Bank’s 12-month CD (0.70% APY) and 24-month CD (0.80% APY – a recent 9 bps increase). The minimum opening deposit for any Merrick Bank...