Bank Deals Blog: Internet Banks

Deal Summary: No-Penalty 11-month CD (1.45% APY, $1k minimum)

CIT Bank increased the rate of its 11-month No-Penalty CD by 20 bps to 1.45% APY. Minimum deposit is $1,000. The No-Penalty CD allows the customer to withdraw the total balance and interest earned without penalty seven days or later after funds have been received. Partial withdrawals of principal are not permitted.

CIT Bank began offering the No-Penalty CD in early July at the same time the savings account rate was increased to 1.30% APY...

This is the latest good news, bad news, and hopeful news about Salem Five Direct's eOne Savings account.

Good news – the rate has been increased to 1.35% APY and the balance cap has been raised to $1 million.

Bad news – the fine print on the promotion page reads,

And in a Live Chat today, CSR stated,

Hopeful news, maybe – in May, a few DA readers reported that their requests...

On Wednesday the Fed releases the minutes of its July FOMC meeting. That may provide clues on whether we should expect a December rate hike. One important thing to look for is more concerns that the recent low inflation may not just be a temporary condition. Last Friday, the Labor Department released its July CPI report, and as CNBC reported:

There was some positive economic news today. As reported by Reuters, “U.S. retail sales recorded their biggest increase in seven months.”

Even though inflation news isn’t encouraging for a rate hike,...

Miami-based Pacific National Bank (PNB) has raised the rate on its 12-month CD (1.60% APY), making it the top-rated 1-year nationally available CD. The minimum deposit is $1k of new money and is capped at $250k.

PNB is one of those banks that makes it very difficult to determine what the Early Withdrawal Penalty (EWP) is. When I saw there was a Terms and Conditions document listed on the online application, I thought I...

We continue to be on track for a December Fed rate hike. The next Fed meeting on September 19-20 will likely announce the start of a program to reduce the Fed’s balance sheet. The latest economic news to support a December rate hike came on Friday, with the release of July’s job report. Economist Tim Duy summed up the jobs report in his Fed Watch blog post by saying:

Low inflation continues to be a possible excuse the Fed could use to pass on a December rate hike. Recent speeches by...

Today, Live Oak Bank increased its Savings Account rate to 1.40% APY. This is currently the highest rate on a nationally available savings account. Live Oak Bank now shares this top spot with DollarSavingsDirect, which had been alone as the rate leader since July 13. This might not last long. DollarSavingsDirect advertises itself as “America’s highest rate,” and it has already increased its rate twice this year when a challenger matched its rate. Live Oak...

Five months ago, I had occasion to write about Union Bank’s online division, PurePoint Financial. At that time, PurePoint Financial had unveiled its initial offerings – an Online Savings Account and four online CDs. The Online Savings Account rate was raised today to 1.30% APY on balances of $10k or more; balances less than $10k earn 0.25% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $10k.

This rate increase of 5 bps is small, but it puts PurePoint Financial’s...

Last week’s Fed meeting had no surprises. The Fed is still expected to hike rates one more time, mostly likely in December. Before the rate hike, the Fed is expected to start its program to reduce its balance sheet.

One thing that could derail a December rate hike is weak inflation. In its policy statement last week, the Fed said that “[i]nflation on a 12-month basis is expected to remain somewhat below 2 percent in the near term but to stabilize around the Committee's 2 percent objective over the medium term.”...

Just a few months ago, I wrote about a new internet bank, Northern Bank Direct, (NBD) which is the internet division of Massachusetts-based Northern Bank. The initial offerings by NBD included a competitive Money Market Account (MMA) and several equally competitive CDs. Since the beginning of June, internet banks are where the action is, as far as liquid accounts (MMA, savings, etc.) are concerned. These internet bank rate increases have been so frequent,...

SFGI Direct has just raised the rate on its Savings Account (1.21% APY). It was just over a month ago when SFGI Direct increased the savings account APY to 1.16%. Before that rate hike, the APY was 1.06% and had been at 1.06% since June 2015. The account has a long history of remaining competitive. This can be seen by clicking the savings account row in the table below. This will expand the row to show...