Bank Deals Blog: Internet Banks

Below are the noteworthy savings, money market and checking account rate changes that have occurred in the last two weeks:

• Susquehanna Community Bank Eagle Premium Savings (new, 3.00% APY, $100k min)
• Western State Bank High Yield Money Market (new, 2.50% APY)
• MidFirst Direct High Yield Online Savings (+116 bps to 2.41% APY)
• Vio Bank Online High Yield Savings (+2 bps to 2.41% APY)
• Bank 7 Online Savings and Money Market (+30 bps to 2.35% APY)
• FNBO Direct Online Savings (+10 bps to 2.25% APY)
• Empower Savings (+15 bps to 2.15% APY)
• Aspiration Account (+100 bps to 2.00% APY)

Yesterday, FNBO Direct increased the rate of its Online Savings account by 10 bps to 2.25% APY. The last increase was on December 13th. Last year, FNBO Direct increased the Online Savings Account rate five times, adding a total of 75 basis points to the yield. With the current Fed situation, it’s unlikely we’ll see a repeat of those rate increases in 2019.

In December 2015, FNBO Direct was the first internet bank...

Brokered CD rates continue to fall. The largest declines have been on 5-year brokered CDs. On January 2nd, the top 5-year brokered CD rate (new-issue and non-callable) from Fidelity and Vanguard was 3.40%. Today at around 10:00am, the top 5-year rate was 3.05% at both Fidelity and Vanguard.

We are also seeing rate declines on shorter-term brokered CDs. On January 2nd, the top 1-year brokered CD rate (new-issue and non-callable) was 2.65% from Fidelity and 2.60% from Vanguard. Today, the top 1-year rate was 2.45% at both Fidelity and Vanguard.

Flushing Bank’s internet divisions, BankPurely and iGObanking added 15 bps to their respective money market accounts this week. The PurelyMoneyMarket and iGOmoneymarket now earn 2.40% APY on balances of $25k and above. The minimum opening deposit is $25k of new money.

The promotion pages state the 2.40% APY is only available for new accounts and the fine print on both pages...

On Monday, Rising Bank, the new internet division of Midwest BankCentre, opened its virtual doors for business. The product line debuted with a High Yield Savings account and CDs with terms from one to three years. The High Yield Savings Account earns 2.45% APY on balances of $1k and up to a maximum of $500k.

Account Details

Rising Bank’s disclosures page has...

Below are the noteworthy savings and money market account rate changes that have occurred in the last two weeks:

• All America/Redneck Bank Mega Money Market (+25 bps to 2.50% APY, up to $50k)
• Rising Bank High Yield Savings (new, 2.45% APY, $1k min)
• UFB Direct Premium Money Market (+15 bps to 2.45% APY, $25k min)
• TAB Bank High Yield Savings (+10 bps to 2.40% APY, $2.5k min)
• BankPurely/iGObanking Money Market (+15 bps to 2.40% APY, $25k min)
• Vio Bank Online High Yield Savings (+2 bps to 2.39% APY, $100 min)
• USALLIANCE Financial High Dividend Savings (+6 bps...

This is another reminder that this is my new version of the weekly summary with the Fed review split off on a separate blog post. My weekly summaries will now be focused entirely on deposit rates and deals. This change was done to separate the economic and political discussion from the deal discussion. Often economic discussion leads to political discussion, and that can create lots of comments which drown out comments on deals and rates. Please keep all discussion about the Fed, the economy and politics to my Fed/Economy review...

Good news for those who took advantage of Northern Bank Direct’s (NBD) Money Market Account promotion last June: balances up to $250k now earn 2.50% APY, with a rate guarantee through June 30, 2019.

If you missed last June’s offering, here’s a brief synopsis: new Money Market Accounts opened between June 8 and 18, 2018 ($5k minimum deposit) were guaranteed to earn 2.26%...