Bank Deals Blog: Internet Banks

We didn’t see a large surge of rate cuts with the start of December. We’ve seen a higher number of CD rate cuts for the start of previous months this year. I looked back at my CD summaries for the start of the last three months. In September and October, my CD rate change lists totaled 31 for each month. The count went down to 22 for the start of November. For this month, the total is only 17, and 4 out of the 7 credit union CD rate changes...

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...

Fewer of the major online banks lowered their CD rates in the last two weeks. That’s a positive sign that we may be nearing a bottom for CD rates.

Only three major online banks lowered their CD rates in the last two weeks, and one of the three actually made a substantial rate increase. That was Live Oak Bank. Its 5-year CD yield increased from 0.60% to 1.00%. For major online banks, Live Oak Bank and Ally Bank now share the top spot for 5-year CD rates. It’s also worth noting...

North Carolina-based Live Oak Bank did something yesterday that we haven’t seen in a while: a substantial rate increase on its 5-year CD. The addition of 40 bps has boosted the APY to 1.00%. The minimum opening deposit is $2.5k, with a $250k balance cap.

The Truth-in-Savings disclosure details the Early Withdrawal Penalty (EWP).

This mild EWP makes the 1.00% APY more palatable. If the 5-year CD is closed after...

When the Fed slashed rates in March back down to the zero bound, I had thought that online savings account rates would likely reach a bottom similar to the bottom reached during the last zero bound period (2008-2015). During that period, most online savings account rates fell to a bottom that ranged between 0.70% to 1.00%. I’m afraid after seven months of this new zero bound period, most online savings account rates have fallen through this range. I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom yet, and I’m afraid the new...

A couple of months ago Ally Bank disabled a useful feature from its online CD management section. This section of Ally Bank’s online account management allows customers to control several aspects of their Ally CDs including renewals, interest disbursement and early withdrawals. The early withdrawal feature was especially useful for No-Penalty CDs. It made it possible to quickly close a No-Penalty CD and transfer the funds (the principal and all the accrued interest) into your Ally savings, checking or money market account. You could also transfer the funds to an...

A “New to Summary” CD in this week’s CD Rates Summary is the 1-year Jumbo (1.20% APY, $100k minimum) offered by NavyArmy Community Credit Union (NavyArmy). Added to the product line about six months ago, the 1-year Jumbo CD initially earning 1.50% APY. Two rates drops (in June and September) resulted in the current 1.20% APY. The 1-year CD (1.10% APY, 1k minimum)...

A surge of CD rate cuts occurred again with the start of a new month, but the surge was smaller than previous months. That’s at least a small sign that we are nearing a bottom for CD rates.

For major online banks, three had rate cuts that lowered their rates to disturbingly low levels. CIT Bank and Citizens Access both lowered their 1-year CD rates to 0.30%, and Axos Bank lowered its 1-year CD rate to 0.20%. In fact, all of Axos Bank’s CDs (that includes terms from 3 to 60...

The financial technology company (fintech) known as Beam has made news due to many of its banking customers reporting that they have been unable to withdraw their money for months. Beam attracted attention in the last year due to its high yield bank account that’s accessed through the Beam mobile app. Like many fintechs, Beam claimed to be working with banks that actually hold the customer deposits. Through these banks, it was claimed that the accounts offered FDIC coverage. The problem that Beam customers have been experiencing is shedding light...

When the Fed slashed rates in March back down to the zero bound, I had thought that online savings account rates would likely reach a bottom similar to the bottom reached during the last zero bound period (2008-2015). During that period, most online savings account rates fell to a bottom that ranged between 0.70% to 1.00%. I’m afraid after seven months of this new zero bound period, most online savings account rates have fallen through this range. I don’t think we’ve reached the bottom yet, and I’m afraid the new...