[Note: Updated: 8/23/10]

I haven’t posted rates for sometime. So here are a few that I’m aware of. These rates are for personal deposits. Rates are posted as the APY unless stated otherwise.

Alliant Federal Credit Union — 1-Year at 1.75%, 18-months at 2.00%, 2-year at 2.25%. They pay interest at maturity only. They also offer these rates for IRAs. Membership is open to everyone through the National PTA. There is a one-time $25 charge.

Already have Alliant, try Fort Knox Federal Credit Union. 14-months at 1.75% and 23-months at 2.30%. They can pay interest monthly if you need the income and also do IRAs. Membership is open to everyone through the American Consumer Council/Kentucky Chapter. It costs $15.00.

If you don’t like credit unions and want a bank, try Sallie Mae Bank. They have a 15-month CD at 1.55%. There is an online process to complete to open your CD.

It appears that we will have this low rate environment for quite some time. If you want to hedge against the possibility of lower rates (the longer the Fed holds Fed Funds at 0% to 0.25%, the lower rates will go) then consider a longer-term CD. We have a bank offering a 10-year CD above 2.70% APR with a 90-Day Early Withdrawal Penalty. If you take the penalty and close after 1-year, you would net above 1.73%. After 2-years, it would be above 2.21% and after 3-years above 2.37%. $50,000 minimum.

I can’t provide the bank information for free on this one, but the calculated rates are net of our fees.

Feel free to share CD rates you are finding or contact us if you want info on the 10-year.

Have a great weekend.
cd :O)

Sorry that I didn’t get this out sooner. On Wednesday, President Obama signed the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010. This was touted as the largest set of financial reforms since The Great Depression. Only time will tell if that is true or not.

The good news is that tucked into the bill was making the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit permanent. For those with larger amounts, you at least don’t need to worry about watching maturity dates any longer. A husband and wife can now have up to $1 Million insured at one bank. If they add beneficiaries and POD accounts it can be substantially more.

Another bit of good news for many was that the bill made the $250,000 limit retroactive to January 1, 2008. This means that many investors who found themselves over insured at ANB Financial and IndyMac when they failed will recoup much if not all of their losses. This is being handled automatically and we were told by the FDIC that people should be receiving checks within 7 to 10-Days. One problem may be for those that have moved. The FDIC will be using the address on record at the time of the failure. So if you have moved, I would contact the FDIC and see how you can recover your funds.

My family took a big summer trip. What have you been up to this summer? Leave a comment and let me know.

Have a great day,
cd :O)