Last week I contacted Ally Bank with a last minute change of heart. I had intended to roll our 12 month CD into a 5 year CD upon expiration, but had second thoughts when I saw that Series I Savings Bonds are more attractive than CD rates.
I actually contacted Ally on the renewal date and [...]

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Interest rates are very, very low right now. On top of that, the first “rung” on our CD ladder is coming up for renewal next week. We should be rolling that money into a new five year CD, but is that a good idea given current CD rates?
When we first started our CD ladder (Novemeber [...]

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Not quite a year ago, we started building a CD ladder. We’re building a five year ladder, and that first rung is nearly up for renewal. I’ve thus been looking around for the best CD rates.
In doing so, I ran across the ten day CD rate guarantee at Ally Bank. In short, if you open [...]

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Earlier this week, ING Direct announced a new promotion aimed at generating more deposits. Dubbed the “Added Value” CD, they are offering a 12 month CD that pays a 0.15% premium over and above their standard rate. As of right now, that means you’ll get 2.25% APY vs. the standard 2.10% APY.
The catch here is [...]

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With all the recent talk of the FDIC wanting to raise more funds to meet its obligations, I thought it would be interesting to take a look at FDIC insurance limits over the years.
A brief history of the FDIC
For those that aren’t aware, the FDIC was formed following the signing of the Banking Act of [...]

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As a quick followup to last week’s article on FDIC solvency, I just wanted to point out that the FDIC has opted to accelerate bank premiums to help build up their cash on hand from the current $10B level.
Under the just-announced plan, the FDIC will require banks to prepay their 2010-2012 assessments when they pay [...]

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According to MarketWatch, Chase and Bank of America are relaxing their overdraft rules. More specifically, both banks will now require you to opt in to their overdraft protection plans, and they are also limiting the transaction amounts that will trigger an overdraft fee.
At Chase, you’ll no longer be charged a fee if you overdraw your [...]

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I’ve written in the past about the importance of banking only with FDIC-insured institutions (or NCUA-insured credit unions), and also of respecting the FDIC insurance limits. That’s all well and good, but…
Is the FDIC running out of money?
If you’ve been following the financial news over the past day or so, you’re likely aware that the [...]

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As a followup to my recent post on the dark side of debit cards, I wanted to highlight a simple strategy for avoiding those nasty $30+ overdraft fees…
Instead of letting your account balance run down near zero, create a “virtual zero” by depositing what might be referred to as a “balance buffer” of (say) an [...]

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If you’re in the market for a new bank, you might want to keep your eye on American Express. According to a company press release, they’re introducing a new online savings account as well as a variety of CDs. Here’s the scoop:
Personal Savings from American Express is a new line of FDIC-insured certificates of deposit [...]

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