E-Trade Bank $25 Savings Account Opening Bonus

E-Trade Bank has a limited bank bonus offer which expires December 17, 2008.

Offer Details:

- A $1 minimum deposit is required to open a new account. Withdrawal limits apply. Online statements required.

- $25 will be credited to your Complete Savings Account within 30 days of the account being funded with a minimum deposit of $1. Payments will be reported as interest income. Accounts must be opened by 12/17/2008 to quality for the $25 offer. Must be a new account opened with new funds. Offer applies to one new account per customer.

- For details and important information about Quick Transfer, please click here for a listing of the limitations, restrictions and time deadlines associated with this service.

- There aren't any minimum balances or account fees associated with this account.

To learn more about this offer visit E-Trade Financial offer page from this link.

10 year CD Rates

Several readers have contacted about longer term CD Rates. Most of the information that I publish in my weekly Best CD Rates column does not look past 5 year CD's. I believe that with the FED cutting interest rates to one percent, the shart drops in overall prices and the drop in the stock market has lead few choices for consumers to achieve a decent rate of returns on their hard earned money. I think that in the current deflationary economy investing in CD's with longer term maturities could benefit investors. So what rates can you get on longer term FDIC insured certificates of deposit? I looked at ten year certificate of deposit rates in order to find out the highest yields available nationwide:

Term Bank Rate APY Minimum

10 year Capital One Bank 5.35% 5.50% $5000

10 year KeyDirect 5.35% 5.50% $5000

10 year Discover Bank 5.30% 5.44% $2500

10 year Intervest National Bank 5.17% 5.31% $2500

If ten years sounds like a big committment, then check out the best seven year CD rates in the USA.

Term Bank Rate APY Minimum

7 year Capital One Bank 5.35% 5.50% $5000

7 year Discover Bank 5.15% 5.28% $2500

7 year Intervest National Bank 5.14% 5.27% $2500

$100 Bonus from Ameritrade

TD Ameritrade, in association with CNBC's Suze Orman have a limited account opening bonus offer, which expires on March 31, 2010.

Offer Details:

Offer valid for one new TD AMERITRADE account (non-retirement) opened by 12/31/08 and funded by 12 monthly consecutive automatic electronic deposits of $100 or more.

First $100 must be deposited within 30 days of opening account.

To be eligible, you must be a U.S. resident aged 18 or older. Accounts will be reviewed 12 months from date of first qualified deposit to determine eligibility for offer. Should you need to withdraw the money prior to the twelve-month commitment, you may withdraw all of your deposits plus interest earned. However you will forfeit the $100 bonus. Account must remain open with minimum funding requirements for 12 months in order to receive the $100 cash deposit.

If deposit requirements have been met, please allow 4 weeks for $100 cash deposit to post to account. Offer is not transferable and not valid for IRAs and other tax-exempt accounts, internal transfers, current TD AMERITRADE accounts, or with other offers.

The offer is limited to one offer per client.

Simple interest is accrued daily and credited to your account on the last business day of each month. Annual Percentage Yield of 1.0% (0.99% interest rate) is current for the Save Yourself account as of November 17, 2008 and is subject to change without notice. Rates may change after the account is opened. Cash in an MMDA is held at TD Bank USA, N.A. and is insured by the FDIC (not covered by SIPC) for up to $250,000 for non-retirement accounts (under the new legislation, effective October 3, 2008, through December 31, 2009), $250,000 for Individual Retirement Accounts ("IRAs") and certain other retirement accounts.

To learn more about this offer visit the offer page from this link.

Best CD ( Certificate of Deposits) Rates - 11/24/2008

Below you could fund a summary of the best CD rates for different maturities as of 11/24/2008. You could find the period of the offering, as well as the rate and minimum deposit required by the bank selling the Certificate of Deposit.


The average interest on those CD's is 4.34% APY. In order for savers to get a higher rate of return on their money, they have to stretch their time horizons further away into the future. Overall the Best CD rates have plateaued, and could stop falling, despite the fact that the FED is cutting interest rates. The reason for that is that banks are competing for deposits, as they struggle in the current liquidity meltown.

This article was featured on Carnival of Personal Finance, Cyber Monday 2008 Edition

Chase Business Checking $100 Bank Bonus

Chase has a limited bank bonus offer which expires December 31, 2008.

Offer Details

In order to qualify for the offer, open any new personal checking account online by December 31, 2008, with a minimum of $500 not currently on deposit.

-Print this coupon and bring it to your local Chase branch by 12/31/08.

-Open a qualifying Chase Business account with a minimum deposit of $500 within 30 days and we'll deposit $100 into your new account.

-Offer valid 10/15/08 – 12/31/08.

-Offer not available on account conversions or in combination with any other offer.

-Open a Chase BusinessClassicSM, Chase Advanced Business CheckingSM, or BusinessPlus® checking account and deposit a minimum of $500 or more into your new business checking account within 30 days of account opening with funds not currently on deposit with Chase.

-Cash Reward will be deposited automatically into your checking account within 10 business days after the minimum deposit requirement is met. Account opening is subject to approval.

-One cash bonus per person or business entity.

-Offer only applicable for the following states: IL, WI, MI, IN, NY, CT, NJ, OH, WV, KY, FL, LA, OK, TX, CO, AZ, and UT.

- Cash bonus may be considered interest reportable on IRS Form 1099-INT.

To learn more about this offer visit National city Bank offer page from this link.

National City $150 Bank Bonus

National City has a limited bank bonus offer which expires December 31, 2008.

Offer Details
In order to qualify you have to follow a simple three step process:

1. Apply online, visit your local National City branch or call 1-800-622-6650 to open your checking account by 12/31/08.

2. Use our Switch Service to set up a $250 direct deposit from your paycheck into your new checking account. Direct deposit must be received within 60 days of your account opening.

3. Accept our free National City Visa CheckCard** and make at least 10 purchases within the first 60 days.

There are other requirements, based off the fine print:

- $150 Gift Card bonus offer is available for new personal checking accounts opened from November 1 through December 31, 2008 with a minimum of $50 not currently on deposit at National City.

- Offer limited to one per household and available only to households without an existing personal checking account at National City and have not closed a National City checking account within the past 60 days.

- To qualify for bonus, a Visa CheckCard must be issued to you, an ACH direct deposit of your payroll, pension or Social Security benefit of at least $250 must be received, and at least 10 purchases be made with your CheckCard posted to your checking account within 60 days of account opening.

- $150 bonus is subject to 1099 reporting. Depending on the account type selected, you may earn interest on your checking account.

- Online application for a checking account is limited to residents of FL, IL, IN, KY, MI, MO, OH, PA, WI.

To learn more about this offer visit National city Bank offer page from this link.

Best CD ( Certificate of Deposits) Rates - 11/17/2008

Below you could fund a summary of the best CD rates for different maturities as of 11/17/2008. You could find the period of the offering, as well as the rate and minimum deposit required by the bank selling the Certificate of Deposit.



The average interest on those CD's is 4.29%. In order for savers to get a higher rate of return on their money, they have to stretch their time horizons further away into the future.
Overall the Best CD rates have plateaued, and could stop falling, despite the fact that the FED is cutting interest rates. The reason for that is that banks are competing for deposits, as they struggle in the current liquidity meltown.

Is your bank FDIC insured?

Most people assume that their bank is FDIC insured. FDIC insurance guarantees the return of principal to the depositor in the event that the bank which holds the deposits goes under.

This FDIC bank search allows you to locate FDIC insured institutions by entering one or more of the criteria below. The criteria include Name, Address, City, State and Zip code.

In addition to that the Bank Find search tool answers the following questions pertaining to your bank’s location, home office, and website address, historical list of events that happened to your bank in addition to whether your bank is still open or had a new name.

Check the FDIC website to see if your bank is FDIC insured.

This article was selected on the 180th Carnival of Personal Finance

Best CD ( Certificate of Deposits) Rates - 11/10/2008

Below you could fund a summary of the best CD rates for different maturities as of 11/10/2008. You could find the period of the offering, as well as the rate and minimum deposit required by the bank selling the Certificate of Deposit.


The average interest on those CD's is 4.29%. In order for savers to get a higher rate of return on their money, they have to stretch their time horizons further away into the future. As the FED lowered their interest rates by half a percentage point last week, locking in your investments in fixed rate CD's is the best decision for your cash investments.Capital One currently has a 7 year Certificate of Deposit offer special which yields 5.50% but also requires a minimum deposit of $5,000.

What is FDIC insurance?

FDIC or the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is created by the US Congress to insure the safety of deposits in participating members’ banks up to $250,000 per depositor per bank. Also, accounts in different ownerships (such as beneficial ownership, trusts, and joint accounts) are considered separately for the $250,000 insurance limit. Under the Federal Deposit Insurance Reform Act of 2005, Individual Retirement Accounts are insured to $250,000.

The FDIC was started after the Great Depression as several thousand banks failed after major runs on the banks. Many depositors lost large chunks on their principal. In order to prevent people from withdrawing their savings from banks which are deemed unstable by the general public, the FDIC started guarantying the principal which the depositor has at each individual bank up to a certain limit. The FDIC limits have been raised from the $10,000 in 1933 to $250,000 in 2008.

To receive this benefit, member banks must follow certain liquidity and reserve requirements. Banks are classified in five groups according to their risk-based capital ratio:

Well capitalized: 10% or higher
Adequately capitalized: 8% or higher
Undercapitalized: less than 8%
Significantly undercapitalized: less than 6%
Critically undercapitalized: less than 2%

When a bank becomes undercapitalized the FDIC issues a warning to the bank. When the number drops below 6% the FDIC can change management and force the bank to take other corrective action. When the bank becomes critically undercapitalized the FDIC declares the bank insolvent and can take over management of the bank.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) ensures that depositors recover 100% of their principal plus any interest rate accumulated in arrears before the collapse of the bank. This guarantee makes the banking system more stable and less prone on runs on the banks spurred by rumors.

The products covered by the FDIC limits f $250,000 include savings accounts, checking accounts, certificates of deposits, Outstanding Cashier's Checks, Interest Checks, and other negotiable instruments.

Get a higher return for your money

Most individuals have money in regular checking accounts which they use for their regular day to day expenses and deposits. The main issue with these regular checking accounts at banks is that they pay very little in interest rates – sometimes lower than half a percentage point per year. In addition to that most regular checking accounts have many charges including a monthly fee, fees for sending you your monthly statements, inactivity charges, fees for getting 150 checks for your checkbook and many others. In other words regular checking accounts are not only producing a very small rate of return but also are costing depositors a large amount in fees. If you hold $10,000 on average in your checking accounts while you could have found a checking account paying 2% more than your bank, you are essentially losing $200/year.

There is a solution of course and it is in many of the high yield online checking or savings accounts out there. I have been using Charles Schwab Online checking account for over one year now and I am more than happy with it. I have my paycheck directly deposited to my account and I have no monthly fees or ATM fees whatsoever. I get an unlimited amount of free checks in addition to the above average interest rate.

My rate was 4% when I opened my Schwab Checking account back in 2007; as the Federal Reserve started cutting interest rates however my rates has subsequently dropped to 1.75%. However I still believe this is better than my other checking accounts which pay about 0.13% per year in interest. Since the money in my checking account is mostly gone by my next paycheck, the incremental earnings from the higher interest rate is money well received.

When researching your online checking accounts, make sure that you understand all of the terms. You generally want to avoid the online checking accounts that have a high minimum balance to open and keep your account.

There are other online high-yield checking options including HSBC Direct, ING Direct and many others as well. Most high-yield online checking accounts are FDIC insured, which means that you could sleep safely at night knowing that you are guaranteed a return of your principal, as long as you have less than $250,000 in your accounts.

Funding your online checking account is not a big hassle. You could either transfer the money online from your previous checking account to your new high yielding checking account. You only need to know your routing and account numbers to do that. It only takes a few days for the transfer to be completed.

This post appeared on Fierce Financial Tips: The Carnival of Personal Finance #178, Struwwelpeter Edition

Top High Yield Certificates of Deposit Rates -11/03/2008

Below you could fund a summary of the best CD rates for different maturities as of 11/03/2008. You could find the period of the offering, as well as the rate and minimum deposit required by the bank selling the Certificate of Deposit.



The average interest on those CD's is 4.29%. In order for savers to get a higher rate of return on their money, they have to stretch their time horizons further away into the future. As the FED lowered their interest rates by half a percentage point last week, locking in your investments in fixed rate CD's is the best decision for your cash investments.

Capital One currently has a 7 year Certificate of Deposit offer special which yields 5.50% but also requires a minimum deposit of $5,000.