Archive

The rates on bank savings account look good right now. No, this is not a late April Fool’s Day joke, we are serious. There are two reasons why savings account rates look good. First, you have to compare them to other similar savings instruments. The 90-day Treasury Bill is yielding 0.15% today, the national average on money funds is below 1%, and the Treasury Department announced last week that the rate of return on the I-Bond for the next six months will be 0.00%. In comparision, MoneyRates.com is listing the following savings account rate leaders among their national APY leaders:

Heartland Bank Direct 2.30%

AIG Bank 1.81%

Discover Bank 1.75%

Even if you compare the highest yielding bank savings accounts to government bond funds, they stack up nicely. Most short-term government bond funds are yielding below 2%, and don’t forget a mutual fund can fluctuate in value unlike a bank savings account.

The second reason we are not crazy for saying the savings rates look good is that economists are now forecasting higher interest rates due to the expectation of inflation in the economy. If you expect interest rate to increase, especially if a quick increase in rates is possible, it makes sense to stay in liquid accounts and not fixed-term investments. You could purchase a 5-year CD with a higher rate than a savings account, but you are also stuck with that rate if interest rates jump up higher. The difference between longer-term CD rates or longer-term Treasury yields and the best savings account rates is only about 1% to 1.5% on average. Economists are forecasting that interest rates could increase more than that over the next few years. This means a savings account investor could come out ahead.

Hanmi Bank is a FDIC-insured bank in California that was originally just serving the Korean-America  community living in that area. Now by offering a variety of deposit products online to residents of any state, Hanmi Bank can be considered a national bank. Hanmi Bank has a streamlined online application process that can take less than ten minutes for anyone interested in one of their deposit products. Hanmi Bank has competitive savings account rates and checking account rates, but is actively promoting their online CD specials. Current CD rates today include:

12-month online CD 2.53% APY

9-month online CD 2.28% APY

6-month online CD 1.77% APY

3-month online CD 1.51% APY

Features of Hanmi Bank CDs:

- Interest compounded daily

- $1,000 minimum opening deposit

-$1,000 minimum balance required to earn stated APY

- penalties for early withdrawal

-FDIC insurance up to $250,000 per depositor

More information about Hanmi Bank online CDs

 Discover Bank has something for everyone. The financial services bank offers some of the best credit card deals, as well as some of the best savings deals. Not many banks cater to both savers and borrowers as well as Discover Bank. A very sharp and easy-to-use online banking platform makes Discover Bank a great option for those who like to bank online. However for people who still like to talk to a human being, Discover Bank is quick to point out that their customer service representatives are based in the United States. The flagship product at Discover Bank is the bank’s certificates of deposit. For several years the rates paid at Discover Bank on certificates of deposit have been among the rate leaders nationally. Today’s rates include:

Discover Bank CD Rates:

• 3 Months 1.25% APY
• 6 Months 1.75% APY
• 9 Months 1.90% APY
• 12 Months 2.35% APY
• 18 Months 2.50% APY
• 24 Months 2.75% APY
• 30 Months 2.75% APY
• 3 Years 3.10% APY
• 4 Years 3.30% APY
• 5 Years 3.60% APY
• 7 Years 3.64% 3.70%
• 10 Years 3.93% 4.00%

The minimum deposit for a CD at Discover Bank is $2,500. Depositors can open a IRA account or ROTH account or work with a Discover Bank customer service specialist to rollover an existing 401K or IRA to a Discover Bank IRA. Like most CDs, penalties will be applied to the early withdrawal of funds. Finally, and most importantly, accounts are FDIC-insured up to $250,000 per depositor.