FDIC Rolls Out Red Carpet for Private Equity (sort of)

The FDIC recently loosened the rules for private equity investments in banks. In the near term, this shouldn’t cause so much as a ripple of reaction from depositors — people don’t generally think about who owns their banks, they just want to know that their money is safe and how to get the best savings account [...]

FDIC Bad News Means What to Savings Investors

News reports that the FDIC has endured a 20 percent drop in its insurance fund may cause concern among savings investors.
Some analysts are predicting that the FDIC will be in the red by the end of the year. What does that mean for savings investors?
Not a Whole Lot, In Terms of Individual Accounts
The first part [...]

Fate of Adjustable Rate Mortgages Shows a Lesson Learned

One of the interesting details about the weeklymortgage data released by the Mortgage Bankers Associaton is the breakdown of the data into different types of mortgage activity. For example, mortgage application activity was up overall this week, but it was led by refinance activity. This suggests that most people taking advantage of low interest rates are [...]

CBO Deficit Figures Sky High, Bernanke Re-Hired by Obama

The Congressional Budget Office now projects that the U.S. deficit will nearly double over the next ten years. Meanwhile, President Obama re-hired Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke for another term.
What do these related news items mean to savings investors looking to secure the best CD rates and the best savings account rates?
Assumptions
The CBO report on the [...]

Who’s Watching Your Savings Account — Debate Over Preemption May Decide

Amid all the discussion in Washington about financial reforms, there is an interesting debate going on over the subject of preemption. Preemption is a concept that is often applied to national regulatory legislation. What it basically means is that federal standards take precedence over — or “preempt” – any state standards with respect to the industry [...]

Interest Rate Rises Only a Matter of When?

Impatient savers tired of low interest rates paid on deposit accounts are likely to receive the gift of higher interest rates sometime within the next year, if the economy recovers. According a recent survey of economists at the National Association for Business Economics, upwards of 90 percent believe that the recession will end in 2009.
Mortgage-seekers [...]

Socially Active Saving Gaining Momentum

Saving your money isn’t always only about getting the best rates on CDs, saving accounts, or checking accounts. Sometimes, saving your money is something you’re doing for the good of society, as well as yourself.
So goes the doctrine of a new class of investor: the social investor. This group is interested in what banks do [...]

Low Mortgage Rates Spark Uptick in Mortgage Applications

Mortgage applications surged last week, as mortgage rates fell to their lowest levels since early July. This is good news for the housing market, but it raises a couple of questions:

With mortgage rates generally low, are people really holding out for week-to-week dips in the mortgage rate?
What will happen when measures to stimulate the housing [...]

No Boost In Interest Rates, but Productivity and Inflation Reports are Good News for Depositors

You probably haven’t seen any kind of a bump up in your savings account interest rate lately, and you won’t see banks suddenly offering higher CD rates. Even so, last week’s economic news did hold a couple positive signs for depositors.
The good news came in the form of official economic releases on inflation and productivity. [...]

One Great Way to Protect Retirement Savings: Refinance

Getting the best rates on CDs, savings accounts, and checking accounts is one way to protect retirement savings. Another strategy is to take advantage of low mortgage rates to refinance for maximum long-term security.
By refinancing to a low fixed rate loan while rates are low, you may be able to improve your financial situation for [...]

Fed Decision Signals No Immediate Help for Savings Accounts

The Federal Reserve today decided to leave its bank lending interest rate at a record low level, continuing its attempt to stimulate the economy. For depositors who’ve been living with low CD rates and savings account interest rates, this is not necessarily welcome news.
The Fed action could be likened to advising a patient to stay [...]

Mortgage and CD Rates: Opposites That Don’t Attract

If you’re looking for the best mortgage rates, you’re happy when interest rates go down. If you’re looking for the best CD rates, you’re sad when interest rates go down.
Money, Dreams, and Other People
One group dreams of  of homeowhership while the other grouup dreams of a comfortable retirement. Often, as in the case of the young couple [...]

Mortgage Rates Hold the Line — For Now

Somewhat surprisingly, mortgage rates held the line and even declined slightly last week, despite a steep rise in bond market interest rates.
Mortgages and bonds have some characteristics in common — they are long-term, interest-based commitments — and thus tend to respond to the same market forces. Those forces include demand for capital and inflation. With [...]

No Penalty CDs an Idea Whose Time Has Come

Back in the good old days, the best CD rates on a one year CD could reach 5 percent. Today, the best CD rates for a one year CD are in the range of 2.5 percent. However, there is one newfangled CD product that’s better than the good old days: the no-early-withdrawal-penalty CD.
Banks such as [...]

Higher Savings Rates Could Have Long-Term Benefits to the Economy

Politicians and economists sometimes take a different view of savings rates. To politicians, whose re-election often depends heavily on a thriving economy, savings rates represent money that is not being spent right now, and that means less economic growth between now and election time. To economists though, a solid savings rate is a sign of [...]

Did Bank Bailouts Hurt or Help Savers?

Nobel Prize-winning economist Joseph Stiglitz claims that taxpayers have lost out bigtime with the big bank bailouts. Among other things, Stiglitz argues that the bailouts have lessened competition in the financial industry and allowed banks to charge too-high rates for lending.
Aside from the impact on taxpayers, how have the bailouts affected individuals looking for the best [...]

Rollicking Stock Market Another Reason to Favor Savings Accounts over Certificates of Deposit

There’ve been a few reasons why savings accounts have seemed to have the edge over certificates of deposit lately. With all the uncertainty about inflation and deflation, the possibility of a sudden change in interest rates has argued in favor of keeping money short-term and flexible. In addition, savings account rates have compared very favorably [...]