MoneyRates Blog

Are savings rates building the foundation of the next recovery?

September 1, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Find out how today’s spending habits might slow the economic recovery, but make it stronger in the long run.

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News on auto loans points to more responsible consumer behavior

August 30, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

See why a drop in auto loan delinquencies might be good news for your deposit account rates.

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Savings accounts may be a victim of a flawed Fed policy

August 25, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Find out why the Fed’s costly policy of low interest rates may not be working.

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Mortgage rates now look like the deal of a lifetime

August 23, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Mortgage rates last week dipped to a new all-time low. In the midst of all the discouraging news about the economy, it’s important not to lose sight of what an extraordinary opportunity these mortgage rates are for home buyers and homeowners.
According to Freddie Mac’s weekly mortgage rate survey, 30-year mortgage rates checked in last week [...]

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Flicker of optimism generates little momentum for money market rates

August 18, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Does yesterday’s rise in bond yields indicate that a rise in bank rates is coming?

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Has the Fed Painted Itself Into a Corner?

August 16, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Find out what action you can take for better bank rates even while the Fed is forced to keep interest rates low.

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Latest Fed Action One More Slap in the Face for CDs, Savings Accounts, and Money Market Rates

August 11, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Learn how Fed policies are holding back CDs, savings accounts, and money market rates

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Savings account rates weighed down by persistent unemployment

August 9, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

How does the latest news on employment affect your deposits?

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Current Mortgage Rates Spark Upturn in Housing Activity

August 4, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Find out what the recent uptick in home purchase loan activity might mean for the broader economy.

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Savings Accounts Strengthen as the Economy Weakens

August 2, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Friday was one of those classic good news/bad news days for the economy–and for CDs, savings, and money market accounts.
To begin with the bad news, the advance estimate of second quarter real GDP came in slightly below expectations, at 2.4%. This confirms the growing impression that the economic recovery is losing steam. Reflexively, some pundits [...]

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Declining Profit Margins a New Threat to Bank Rates

July 28, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

It’s a delicate balance. Sometimes banks want to attract deposits in savings accounts, money market accounts, and CDs. Other times, those accounts can be almost a liability. According to a recent story in US Banker, now is one of the latter times, when some banks may actually shun new deposits.
No, that doesn’t mean you have to [...]

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Earnings Send Disappointing Signals for Bank Rates

July 26, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Indications from second quarter earnings releases are that banks are continuing to suffer from bad loans tied to the real estate sector. That’s bad for banks, and in this case, what’s bad for the banks is also bad for bank customers.
Money market rates, CD rates, and savings account rates continue to bump along at extremely low levels. [...]

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Where Bank Rates Fit Into the Stimulus vs. Fiscal Discipline Debate

July 21, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

The breaking of a filibuster yesterday paved the way for a further emergency extension of unemployment benefits. The debate over those benefits was the latest example of a larger debate concerning which of two major economic problems should get priority now: the faltering recovery, or the federal budget deficit.
Savings account rates, money market rates, and [...]

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Weak Consumer Sentiment a Setback for Bank Rates

July 19, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Just as some positive momentum had been developing in the stock market, prices took a major tumble on Friday. This sudden reversal is typical of the twists the economic narrative has been taking lately, as the recovery seems in danger of petering out.
The drama extends to the outlook for bank rates, whose fate seems to [...]

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Following the Chain of Events to Higher Bank Rates

July 14, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

Are you impatient for higher savings account rates? Wondering if money market rates will ever move higher rather than lower? Agonizing about rolling over a CD at current CD rates?
Simply waiting for bank rates to move can be a frustrating exercise. It can help if you know to look for some early clues to higher [...]

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Decoding Your New Credit Card Statement

July 13, 2010
By MoneyRates team | Money-Rates Columnist

If you have a credit card, you know that the past few years have seen a bevy of regulatory reforms, relating to everything from how card issuers handle credit card rate increases to caps on fees for late payments and over-limit charges.
At the end of 2008, the Federal Reserve directed credit card companies to include [...]

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Will Bank Rates Take a Cue from Corporate Earnings?

July 12, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

You may be a conservative depositor who doesn’t have much to do with the ups and downs of the stock market. Or, you may consider your bank deposits totally separate from your high risk/high return stock investments. Either way, you probably don’t make an immediate connection between what’s going on in the stock market and [...]

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Bank Rates May Take a Cue From Bank Earnings

July 7, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

With the second quarter of 2010 now behind us, banks are expected to release earnings reports that show a drop-off from a strong first quarter, at least for some of the industry’s leaders. You don’t have to be invested in bank stocks to find that significant — just being a depositor is reason enough to [...]

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Bank Rates Look Better As Stock Market Stumbles

July 5, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

The stock market’s troubles aren’t going to add anything to bank rates. Just the opposite in fact — the same economic issues that have upset stocks could spell several more months of low rates for savings accounts, money market accounts, CDs, etc. Still there’s nothing like the shock of some market setbacks to put the [...]

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Is Fed Policy Backfiring?

June 30, 2010
By Richard Barrington | Money-Rates Columnist

As expected, the Federal Reserve announced last week that would leave its key interest rate unchanged, at a level just above zero. What was unexpected was a pledge to continue this low rate policy for “an extended period of time.”
The context behind that pledge is the worsening economic picture — a double-dip recession now seems [...]

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