Personal Finance Blog By MoneyRates - Savings Account
Where Bank Rates Fit Into the Stimulus vs. Fiscal Discipline Debate
July 21, 2010
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 [...]
New Debit Card Overdraft Fees: Simpler, but Still Expensive
June 29, 2010
There's good news and bad news for consumers as banks comply with new Federal Reserve rules for overdraft fees. The good news: Banks are simplifying their complicated overdraft fee structures, according to a June survey of the 15 largest banks by the Consumer Federation of America. The bad news: Many are eliminating their lowest fees. [...]
Bank Rates Taste Bitter Medicine in Bank Deleveraging
November 25, 2009
The Quarterly Banking Profile from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) showed a dramatic de-leveraging of bank risk levels in the third quarter of 2009. This is a necessary step in curing part of what ails the banking system -- but it is a bitter pill for depositors to swallow. In the third quarter, loan balances [...]
Bank Rates Need Rethinking with New Inflation Numbers
November 18, 2009
As expected, October's inflation number represents something of a turning point for the inflation environment. Depositors now need to watch closely to see how savings account rates, money market rates, and CD rates respond. The Consumer Price Index (CPI) for October of 2009 increased by 0.3%. That's a fairly normal monthly increase for inflation, but it [...]
Raising Bank Rates May Depend on a Pick-Up in Lending Activity
November 9, 2009
As the economic recovery gets haltingly underway, one of the things depositors should keep an eager eye on is lending volume. It's not that those depositors are necessarily looking to borrow money themselves, but a pick-up in the lending business may be a key in pushing bank rates higher. You name it -- CD rates, savings [...]
Will Bank Rates Have to Respond to Dollar Weakness?
October 19, 2009
Surges in the prices of oil and gold recently are symptomatic of a looming problem: the weakness of the U.S. dollar. Oil and gold are both traded in dollar terms, so when their prices are rising, it may not be entirely a sign of demand for those commodities. Instead, it can be a function of a [...]
Pending Rule Will Make Bank Rates A Possible Sign of Health
September 28, 2009
Banks offering high interest rates on savings accounts, CDs, and other deposits are attractive to savvy bank shoppers anyway, but a pending FDIC rule could make them even more appealing. Effective January 1, 2010, the FDIC will put a cap on bank rates offered by institutions categorized as "less than well capitalized." The new rule addresses [...]
As Bank Rates Fall, Executive Compensation Rises
September 7, 2009
The always-prickly issue of executive compensation popped up again last week, as a report on the subject was released by the Institute for Policy Studies. Executives at some of the large financial institutions which received billions in taxpayer bailout money were paid in early 2009 with stock options now worth $87 billion, according to the report. There [...]
FDIC Rolls Out Red Carpet for Private Equity (sort of)
August 31, 2009
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 [...]
FDIC Bad News Means What to Savings Investors
August 27, 2009
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 [...]
