Consumerism Commentary - Latest Comments in 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

jim — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 03:36:33 -0000

If nothing else, do the ladder with $500 each to start. Plus, your money isn't stuck there forever (impossible to withdraw) so it's semi-liquid if you really do have a dire emergency...

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

Harlan Landes — Thu, 16 Feb 2006 01:42:13 -0000

That would be something for an individual to decide. If the money is just parked in a savings account but the individual has enough of an emergency fund to leave as cash, there would be no reason not to move the funds into a CD. If it's only $1,000 that's already sitting in a high-interest savings or money market account, it's probably not worth the effort.

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

JR — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 18:09:33 -0000

Is the (roughly) quarter-point in interest worth losing the liquidity of the savings and money market accounts?

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

Ken — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 16:05:41 -0000

Happy to see VirtualBank finally getting back into the game with their 4.60% MMA.

In addition to raising their MMA, they also raised their CD rates. Their 1-year CD is now 5.10% APY. The only bad thing is a $10K min.

Even though their MMA rates have lagged before this, they've done a good job at keeping the CD rates competitive. That's the main reason why I opened a money market account last year. It makes it easy to fund the CD.

With their high MMA rates, CD rates and a referral bonus better than ING, they're going to give ING, HSBC and Emigrant a run for their money.

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

Will Kirby — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 14:52:36 -0000

Jim's right - it is a tough first step. I've been a little weary of CD's because i'm trying to stay reasonably liquid, but 5% makes these CD's rather tempting.

Re: 5% APY on 12-Month CDs!

jim — Wed, 15 Feb 2006 13:36:14 -0000

The pain is all in the first step of the ladder, once you start the laddering of CDs process it's not as bad to put money in. Coming up with $5,000 for one step of the ladder can be a little much though. :)