Get banks to bid on your money

[LOL!]

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/09/28/business/28novel.html caught my eye this morning (it's on the NYTimes most e-mailed list)

It describes where 80-100 banks bid on your money to offer you a CD at the highest rate in a kind of LendingTree.com way -- only better. I predict it will have a great future and be successful.

 

[2B]

It would guarantee all of your CDs would be at the weakest banks -- the ones needing capital the most.

 

[Nords]

It would guarantee all of your CDs would be at the weakest banks -- the ones needing capital the most.

If it's FDIC insured, do we care?

I'd love to see this for credit unions...

 

[Gotadimple]

It would guarantee all of your CDs would be at the weakest banks -- the ones needing capital the most.

And that would be a problem because?

-- Rita

 

[plex]

Checked it out earlier, it still misses the top CD rates from banks and of course it doesn't track the credit unions, which often offer significantly better rates than banks. As such, bankingblogspot is a far better source for finding CD rates still.

It may be mildly succesful, but I wouldn't expect it to have a huge amount of growth until it includes these in its search.

 

[ziggy29]

Interesting. If they were actually using real bidding, I just did a "test drive" on $20,000 for 12 months and the "winning bidder" came in at 4.35%. That's the same as currently listed on Bankrate.com as the highest for a 12-month CD.

 

[2B]

And that would be a problem because?

-- Rita

Probably nothing as far as the principle is concerned but when a bank is taken over the acquiring bank for the deposits has a choice of whether to honor the interest rates of the CDs. If the rate is higher, there goes the CD. You get to start over.

Also, I'm still waiting for my Nov 11 interest payment from a bank taken over in early November. I also don't know where my money is. I'll post when I get it resolved.

 

[plex]

Interesting. If they were actually using real bidding, I just did a "test drive" on $20,000 for 12 months and the "winning bidder" came in at 4.35%. That's the same as currently listed on Bankrate.com as the highest for a 12-month CD.

Here, I found a bunch of places that offer 4.35% or better on $20k for 12 months AND you know who you are dealing with.

"WaMu/Chase - 5.00% (min $1K), account review
Geauga Savings Bank - 4.61% (min $60K) account review (note: yes this one is over $20k, still throwing it in there)
Corus Bank - 4.60% (min $10K) account review
Christian Community CU - 4.50% (min $500) not NCUA insured (ASI only) account review
Pacific Mercantile Bank - 4.50% (min $10K) account review
VirtualBank - 4.45% (min $10K), account review
BankUnited - 4.40% (min $5K) account review
EverBank - 4.38% ($1.5K min) account review
E-LOAN - 4.35% ($10K min), account review
GMAC Bank - 4.35% (min $500), account review"

Bankrate sets the bar pretty low for finding a better rate.