Best CD, MM Rates & Bank Special Deals Thread 2020 - Please post updates here

[Hyper]

Wow! Thank the great Lord you stopped the transfer. I'm extremely guilty of rushing things without paying attention as I should to get the higher rate. One reason I really like the building cd like NF has. I recently opened a cpl cd with NF and they used what they called a smart pay, I think it was, where they did the transfer over the phone. My local had no idea what it was or even that it had been done by NF. Was really nervous even though it was NF but was able to open the cd with $50 then more later.

 

[aja8888]

Most recent research: I did an nslookup of the domain [mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam], and this is what I got.

DNS Records for:[mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam]

Returned Data

Name TTL Until Refresh Class Type Data
[mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam] 86400 IN A 176.121.14.147
[mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam]. 86400 IN NS ns1.reg.ru.
[mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam] 86400 IN NS ns2.reg.ru.
[mod edit - removed link, appears it was a scam] 86400 IN SOA ns1.reg.ru. hostmaster.ns1.reg.ru. 1583911361 14400 3600 604800 10800

Nothing suspicious there, is there?

Not a coder so please tell me what is suspicious there?

 

[REWahoo]

Not a coder so please tell me what is suspicious there?

I'm not either but I know "ru" = Russia.

 

[harley]

Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry. It's a domain registered in Russia, which might be a bit suspicious for a DC area Wealth Management company.

 

[Sunset]

I'm taking advantage of the 1% bonus from Ally (max of $250).
Have to

1. open an account if don't already have one and
2. then sign up for it before moving in money.

https://www.ally.com/go/bank/bonus/

It's available for existing customers (love Ally) in which case only need to do step 2. (it asks name and email) no need to log in.

They send you an email confirming the move.
Then move in money and keep accounts at that NET level until June 30th.

 

[aja8888]

Yes, that's what I meant. Sorry. It's a domain registered in Russia, which might be a bit suspicious for a DC area Wealth Management company.

Got it!

 

[Sunset]

Since I got my 53 bank bonus money of $500 , I phoned them and incredibly to me, was able to close the money market account over the phone, and switch the checking account to a free checking account (limited to IL and few other states).

This will allow me to use that $25K to get the Ally bonus of $250 via the ACH link I already have in Ally as that's where the money came from originally 3 months ago

Didn't have go face to face and risk a covid-19 bonus.

 

[harley]

Nice. Might as well play the (relatively) small stakes games until better opportunities come along. Every little bit helps.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

The link has changed again today, now they are an HSBC Company cleared by HFD Global Clearing.

Who would we report this scam website to?

 

[Dtail]

On a related note, so I sent in the application although no monies sent.
However they have my parents and my SS #/mother maiden names.
So we all have credit freezes and fraud alerts at the bureaus.
I am not collecting SS yet, but was wondering what risk do my parents have with a potential redirection of SS payments possibly.
I will call the SS offices, but was wondering on thoughts here.

 

[RetiredAndLovingIt]

And did you click on a link to download the application? If so there may be some nefarious bots already creeping around your computer stealing all kinds of personal information/financial data from you. If you google how to report identity theft, one of first to come up is usa.gov and they take reports on online and international scams. This could be the beginning of a nightmare.

 

[jazz4cash]

The link has changed again today, now they are an HSBC Company cleared by HFD Global Clearing.

Who would we report this scam website to?

I mentioned earlier the website www.scam.com but it's just another forum.
All the legit companies they are pretending to be affiliated should have a contact for suspicious activity.

I checked the FDIC list and there was no listing for Community Bank so that may be another checkpoint but obviously that won't work since they are generally claiming affiliation with legit banks.

Can I suggest a separate thread for this topic? I wanna hear more but it is OT.

 

[harley]

The link has changed again today, now they are an HSBC Company cleared by HFD Global Clearing.

Who would we report this scam website to?

I did an FBI Internet Fraud report. Other than that I don't think there's much I can do, since it's a Russian based website. It's not hosted by any reputable and responsive webhost.

On a related note, so I sent in the application although no monies sent.
However they have my parents and my SS #/mother maiden names.
So we all have credit freezes and fraud alerts at the bureaus.
I am not collecting SS yet, but was wondering what risk do my parents have with a potential redirection of SS payments possibly.
I will call the SS offices, but was wondering on thoughts here.

That's a good point, and I guess I'll have to do that too. Although, seriously, I think everybody's SS is out there already. At the same time, by pulling the money back before he got it I probably pissed him off, so I should be safe rather than sorry. And I'll be interested in hearing what SS tells you. We haven't started SS yet, but I've got accounts with the SSA for both of us, so I'm hoping we would be notified of any activity.

And did you click on a link to download the application? If so there may be some nefarious bots already creeping around your computer stealing all kinds of personal information/financial data from you. If you google how to report identity theft, one of first to come up is usa.gov and they take reports on online and international scams. This could be the beginning of a nightmare.

There were no links. That should have been a red flag in itself. You had to call in and request the application, which was emailed to you as a PDF. I did run the PDF through a virus checker, and didn't get anything. So hopefully that's one less thing to have to worry about.

I mentioned earlier the website www.scam.com but it's just another forum.
All the legit companies they are pretending to be affiliated should have a contact for suspicious activity.

I checked the FDIC list and there was no listing for Community Bank so that may be another checkpoint but obviously that won't work since they are generally claiming affiliation with legit banks.

It's Community Federal Savings Bank. FDIC# is 57129. They're legit, but all they do is hold the account that the victim wires the money to. Then Transferwise has access to that account, and picks up the money from there and sends it overseas.

I got an email from Transferwise saying they would refuse the transaction when they got it. But that was already after I had gotten the money back, so I think it was CFSB that reversed the wire. I spoke to their fraud department yesterday and they put in whatever process they had to deal with these sorts of things. Again, I was lucky I got on it right away, because if I had waited 3.5 hours everything would have been closed and I would have been hosed.

Can I suggest a separate thread for this topic? I wanna hear more but it is OT.

I'd have no problem with that, but I'm not sure it has that much more to be said. Whatever the mods think.

 

[Dtail]

And did you click on a link to download the application? If so there may be some nefarious bots already creeping around your computer stealing all kinds of personal information/financial data from you. If you google how to report identity theft, one of first to come up is usa.gov and they take reports on online and international scams. This could be the beginning of a nightmare.

I actually took a picture of the application and sent it to them due our scanner not working.

 

[jazz4cash]

On a related note, so I sent in the application although no monies sent.
However they have my parents and my SS #/mother maiden names.
So we all have credit freezes and fraud alerts at the bureaus.
I am not collecting SS yet, but was wondering what risk do my parents have with a potential redirection of SS payments possibly.
I will call the SS offices, but was wondering on thoughts here.

Have you and your parents "claimed" your SS accounts? It is a form of 2 Factor Authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
Search for mySS.gov (something like that).

 

[Dtail]

Have you and your parents "claimed" your SS accounts? It is a form of 2 Factor Authentication to prevent unauthorized access.
Search for mySS.gov (something like that).

I have not, but was going to get to it this year. Only 60, but yeah.
Not sure if my parents have done it, but probably not.

 

[harley]

Just froze my and DW's credit, except we couldn't do hers for Experian online for some reason. Probably missed one of those ridiculous security questions they ask, although I can guarantee our answers were correct. But I'll get that part going, and other than that we should be good. Whew! I'll be glad when this is the far past.

 

[ShokWaveRider]

Still wallowing in an average of 3.85% on $2m +.

 

[almost there]

Close call. I would expect more of the same as this "thing" runs its course.
Still happy to be 95% in CD's. Have no interest in stock market drama. 30 yrs was enough for me.
Sleep better than ever the past couple yrs. My next major move is mid 2022. Hoping things are looking better then / in the way of 5yr CD's.

 

[Sunset]

On a related note, so I sent in the application although no monies sent.
However they have my parents and my SS #/mother maiden names.
So we all have credit freezes and fraud alerts at the bureaus.
I am not collecting SS yet, but was wondering what risk do my parents have with a potential redirection of SS payments possibly.
I will call the SS offices, but was wondering on thoughts here.

I never use my mother's maiden name - that info is public knowledge, especially with ancestry.com and related sites.

Sites are basically using it as password.

Instead I just make up a word (and write it down) and it's different for each bank. I don't even make it a real name, example of the type would be: greenwitch or skinnysun.

 

[audreyh1]

Just as a heads up, that was a scam. I'm ok, but it was a very close thing. I'll give more details later.

OMG! So glad it was just close!

 

[audreyh1]

If I'm following the thread correctly though, one key difference between prior deals that many of us have taken advantage of was that they were directly with the bank or credit union issuing the CD.... in this case it was through an intermediary... an agent... rather than directly with Synovus. Is that correct?

I'm glad it was figured out before anyone got burnt.

Yes, that alone made me nervous about it, although I have no qualms about buying brokered CDs through my existing brokerages.

I don’t have any more money laying around to buy CDs anyway.

 

[audreyh1]

I'm taking advantage of the 1% bonus from Ally (max of $250).
Have to

1. open an account if don't already have one and
2. then sign up for it before moving in money.

https://www.ally.com/go/bank/bonus/

It's available for existing customers (love Ally) in which case only need to do step 2. (it asks name and email) no need to log in.

They send you an email confirming the move.
Then move in money and keep accounts at that NET level until June 30th.

Right, and you have until 3/31 to send in the new money.

 

[MJ]

ATTENTION THIS IS A FRAUD DEAL

I just walked into a Synovus Bank coz something the clearing info worried me about this whole deal.
They did not know anything about this deal and looked up my rep Mark Guntle. He does not work for Synovus.
The Apex Clearing firm is a fraud firm.
Harley - will send you a PM.

I don't have this type of free cash available but this is a good (fraud) catch.
Good Job.

 

[MJ]

It does beg the question though as to whether we should be highlighting promotions that might not be legitimate.

I think we all need to do our due diligence. When I saw the 5 yr 3.56%, out of curiosity, I searched on Bank Deals and high and low on google and did not find any reference. I even called Synovus but the wait time just was too long.