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

[Dtail]

Perhaps a good time to lock in the 1.5% at Ally with their no penalty 11 mo CD?

Savings is still at 1.50% at Ally, but will probably change within days.

 

[jazz4cash]

I think you all have high expectations considering that fed funds futures were pricing in negative rates as early as November this morning. If you have access to Navy Federal, might be worth opening a 2 year "Easy Start" CD that allows additional deposits.

Yes, and thank you for the tip on NFCU 3 yr variable CD. way back when. It has dropped to 0.46 but I can add funds and earn 2.04 which is the floor rate for next 12 mos.

Thanks to this and other add-ons at NFCU I have choices up to 3.7 for 2 yrs. I’m scraping all the dividends and MM funds out of other accounts to add-on at NFCU.

MY local community bank MM IRA was paying >2 % through Feb and it tracks 13 wk Tbill so it’s dropped to .6 now. I’m outta there!

Without these add-on options I’d just choose 2 or 3 of the high payers and diversify. No point piling into one fund for a few BP only to have it leapfrog the one you bailed out of.

 

[dvalley]

Savings is still at 1.50% at Ally, but will probably change within days.

Yes, I just moved most of my money from their savings to their 11 mo no-penalty CD this afternoon just to lock in the 1.5%

 

[Carol1862]

Kind of scary that we’re excited to lock in 1.5%!

 

[lucky penny]

Savings is still at 1.50% at Ally, but will probably change within days.

Ditto for American Express Personal Savings, which also offers CDs for 18 months & 2 yrs at that rate - for now. AE has typically been in lock-step with Barclays Online Banking, but Barclays' savings recently dropped to 1.30% & their highest CD rate is 1.20%.

I keep thinking of when Penfed was offering those 5-yr CDs at 3.5% in late 2018 & some commented that they would wait for higher rates or didn't like the early withdrawal penalties. I never paid much attention to EWPs, but 18 months ago who was imagining a global pandemic with devastating consequences?

 

[GalaxyBoy]

Savings is still at 1.50% at Ally, but will probably change within days.

Got the email just now:

The Annual Percentage Yield (APY) for your Online Savings Account is changing from 1.50% APY to 1.25% APY on all balance tiers, and the APY for your Money Market Account is changing from 0.75% APY to 0.50% APY on all balance tiers. Your new APYs are effective 5/12/2020 and will show online in your account details on 5/13/2020.

 

[Sojourner]

Got the email just now:

Me too, so I quickly opened and funded a new 11-mo "no penalty" CD at 1.50%.

Sigh... these constant rate moves downward are getting depressing.

 

[gcgang]

Kind of scary that we’re excited to lock in 1.5%!

+1

The FI returns we are getting excited about used to be rounding errors.

 

[Dash man]

Me too, so I quickly opened and funded a new 11-mo "no penalty" CD at 1.50%.



Sigh... these constant rate moves downward are getting depressing.

I did the same. I have some more cash hitting my Ally account tomorrow, so I hope the CD stays at 1.5%.

 

[brewer12345]

I have the option to load up at Navy at 2.3% through next July. I also have the option to do a dump in at 2.5% a year end for one year. I am having a hard time coming up with reasons why I should not show up with an awful lot of cash.

 

[Dash man]

I have the option to load up at Navy at 2.3% through next July. I also have the option to do a dump in at 2.5% a year end for one year. I am having a hard time coming up with reasons why I should not show up with an awful lot of cash.

Don’t they limit the amount you can put in those?

 

[brewer12345]

Don’t they limit the amount you can put in those?

The specials have limits, the rest do not. The 2.5 rate is no limit.

 

[aja8888]

The specials have limits, the rest do not. The 2.5 rate is no limit.

I'm looking all over the NFCU site and I don't find this 2.5% rate for any certificate. Can you point it to me? Thanks.

I am a member and see the "Special EasyStart℠ Certificate" but that has a $3K max for one year only. Everthing else is much lower in rate.

 

[brewer12345]

I'm looking all over the NFCU site and I don't find this 2.5% rate for any certificate. Can you point it to me? Thanks.

I am a member and see the "Special EasyStart℠ Certificate" but that has a $3K max for one year only. Everthing else is much lower in rate.

The 2.5% is a past variable CD deal that is not available. What you want is the regular Easy Start CD, not the Special.

 

[aja8888]

The 2.5% is a past variable CD deal that is not available. What you want is the regular Easy Start CD, not the Special.

Thanks.

 

[DallasGuy]

I had a couple of CD's maturing this month so I just opened up a 1 YR CD at Marcus Bank for 1.6%...couldn't find anything higher and I didn't want to lock in the money longer than a year at this point. Hopefully by this time next year, rates will start inching up again.

 

[njhowie]

Hopefully by this time next year, rates will start inching up again.

We can all hope, but I don't think the prognosis is good.

I believe the Federal Reserve has now fallen in line with the other major central bankers of the world, looking to go to negative rates. Until now, there has been an overriding belief that negative rates would not work in the US. Considering how negative rates have done absolutely nothing for those economies which have gone that route, we have evidence of the likelihood. However, we are living in a new world, and as much as I'd like to bite my tongue, things are different this time.

Locking in to 1 year CDs at this time may leave you looking at even lower yields when it matures. That's not necessarily a bad thing - a year from now, there should be more visibility regarding the economic situation, and a little less risky investment environment in general.

 

[njhowie]

For folks with Fidelity - now that most of the money fund and FDIC insured program bank sweep yields have gone to 0.01%, you may want to consider moving those balances to FCASH. Currently FCASH is likewise paying 0.01%. I moved our balances a few weeks ago once it became clear what was taking place. Unlike the money funds, FCASH will not "break the buck", and I do not believe it can go to negative yields. I suppose should the situation arise, they could go to 0.00% (as Fidelity is not required to pay interest on FCASH) and begin charging some sort of fee. However, at this time, I believe that there is less risk than in the other money funds which do not guarantee against potential losses.

 

[wrigley]

Ally just lowered their online banking percentage rate from 1.5% to 1.25% effective today.

Mike

 

[Dtail]

For folks with Fidelity - now that most of the money fund and FDIC insured program bank sweep yields have gone to 0.01%, you may want to consider moving those balances to FCASH. Currently FCASH is likewise paying 0.01%. I moved our balances a few weeks ago once it became clear what was taking place. Unlike the money funds, FCASH will not "break the buck", and I do not believe it can go to negative yields. I suppose should the situation arise, they could go to 0.00% (as Fidelity is not required to pay interest on FCASH) and begin charging some sort of fee. However, at this time, I believe that there is less risk than in the other money funds which do not guarantee against potential losses.

I just move the sweep balances into FZDXX which is at 0.37%, but of course need 100k to start it but no minimum balance after that.
Alternatively for our accounts without FZDXX, I have been using 1 month brokered CD's at 0.10% instead of the 0.01% cash sweep accounts.

 

[Helen]

Ally just lowered their online banking percentage rate from 1.5% to 1.25% effective today.

Mike

I am trying to lock in at Ally's no penalty CD before they lower the rate. I have money in two MM accounts at Fido, but it appears I can only move $100k per account at a time. I have to call Fido today to see what the limit is about. I have 10 days total to get the money into the CD.

 

[jazz4cash]

I am trying to lock in at Ally's no penalty CD before they lower the rate. I have money in two MM accounts at Fido, but it appears I can only move $100k per account at a time. I have to call Fido today to see what the limit is about. I have 10 days total to get the money into the CD.

Didn’t you have a variable rate MM account tied to some index? How’s it doing? I have one at a local community bank that is indexed to 13 week tbill + .5%. It held up pretty well until last month. It is now .62% which is not bad but I’m moving it to a CD to lock in a better rate for 2 yrs.

 

[Dtail]

Ally Bank already lowered the no penalty CD to 1.30% on all tiers.

 

[audreyh1]

I had a couple of CD's maturing this month so I just opened up a 1 YR CD at Marcus Bank for 1.6%...couldn't find anything higher and I didn't want to lock in the money longer than a year at this point. Hopefully by this time next year, rates will start inching up again.

Based on past experiences with these low rate periods, I don’t think rates are going to turn around anytime soon. It will probably be several years again.

 

[audreyh1]

I just move the sweep balances into FZDXX which is at 0.37%, but of course need 100k to start it but no minimum balance after that.
Alternatively for our accounts without FZDXX, I have been using 1 month brokered CD's at 0.10% instead of the 0.01% cash sweep accounts.

Since our main Fidelity brokerage account is taxable, I routinely do a sweep to a high yield savings account. Seems to be one day either direction, so it’s fast enough.