Do you know what affects bank CD rates? Why can you get a CD rate at your bank and find out later that the best CD rates were at another bank?
First if all, the length of time you are willing to loan your money to the bank will be important in the interest rate you get. The longer the amount of time of the CD, the higher the rate (usually). The second very important thing that will influence the CD interest rates is the overall rate environment. For instance, the economy is really struggling right now and all rates are low. If you come back two or three years from now things might be different and all rates may be higher. You can do nothing about the rate environment but you can look around until you find the best CD interest rates in your area.
Not all bank CD rates are the same and you will find that the best CD rates vary from bank to bank. This can be for many reasons. Banking is a competitive business as is any other business and so one bank may be giving a slightly better rate than its competitors to try to get your business. Banks also have specials from time to time for the very same reason: to try to get new customers. That is why it is advantageous to shop around from bank to bank to find the best CD rates in your city or state. You never know what specials or promotions are being offered until you look around.
You may be able to find better CD rates at credit unions than banks. This because most credit unions are nonprofit organizations and thus they can afford to give a better rate because they are not trying to make money. It may be wise to join a credit union for this very purpose of getting good CD interest rates.
A final way to get the best CD rates is to invest as much money as you can to get the better rate. Most banks will give you a higher rate for putting more of your money in a CD and a lower rate for smaller CD's. This is another way of rewarding you if you bring them more business. So, the different banks in your area may have different deals on the amount of money you invest in a bank CD.
All these reasons add up to the fact that the best CD rates are changing all the time and may be at one bank one week and at another bank the next week. You may also find good interest rates at online banks too. If you have money to put in a CD, you need to do some work checking out all the different CD rates so that you can identify the one with the highest yield.
CAN YOU GET THE BEST CD RATES WITH NO RISK?
High yield CD rates are hard to find now and exactly what the word "high" means is different for different people. Interest rates are very low now and so it is a challenge to find the best CD rates. The question is, if you find the best CD interest rates, are they risk free or do you have to assume some risk to get them?
Certificate of deposits are some of the safest investments you can make. This is why it is recommended that seniors have most of their money in CD's or government bonds which have the least risk. Seniors live on a fixed income and most cannot risk losing any of their investment. CD's give them that risk free return although it is of course lower than they could get if they were to put it in a something that did have risk.
No risk equals low returns. That is how it has always been and it always will be. High risk, on the other hand, equals the opportunity to possibly have high returns but nothing is ever guaranteed. Just because you want to invest in no risk CD's does not mean that you can't shop around for the best CD rates. Not all banks give the same rates and sometimes different banks have promotions that will get you and extra quarter or half percent. It can pay to shop around.
CD's are guaranteed by the US government and the amount they are guaranteed up to has just risen from $100,000 to $250,000. If you have more than that you need to put your money in CD's in different banks. Because they are this safe, certificates of deposit will always have some of the lowest yields. You pay for safety with a low yield.
Not only should you look for the best CD interest rates at your local banks but you should also try to find better rates online. With online banking, you have the opportunity to get CD's from banks all over the country. These will all be risk free certificates of deposit up to $250,000 but you might be able to find the best CD rates somewhere online. With this many banks and institutions to choose from, it can get a little confusing.
Now that the economy is so bad, it might be a good idea to check the health of a bank before you buy one of their certificate of deposits. Yes, they will be guaranteed, but it is always preferable to be doing business with a bank that has a solid financial position. You might find the best CD rates at a bank that, upon further research, turns out to be one that could go bankrupt. What you do in this type of situation is up to you but if they go under it will be a hassle for you and you won't get that high yield you were counting on. Perhaps it is wiser to get a CD from a bank that will still be around when it is time for your CD to mature.
Certificate of deposits are some of the safest investments you can make. This is why it is recommended that seniors have most of their money in CD's or government bonds which have the least risk. Seniors live on a fixed income and most cannot risk losing any of their investment. CD's give them that risk free return although it is of course lower than they could get if they were to put it in a something that did have risk.
No risk equals low returns. That is how it has always been and it always will be. High risk, on the other hand, equals the opportunity to possibly have high returns but nothing is ever guaranteed. Just because you want to invest in no risk CD's does not mean that you can't shop around for the best CD rates. Not all banks give the same rates and sometimes different banks have promotions that will get you and extra quarter or half percent. It can pay to shop around.
CD's are guaranteed by the US government and the amount they are guaranteed up to has just risen from $100,000 to $250,000. If you have more than that you need to put your money in CD's in different banks. Because they are this safe, certificates of deposit will always have some of the lowest yields. You pay for safety with a low yield.
Not only should you look for the best CD interest rates at your local banks but you should also try to find better rates online. With online banking, you have the opportunity to get CD's from banks all over the country. These will all be risk free certificates of deposit up to $250,000 but you might be able to find the best CD rates somewhere online. With this many banks and institutions to choose from, it can get a little confusing.
Now that the economy is so bad, it might be a good idea to check the health of a bank before you buy one of their certificate of deposits. Yes, they will be guaranteed, but it is always preferable to be doing business with a bank that has a solid financial position. You might find the best CD rates at a bank that, upon further research, turns out to be one that could go bankrupt. What you do in this type of situation is up to you but if they go under it will be a hassle for you and you won't get that high yield you were counting on. Perhaps it is wiser to get a CD from a bank that will still be around when it is time for your CD to mature.
WHY SEARCH FOR THE BEST CD INTEREST RATES?
Why should people care about the best CD rates and who should be interested in opening a CD? A CD stands for a certificate of deposit and that is what you can get if you want to invest your money with some guarantee of safety. The stock market might historically give you better returns, but as we have all seen lately, stocks are very risky. Anyone who wants to get a safe return on their money should be interested in getting CD's. Also anyone interested in how to save money should be looking into CD rates as well.
Right now, rates are very low and it is impossible to earn high interest. Unfortunately there is not much difference between the best CD interest rates and the poorest. Even though they are low, the one main advantage of CD's is that they are insured up to $250,000.00 by the federal government. Unlike stocks, where you can lose everything, CD's give you security and safety in exchange for the low interest rate.
Whether rates are low or high, and they do fluctuate over the years depending on many factors, it is always a good idea to look for the best CD interest rates because different banks do give different rates. If one bank is giving a rate of 3% and the bank across the street will give you 3.25%, why not cross the street for the little extra. Depending on how much you have to invest the difference might be worth the little extra work it took to find the better rate.
With the advent of the Internet, you can also search online very easily to find all the best CD rates and personal finance info. You can also get CD's online at many different banks and brokerage houses that all have an online presence. If you are shopping online for the highest CD interest rates it seems you can quickly and effortlessly determine where the best rates can be found.
Right now, rates are very low and it is impossible to earn high interest. Unfortunately there is not much difference between the best CD interest rates and the poorest. Even though they are low, the one main advantage of CD's is that they are insured up to $250,000.00 by the federal government. Unlike stocks, where you can lose everything, CD's give you security and safety in exchange for the low interest rate.
Whether rates are low or high, and they do fluctuate over the years depending on many factors, it is always a good idea to look for the best CD interest rates because different banks do give different rates. If one bank is giving a rate of 3% and the bank across the street will give you 3.25%, why not cross the street for the little extra. Depending on how much you have to invest the difference might be worth the little extra work it took to find the better rate.
With the advent of the Internet, you can also search online very easily to find all the best CD rates and personal finance info. You can also get CD's online at many different banks and brokerage houses that all have an online presence. If you are shopping online for the highest CD interest rates it seems you can quickly and effortlessly determine where the best rates can be found.
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This website/blog uses third-party advertising companies to serve ads when visiting this site. These third parties may collect and use information (but not your name, address, email address, or telephone number) about your visits to this and other websites in order to provide advertisements about goods and services of interest to you. If you would like more information about this practice and to know your choices about not having this information used by these companies, you can visit Google's Advertising and Privacy page.
If you wish to opt out of Advertising companies tracking and tailoring advertisements to your surfing patterns you may do so at Network Advertising Initiative.
Google uses the Doubleclick DART cookie to serve ads across it's Adsense network and you can get further information regarding the DART cookie at Doubleclick as well as opt out options at Google's Privacy Center.
Privacy
I respect your privacy and I am committed to safeguarding your privacy while online at this site. The following discloses how I gather and disseminate information for this Blog.
Cookies
A cookie is a piece of data stored on the user’s computer tied to information about the user. This blog doesn't use cookies. However, some of my business partners use cookies on this site (for example - advertisers). I can't access or control these cookies once the advertisers have set them.
Links
This Blog contains links to other sites. Please be aware that I am not responsible for the privacy practices of these other sites. I suggest my users to be aware of this when they leave this blog and to read the privacy statements of each and every site that collects personally identifiable information. This privacy statement applies solely to information collected by this Blog.
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I use outside ad companies to display ads on this blog. These ads may contain cookies and are collected by the advertising companies and I do not have access to this information. I work with the following advertising companies: Commission Junction, Google Adsense, ROI Rocket, Clickbank, and NeverBlueAds. Please check the advertisers websites for respective privacy policies.
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