Stonebridge Bank is offering a 21 month 2.30% APY and a 14 month 1.80% APY certificate of deposit with a minimum deposit of just $500. These are also available as IRA CD rates. This offer is available nationally and there’s an online application.
Interest is compounded daily and the early withdrawal penalty is 180 days’ interest for terms of 1 to 3 years. There’s a 10 day grace period at maturity and the CD can be funded through check or wire transfer. Incoming wire transfers are free and outgoing transfers are $20. The CD rate locks when they receive funds, so a wire transfer would be the ideal method of funding your account. You need to send in a written request to close out your CD.
Stonebridge Bank is offering 1.25% APY on their money market accounts for a minimum balance of $1,000 (otherwise there’s a $10 monthly fee).
Stonebridge Bank has branches in Blue Bell, Exton, Warminster, and West Chester, Pennsylvania. They have a 2 out of 5 star soundness rating from Bankrate and are FDIC insured. To visit their site click here.
CD Rates
First City Bank is offering a 2.25% APY 15 month CD with a minimum deposit of $5,000 and a maximum of $250,000. These CD rates are going to expire on February 26th, 2010.
There’s an online application that’s available to anyone nationwide, but you can’t seem to select the 15 month CD. When filling out the application you have to mention the 15 month CD in the notes in order to apply for it. Seems pretty silly that they don’t have a checkbox for their 15 month CD. You might be better off opening a certificate of deposit over the phone by calling 888-244-5151.
First City Bank also has a reward checking account paying out 3.01% APY for balances up to $25,000. There’s an online application for this as well and online banking is available.
Branches of First City Bank are located in Destin, Fort Walton Beach, and Mary Esther, Florida.
This offer may not be worth the trouble though with a low soundness rating from bankrate, only 1 out of 5 stars. If you do open an account I’d strongly recommend staying under the $250,000 FDIC insured limit at this bank. To visit their site click here.
CD Rates
Danversbank is offering a local Massachusetts CD rate and also some good national CD rates. The first you can get from their Cambridge branch at 485 Mass Ave. It’s a 2.5% 1 year CD with a minimum deposit of $500, and a maximum of $500,000. You need new money to open this account. This deal could end at any time so if you live in Boston I suggest getting over to that branch ASAP if you want that certificate of deposit.
Danversbank is also offering the following nationwide: a 1.75% 4 month CD, a 1.5% APY savings account, and a 4.01% reward checking account. There’s an online application available for each of these accounts and online banking is available.
Branches of Danversbank are located in several Boston, Danvers, Salem and Wilmington, Massachusetts.
Danversbank has a strong 4 out of 5 star soundness rating from bankrate and is FDIC insured. To visit their site click here.
CD Rates
A zero balance account is a type of account that can make payments but does not carry a balance. A small business checking account that only carries enough funds to pay off its vendors is a type of zero balance account. Zero balance accounts are almost always in the form of a business checking account.
The advantage of having a zero balance checking account is that you don’t lose a single penny on lost interest. You can keep all your business funds in interest bearing accounts so your money is always working for your business. Funds can be moved to the zero balance account right before any bill is due. This maximizes a company’s profitability.
It’s easier to keep track of finances in a zero balance account. Every time you want to spend money on your business you have to basically manual move funds. Any use of company funds must be pre-authorized, or else there won’t be any funds to spend in the zero balance account.
A zero balance account is a great way to manage a company’s cash flow. One stipulation is that you should have your zero balance account at the same bank that you have your interest bearing account. This allows you to transfer funds instantly. If you had accounts at separate banks you would have to wait for funds to transfer and that would be bad for business.
personal finance
Fractional-reserve banking is a type of banking where the bank only needs to keep a fraction of their actual deposits on premises. Almost every bank operates under this type of system because this is what allows banks to generate money. For example a bank might loan out deposit money in order to get interest paid back to them on those loans. Full-reserve banking is a system where banks must hold all their deposits and not lend out their funds.
Some form of fractional-reserve banking has been practiced for a very long time in the banking industry. The way fractional-reserve banking works is that the bank essentially borrows from its depositors to offer loans to people who apply for them. Banks may also choose to invest deposited funds in various ways. If you bank in an institution which uses the fractional-reserve system, this means that you are indirectly funding the loans and investments made by the bank; so if you bank at the same institution which administers your mortgage, you could say that you loaned yourself some of the money!
Banks take customer deposits and make money on them usually by lending out that money to individuals or small businesses. This allows the bank to pay you interest on your deposit accounts. Fractional-reserve banking is what allows banks to make as much money as they do.
Fractional-reserve banking does mean that some banks might not have much liquidity. Banks aren’t required to have all deposits at hand, but they must redeem any money a banking customer may want. For example if someone closes their checking account, the bank must come up with the cash for the customer’s account. If a large enough percentage of banking customers ask for their money all at once, the bank could be in serious trouble.
Banks can get into further trouble when their investments default on their loans. When a customer defaults the bank loses that money and has to find ways to recoup that loss, but if they can’t they just have to eat it. Too many bad loans can cause some banks to go bankrupt.
The Federal Reserve Bank is the government agency set to oversee fractional-reserve banking. In addition the FDIC insured deposits for up to $250,000 in case any banks make too many bad loans and go under.
Money News
Bank reconciliation is any time you compare documents from a bank with documents from an account holder. Businesses and individuals will sometimes take part in bank reconciliation.
If you balance your checkbook you can compare your own record keeping to the bank’s statements on your checking account and make sure they match up. This is bank reconciliation. You should make sure you have every check you’ve written accounted for and make sure the amounts match up with the bank’s numbers. You can sometimes catch bank errors that may have slipped by. Just last week I discovered my bank mistakenly took out $200 more than a check I had written. If I didn’t check my bank statements I wouldn’t have found this error and would have been out $200.
You should also keep track of ATM withdrawals and debit card purchases. If you don’t keep track of these types of transactions your checkbook register numbers won’t match up with the bank’s numbers.
Automatic bill payments are also something you may forget to keep track of that you’ll need to. When you keep track of all your finances, you won’t have any surprises when your monthly bank statement comes.
The last thing you need to keep track of is deposits and withdrawals. If you keep track of all these things you should have an easy time with a bank reconciliation.
If you find a small discrepancy between your records and the bank’s records you shouldn’t worry too much about it. Even when you’re on top of your finances it’s easy to forget a single transaction or two. Just keep in mind that banks do occasionally make errors and if there’s a large discrepancy it’s worth checking into. If you can’t figure out the discrepancy on your own then you should contact your bank for a full bank reconciliation and hopefully the issue will get resolved.
personal finance
A man in the browser attack is a hack that can steal login information and financial account details. The attack uses Trojans and phishing techniques to gain access to a computer and steal the targets private information. The Trojan doesn’t interfere with the functioning on the computer so the user doesn’t know that his or her computer has been infected.
The Trojan can see into your web browser and can report back to the attacker your login information.
Traditional phishing techniques are usually in the form of an email and require you to click on a link but the man in the browser does everything behind the scenes on your computer. The man in the browser doesn’t interfere with any of your online capabilities.
The attacker can gain credit card numbers, internet banking logins, and bank account numbers. The victim of the attack may not be aware until they see fraudulent credit card charges or money missing from their checking account.
Trojans used in the man in the browser attack are hard to detect and hard to remove as well. Standard security measures may not be enough to detect if your computer has been detected. It helps to keep your virus software up to date.
Money News
Every time you write a check there’s a certain amount of time between when you actually write the check to when the funds are deducted from your checking account. This time can include time taken to mail the check and the time it takes the receiver to get to the bank to cash your check. There’s also the time the banks takes to process the check. Depositing a check isn’t an instant process. This time between writing and deduction from your account is known as an availability float.
During the availability float you’re still able to use the money you wrote the check for in your account, but it’s dangerous to fool around with that money. You should keep track of checks you wrote and how much they were for so you don’t end up with an overdraft fee. The availability float varies greatly from check to check. Most companies will cash checks as soon as they receive them while some people will wait a long time before getting to the bank. You never know how long it’s going to take.
Some banks, depending on your history with you, will allow you access money from check deposits immediately. In most cases however there’s at least some amount of availability float, especially if the check is from a foreign bank. This float period lasts anywhere from a day to a week. Sometimes banks will allow you to access some of the funds before the check has cleared. For example my bank let’s me access the first $100 of any check I deposit immediately. If you balancing your funds between checks you’ve written and checks you’ve deposited but haven’t received credit for yet, it’s best to play cautiously with these situations and not spend money from your account until your checks have cleared.
In the case of ATM withdrawals, there’s no float time at all. As soon as you withdraw funds from an ATM they’re also deducted from your account. There are also situations where your funds are deducted from a check immediately as well. For example if you write a check to someone who has the same bank as you, the funds will be transferred instantly.
If you’re mailing a check there’s basically a guarantee of at least 1 day of float time because of the transit time of your mail. If you have a direct deposit that you know is going to be deposited the next day for sure, then you can be safe to write a check and mail it that day. Of course if you can wait one more day you should. Always be cautious and try not to play around with the availability float of checks you write.
personal finance
If you were going to sign up for a Costco membership they’re now offering a free booklet of $50 worth of coupons when you sign up. The price for membership remains the same which is $50 a year for Gold and $100 for Executive membership. The promo code is smartsave for Gold and smartsaveEX for Executive membership. The coupons are the same value as the gold membership so this is extra incentive to join now. This offer expires on June 30th, 2010 and there’s a limit of one per household.
The nice thing about Costco is that if you don’t end up saving money with them, they’ll refund you the difference.
personal finance
A currency converter shows the worth of one currency amount when it’s converted to a foreign currency. Currency conversions calculations can be made based on the foreign exchange (FOREX) market which is always open. Over 3 trillion dollars are traded over the FOREX everyday.
A currency converter is useful when visiting foreign countries and you need to determine the price of a product based in your own currency. The visitor can then determine if they’re getting a good deal based on how much he’ll have to pay laid out in his home currency.
Every major airport has a currency converter that has exchange rates. These booths can also exchange money but they charge quite a hefty fee so this isn’t the recommended way to convert currency. It’s better to find a bank and convert your currency there, although if you’re on the go an airport currency converter is very convenient.
There are some internet sites that can also convert currency. Their fees aren’t quite as good as banks but there may be added convenience to converting currency online. You can easily setup an account, convert your currency, then load it into your online account.
All you need to convert currencies online is to pick the currencies you want to convert, check the exchange rate, then select your desired amount of money to convert. You can usually pay with a credit card or a checking account debit. You can then determine your method for receiving the currency, either through direct deposit, wire transfer, or cash.
Online currency converters usually have minimum and maximum for amounts they’re willing to convert. If you need large sums of money converted you should go to a bank to avoid excessive fees.
personal finance
