Has anyone checked out stock market CD's? Check out FISN.com, they have some REALLY interesting products there, FDIC insured no less.

Another interesting product on FISN.com are the inflation indexed CDs. They remind me of I-bonds and TIPS. The rate "spread" they are currently listing on those above CPI are lower than TIPS real yields but actually higher than the I bond fixed rate. Of course I bonds have a tax advantage that these CDs will not have, so it looks like both TIPS and I bonds are better options than these CDs.

codename47 said:The program minimums for the stock CD's were REALLY attractive. Minimums of 10 or 18% aren't too shabby in my book.

You do realize that the 11-19% were not APY, but over the entire 5-6 year term right? That's 2-3% APY. But I suppose it's better than nothing.

Anyone got in on the Chartway 8% CD? I got in but had an unusual conversation this morning w/ CSR. Apparently, the fund for the 8% goes into the savings account because the 8% promotion needs to be open by a different department and they have to wait for the money to be sent over so I need to wait and check back in 20 business days for the CD to be opened. CSR also mentioned that there are millions(?) of responses so it would take awhile to process them all. All in all somewhat weird.
Anyone with a different experience?

stfs said:Anyone got in on the Chartway 8% CD? I got in but had an unusual conversation this morning w/ CSR. Apparently, the fund for the 8% goes into the savings account because the 8% promotion needs to be open by a different department and they have to wait for the money to be sent over so I need to wait and check back in 20 business days for the CD to be opened. CSR also mentioned that there are millions(?) of responses so it would take awhile to process them all. All in all somewhat weird.
Anyone with a different experience?

Yes, the money stays in your share account until the certificate department gets to processing of it. However, they will then effective date it back to the date of your deposit/certificate request... so you won't lose out on the interest rate. My first certificate took 9 calendar days to be created and I did earn the interest retroactively as they stated. My second certificate has gone just past that number of days and is waiting to be created. The promo is still available so they are still looking for additional members from this.

Copied from CD rate thread ...

bruce814 said:It's always wise to check the method that a bank uses to calculate interest. Not all of them compound monthly ,or give you the choice. IT makes a difference in the overall amt you receive at the end of the CD term. If given a choice , it's best to opt for monthly compounding. It adds to the overall balance in the end.

Is there really a truth to this, provided you've been quoted APY instead of APR? I was a little worried about compound interest at first when I asked for all interest to be deferred to maturity on one of my CDs. But now I think it makes no difference, i.e. it still compounds, daily in my case, and only the actual payment is deferred to maturity. Another example, if you compare compounded monthly vs. daily, and they have the same APY, by definition they'd have different APRs (higher for the monthly compounding) and also in this case it would make no difference.

The evidence appears to mounting that there will be a Fed pause soon. Treasuries - the major competition for CD money -
have been below Fed rates for some time. Historically, Treasuries start declining before the Fed starts cutting rates. The Fed of course pauses first, then often starts cutting if the economy slows, which many observers expect in the latter half of this year. Signs of slowing are already present.
Given that banks are competing with Treasuries for their CD deposits, the banks should start cutting CD rates pretty soon.

This probably is the time to start locking in long-term CDs as rates have very likely peaked for this business cycle.

ThursdaysChild said:
In the CD thread, I posted about an ad from Countrywide for a 5.70% 13-month CD with a $10K minimum. [Ad was in LA & Orange County papers.]
I've noticed that the Countrywide Savings thread was very negative about this bank. How about CD experiences, anyone?
I Have a CD with them and besides being annoyed by the hard pull have had no problems with them.

dasachs said:The evidence appears to mounting that there will be a Fed pause soon.
I was thinking that also, Now I read this today and looks like we could see at least one more hike next week

Key inflation gauge surges
Consumers, feeling squeezed, slow their spending in June
By Associated Press | August 2, 2006

WASHINGTON -- Consumer spending was sluggish in June as Americans had to divert more cash to fill up their gas tanks and a key inflation gauge rose at the fastest clip in more than a decade.

That raised concerns in financial markets that the Federal Reserve will push interest rates up for an 18th consecutive time because of worries about inflation.

The Commerce Department reported yesterday that consumer spending, after adjusting for inflation, posted a weak 0.2 percent rise in June, marking the fourth straight month of 0.2 percent or less.

An inflation gauge tied to consumer spending posted a 0.2 percent increase in June and a rise of 2.4 percent for the 12 months ending in June, matching the rise in the 12 months ending in September 2002 and the fastest increase since a 2.5 percent rise in the 12 months ending in April 1995.

In other economic news, a report on construction spending showed unexpected strength in July, rising 0.3 percent to a record level, helped by big increases in spending on government, office, and hotel projects.

And the Institute for Supply Management's gauge of manufacturing activity in July posted a stronger-than-expected increase to 54.7, above the June reading of 53.8. However, part of that acceleration reflected a rise in raw materials prices as the costs of everything from fuel to paper increased.

The worrisome increases in inflation raised concerns on Wall Street that the Federal Reserve will feel the need to boost interest rates when policy makers meet Tuesday.

``The Fed has to tighten next week, pure and simple," said Stephen Stanley, chief economist at RBS Greenwich Capital. ``Core inflation is too high and accelerating."

Not all economists agreed with that assessment, however. They noted the weak rise in consumer spending, which accounts for two-thirds of total economic growth.

The weakness in consumer demand was a major factor in the government's report Friday that overall economic growth slowed to an annual rate of just 2.5 percent in the April-June quarter, far below the economy's 5.6 percent growth rate from January through March.

I have a World savings CD coming due in a week or two. I got a call from them asking if I would like to roll it over(not a great roll over rate...lower than the current WS promo rate on the website). Anyhow the discussion turned to what I was going to due. get a check, deposit locally, and open a new one - maybe at WS maybe not. The CSR said she could waive the "new money thing" if I wanted to open one with them. She asked what I was looking at for a new CD bnecause she had the ability to match almost any CD. I mentioned the current WS 9month 6.01APY(in-branch only). She seemed to be aware of it, and did a little digging. She apologized that she could not match their own in branch rate(she was from the internet banking branch of WS - based in texas according to caller ID). She also reinforced to me that if I wanted this CD I had to go the branch. No branches in my state. Gonna have to look for some other higher rate shorter term CD.

Lessons - WS will try to match a local CD rate to get your business. They will waive the "new money thing" to keep your business. I also leatned, you can no longer call ahead and flag your CD for automatic closure upon maturity, you must now either call within 7 calendar days after maturity, or in advance via writing(not email, real paper, usps, etc!) to get a check sent to you.