CD Interest Rates - Where have the good ones gone?

There are three main ways to find the best CD interest rates. All of them take a little time, but can certainly net you a good return. Many bank's rates are in the 3.00% to 4.00% range, but some have rates in the low 5.00%, and a few are little gems in the 5.50% range.

First, many people are using search engines such as Google, Yahoo, and MSN. Matter of fact, you are probably reading this article, because of one of them. Using generic terms such as "CD Rates", may return too many results. Some ways to return fewer, more targeted results are to:

• 1) include the word, "Jumbo" if you have amounts larger than $50,000
• 2) include your state and/or city if you only want to invest your funds close to home
• 3) include the rate, current month, and year for the rate you want, such as "CD Rates 5.50% October 2007". Including the month and year should minimize expired offers.

Then make your phone calls or send your emails to see which offers fit your needs. Remember, it is your money; your in the driver's seat.

Second, go through your newspapers. Many banks and credit unions like to use print media to advertise special interest rate offers. This keeps their call volume and costs down since they won't be having to field thousands of calls from the internet.

Finally, call your local banks and credit unions, especially if they are smaller community institutions. Smaller institutions are more likely to be interested in you and meeting the needs of their community. You won't be just a number to them. This option will likely yield better results for larger depositors.

Before making any deposits remember to verify the institution is federally insured by the FDIC for banks or NCUA for credit unions. Please note that some institutions carry private and/or supplemental insurance through ESI (Excess Share Insurance) or ASI (American Share Insurance). Although both of these have been around for quite some time, they are private companies.

To save a lot of time, you can always call your friendly, neighborhood, Jumbo CD broker or view our on-line CD interest rates.