CD Discussion Thread

Are you referring to some kind of cyberattack that would expunge your online account?

These are not ordinary times. There is no way for me to know what might transpire. It is better to be safe than sorry. This means having paper account records wherever possible, at least until things settle down.

And of course you should have them anyway, regardless anything else. But especially now.

Damm it!! Annoying aspects are looming again.

Probably shouldnā€™t admit that I simply depend upon the computer to keep my records safe. Iā€™m going to pay more attention to the accounts.

After all itā€™s just another choreā€¦. :frowning:

I apologize for any possible confusion my earlier post might have created. Sure, it is possible to store ā€œpaperā€ records in electronic form on your home computer. You would print them out if ever forced to do so by unanticipated circumstances.

I was earlier referring to reliance on the internet to obtain your account statements and records as being inadvisable, a circumstance where you would have no backup whatsoever at home.

I do not store my bank statements on my home computer. But you certainly could, once those items already have safely been downloaded. For me it makes more sense just to print everything out. But thatā€™s just me.

Anyway, it is the internet and the accessing of your account records thereby that is the concern, not your home computer.

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I donā€™t do any of this. I donā€™t even look at my statements.

Post was deleted by the author.

The insecurity is in the transmission. Your email account does not need to be hacked in order for someone to view your emails without your knowledge. A rogue employee at your ISP, the bankā€™s own email server (if hacked), or rogue IT employee (who may not have access to the actual accounts) could see your emails without actually hacking you. Making you download statements over HTTPS prevents this. Encrypted email could too, but itā€™s much more cumbersome to implement and use.

2FA that uses something other than email helps with the other problem so that hacking your email isnā€™t enough to get into your account.

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The big banks are better equipped to handle this. The small ones that pay interest and we useā€¦ arenā€™t that interesting as targets.

Personally, however, I download every statement every month or two. Itā€™s a bit of a hassle with so many accounts, but better safe than sorry (my statements are date-aligned and I have reminders). Bank errors are almost non-existent, but if I ever get so lucky I want to be sure itā€™s not in their favor.

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Are the these the current (and potential) events youā€™re talking about?

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Gosh time passes quickly when there is so much going on. This very nearly got past me:

With the upcoming commencement this week of March, be on lookout for release of Q4 2021 bank and credit union ratings before monthā€™s end.

Both the Bauer and the Weiss ratings services appear to be operating normally, as you would anticipate based upon past such releases. There remains an unfortunate wrinkle at Kenā€™s website:

Ken has been unable, after nearly three months, to resolve the problem he has reporting the rating of NFCU (Navy Federal). Instead of implementing a fix, Ken simply ceased reporting a rating for NFCU. That is not particularly professional and, perhaps more importantly, it raises a question over and possibly impugns Kenā€™s other ratings. One wonders:

Is Kenā€™s failure with his NFCU rating a ā€œone offā€, or are other ratings also impacted in some manner?

I have no answer for that. We still will have in March, Q4 2021 ratings releases by both Bauer and Weiss. Both should be as reliable as ever.

Bottom line, if you care about the health rating of your financial institution(s), March is your month. :wink:

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I now know a WHOLE lot more about this account than I did when I posted five days ago. Spent about a half hour this afternoon receiving help from a manager regarding all the ins and outs . . . . especially the outs. :wink:

If anyone has any questions I would be happy to try to answer. Ken still has not done a write up on this account (he should), so right now I seem to be the only game in town. Couple of high points:

You may open as many of these Smart Move CDs as you wish. The penalty for withdrawal of the final thousand bucks looks like 90 days of interest. Manager was a little uncertain about that aspect. Of course there is no penalty at all on your earlier withdrawal. But you figure 1% of a thousand bucks is only ten bucks . . . . and then a quarter of that would be a penalty of just $2.50. Peanuts

Interest rate close to 1% APY appears attractive for (very nearly) liquid funds.

As with other NPCDs I see no benefit in opening other than the 3 year CD, which pays the most interest.

NPCD = no penalty CD

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Sometimes you fall into the buttertub entirely by accident

Nobody else here has been interested in the Bellco Smart Move CD (APY = 0.95%) about which I wrote up thread. No matter. I liked it. So this morning I dispatched (via ACH) a decent chunk of change out to Bellco to open one of their Smart Move beauties. The funds will be there tomorrow.

But itā€™s the first of the month, I had a lot of other stuff happening, and having done my Smart Move homework yesterday I didnā€™t bother to look at the Bellco website again . . . . . . . . . . . until now.

Son of a gun, Bellco raised the APY on my (impending) Smart Move CD up to 1.15% during the overnight. :grinning:

Can you beat that? If you cannot be smart it certainly is nice to have sheer, unvarnished, luck.

Anyway, I was a willing participant at an APY of 0.95%. So Iā€™m certainly happy to go in at the new March APY of 1.15% for darn near liquid money. I honestly never saw such a rate increase coming.

Bellco is a fun credit union and Iā€™m lucky to be a member even considering anyone may join. Long time followers of this thread, if you have a splendid memory, will recall my success several years ago with the Bellco Index Advantage CDs. And when that deal went south back in 2020, Bellco very generously let me out of the CD with no penalty when I used the pandemic as an excuse.

Since then my Bellco account has been dormant. But no longer. Iā€™m BAAAAAK! :grinning:

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This is from Investorā€™s Business Daily:

Markets, which had almost fully priced in a half-point Fed rate hike a few weeks ago, still expect a quarter-point increase at the March meeting. But there is now a slim-to-modest chance of no Fed move at the March meeting.

Before the next Fed meeting, policymakers and investors will get the February employment report on Friday and the February consumer price index on March 10.

The above is owing to war impact on the worldwide economy.

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Seems like it, and mortgage rates are dropping too.

But I donā€™t get it. Why wouldnā€™t they raise the rates? Is this far-away war somehow deflationary? I guess it may chill investment and there could be a small flood of products that can no longer be sold to Russia, but the gas, oil, and wheat prices going up are definitely inflationary.

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According to the Bernanke (and possibly Greenspan) doctrine, the market is the third (or fourth) leg of the stool. You must keep it inflated, or at least not too deflated, sadly.

That is mostly wrong. I have discovered Ken sort of did a Smart Move writeup back in January:

Ken mentions Smart Move CD here

For some reason he focused on the two year CD. Also, importantly, there is an error in Kenā€™s write up. He states necessity of leaving $2500 in the CD account following your penalty-free withdrawal. Maybe that was the rule back in January. I dunno. But today you need leave only $1000 in the account. All other funds may be withdrawn penalty free. And the penalty on withdrawal of the $1000 residual is only loss of 90 days of interest, which is not much at all.

I opened my Smart Move CD account this morning with very little drama. It was easy to do so online using money I had ACHed into my Bellco savings. There was no need for a telephone call. The only wrinkle I encountered is as follows:

My new Smart Move CD account did not show up in my Bellco accounts list instantly. It took about a half hour before it appeared. It was very early in the morning in Colorado when I opened the account. Regardless, no cause for alarm, I am well satisfied with how things turned out, and am now earning 1.15% APY on (almost) liquid money.

This is the best I have done with liquid funds since the days of my beloved, but now sadly lost, Keesler HIMMA Plus account. :slightly_smiling_face:

ETA

It should go without saying, but the above referenced Smart Move CD account is fully NCUA insured. In addition there are no irritating requirements for a certain number of transactions per month or other such foolishness. Itā€™s just a straight, routine, fully insured, (mostly) no penalty CD.

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FYI - When you first mentioned this CD a week ago, your own quote of the terms states that $2500 must be left in the account. I also see the $1k listed on their site now, so it is indeed a very recent change.

I agree with your implication - since you can pull out the full balance (sans $1k, which isnt a material amount), itā€™s obvious you should go for the longest term with the highest rate. If you only want to keep it for 2 years, then simply pull out the money after 2 years (again, except for that insignificant $1k minimum).

The only exception is if you are already planning a partial early withdrawal.

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Good catch, glitch99. Thank you for pointing that out.

I also have not focused much on the ā€œbumpā€ feature which I suppose might be a benefit for some individuals even though itā€™s not a big deal to me personally.

As always, it is important for everyone to do their homework before opening any CD account.

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It depends on how well they keep the ā€œbumpā€ matched to current market rates. It could be a great feature to recast your rate as rates rise, without having to reset the term and without losing the no penalty withdrawal option. I agree its not a big deal in general, but it could prove to be a really nice perk at some point.

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Agreed, glitch99. For example members who opened under the old 0.95% APY could today call in and boost their interest rate by twenty basis points. If you have a large account thatā€™s not chicken feed.

The Bellco Smart Move CD account makes you think and forces you to consider all your options.

ETA

And of course another way to ā€œbumpā€ your interest rate with this account, once your one allowed bump is exhausted, is simply to close the account (all but one grand) without penalty and then open a new Smart Move account at the higher rate, should a higher rate come into being. There is not a dull moment with this CD account, or with Bellco generally for that matter. :wink:

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