Banks no longer posting deposit rates?

[ultrarunner]

ya, its all a game. I set up a special linked account at one bank. If i place $50,000 in a high yield account i could earn 3.8% interest ONLY if i make 12 atm point of sales and 1 auto deposit or withdrawal per month. It has a linked savings account that will allow 1.5% interest on up to 50,000 additional deposited.


So i set up both accounts to max deposit and it all works out well...but if you forget to make the 12 withdrawals (which i did forget last month) the interest drops to 0.05% for that month on both accounts. i was pissed off. why do they make this such a game.

id throw it all in a cd... but there only earning 1/2 a percent... at best .. if i keep it there 4 years. no way

Exact problem I had with Provident Credit Union...

Last month the mag stripe on the card wouldn't read...

Called it right in and was told I needed to come in to a Branch so they can verify/replace.

Went in and got my new card... a few days later my Statement arrives and the Debit Card shows 9 or the required 10 transactions... so all interest is forfeited...

I immediately go in and was told the rules are the rules and 10 are required...

I asked for an exception since my card didn't work... they got back to me in two days and said No.

Went back in and closed it out...

They have called twice to see why I left and I also had inquired about a mortgage...

I started with another Credit Union that doesn't make customers stand on their head and hop through hoops... for now.

As long as the public finds this acceptable... nothing will change.

 

[grsthegreat]

i would have closed mine..... bit im not going to lose 3.8% for the 0.25% that both my other banks are offering.

 

[grsthegreat]

i also have lots of money in I bonds and ee bonds, and in the stock market. Id love to pull it all out...but where else could i put it.


my old I bonds are earning over 5% still after many years.

 

[ultrarunner]

i also have lots of money in I bonds and ee bonds, and in the stock market. Id love to pull it all out...but where else could i put it.

That... my friend is the question.

A carpet dealer I know has been buying stock... he has a warehouse and has made some fantastic buys... he says with the rates in the dumps, he is investing in his business.

I thought about adding investment property... just my time isn't my own being on call 24/7 with the Hospital Job.

Looking back... I'm sure some smart entrepreneurs are finding ways to cash into this market as we write.

 

[grsthegreat]

That... my friend is the question.

A carpet dealer I know has been buying stock... he has a warehouse and has made some fantastic buys... he says with the rates in the dumps, he is investing in his business.

I thought about adding investment property... just my time isn't my own being on call 24/7 with the Hospital Job.

Looking back... I'm sure some smart entrepreneurs are finding ways to cash into this market as we write.

i too was looking at buying some rental properties.... but after years of fixing up other peoples rental properties after the renter from ****, i am just soooooo leery of doing it. I may hate myself later on, but i have seen so many places just destroyed by tenants. I even know of a few that have been seized by the fed govt cause the renter was manufacturing meth .the owners are out a house..the cleanup bill alone would render the house useless.

 

[ultrarunner]

i too was looking at buying some rental properties.... but after years of fixing up other peoples rental properties after the renter from ****, i am just soooooo leery of doing it. I may hate myself later on, but i have seen so many places just destroyed by tenants. I even know of a few that have been seized by the fed govt cause the renter was manufacturing meth .the owners are out a house..the cleanup bill alone would render the house useless.

The rental business is a business if done properly and takes a commitment... first rental was back in 1982... still have it.

Right now, I've got two calls on the answering machine waiting for me...

Rents have been consistent and at the right price there is a return... I dissuaded one of the Docs I work with from getting into rentals... I told him he is a great ortho surgeon... and he is... so why complicate your life... he has thanked me many times since that day 5 years ago...

 

[grsthegreat]

yup...then again i went into one rental after the sheriff's office broke off the lock after a 6 month legal battle to evict a deadbeat tenant that was pregnant...even their deposit check bounced....


this was in calif (inlaws rental) . And even though the deposit check bounced, Calif refused to evict a pregnant woman so they lived scott free for 6 months...and destroyed the house. When the Sheriffs office finally intervened, we went into the house and the entire place was gutted....no interior walls. no drywall, no plumbing, no electrical.

And just to make a bigger mess they were housing 100's of pigeons in the house.

 

[LWG]

Any of y 'all ever look into what banks can do with your demand account (checking account?)

Check out "sweeps"

Interesting, the games the banks can play with money that isn't theirs...and they have the full blessings and permission of the government. And people wonder why our country is going down the shi++er...

Sorta like what MF Global did to its account holders. But Goldman-Sachs and J.P. Morgan got theirs, so no worries. And the .gov hurrredly rewrote the bankruptcy rules. We live in a Banana Republic. Lucky for Corzine he's a 'Rat.

 

[ultrarunner]

yup...then again i went into one rental after the sheriff's office broke off the lock after a 6 month legal battle to evict a deadbeat tenant that was pregnant...even their deposit check bounced....


this was in calif (inlaws rental) . And even though the deposit check bounced, Calif refused to evict a pregnant woman so they lived scott free for 6 months...and destroyed the house. When the Sheriffs office finally intervened, we went into the house and the entire place was gutted....no interior walls. no drywall, no plumbing, no electrical.

And just to make a bigger mess they were housing 100's of pigeons in the house.

I would imagine Idaho to be different than California?

It is true, the Sheriff and Courts will do just about anything to prevent the party being evicted from becoming a problem for the city of county...

The last one was 100% on my side... then the tenant ask the judge for a 3 week postponement because she couldn't move till she got her General Assistance Check on the First... and the Judge looked at me and granted it...

 

[KansasFarmer]

Where to start...................................

We, as a country, have screwed ourselves by using the very thing that used to keep interest rates high - leverage and credit. For the last 30 years, we have purchased, on credit, everything from vacations, big cars, overbloated college expenses and homes. This glut of credit helped create the transfer of wealth to China and the Middle East through shopping at WalMart and our oversized appetite for energy. We have mortgaged our future by buying on credit, way too much credit. This excess of credit kept interest rates high because interest rates rise when demand is high.

Beginning in 2000, we entered a secular period of lessening demand, demand for everything, including vacations, big cars and homes. When there is no demand, interest rates fall. Just look at Japan - a 25 year period of falling demand and a severe period of deflation. Deflation is what hurt during the Depression and Bernanke knows it. He must provide cover (read low interest rates) to give the eceonomy a chance to recover. By keeping rates low, Bernanke is sucking the life out of those already retired. Someone suggested buying a gold mining stock for its dividend. Retirees, as a group, would not be accustomed to the swings as big as precious metals. At its high, gold only represented a 20% value when it supposedly backed our currency. When the crap hits the fan, gold FALLS because banks must sell it to prop up its reserves. Gold is a fear investment which will fall like a rock when things get nasty.

China will not manipulate our interest rates because they need us as customers. China will try to leverage things from us - like Taiwan. China is a country of few rich and even less communists. The country is full of people who want something better. The government must keep them working to keep them busy and satisfied. They build cities with no with no one to live in them. They have no health care, no financial system and rule by fear. A Chinese citizen would rather live a winter in Montana than live in western China.

Rates will stay low for a long time unless demand returns which I do not expect anytime soon. The banks are greedy because they play on our own greed. Credit unions cannot serve this country's banking needs. They cannot make multi-million dollar loans to keep businesses going. Patronize them if you want a higher rate, I would. The big banks should have been allowed to fail. we might be through this already if they had - no one will ever know.

Debt is the killer of many things if used unwisely.