Affinity Bank is offering an 8-month CD paying 2.25% APY. Currently, that's a bit more than the best 6-month CD rate but a bit under the best 12-month CD rate. The minimum balance to receive the rate is $10,000.

The application process is basic. Interested customers fill out a form on the site and then print it out. The form as well as a check with the deposit amount is the mailed to the bank. An Affinity Bank customer service rep told me that the bank will honor the rate five days from the postmark date.

To withdraw money, consumers will need to call the bank and after validating that they own the account, the bank will mail a check. The money can also be wired out for a $30 fee. It's not exactly state-of-the-art but it will get the job done.

About Affinity Bank

Affinity Bank was originally named San Francisco Thrift and Loan and was incorporated in 1982 as a local bank serving the San Francisco Chinese-American community. In 1995, the Bank was sold to Affinity Group, Inc. (AGI). The company’s headquarters were relocated to Ventura, California and the Bank was renamed Affinity Thrift & Loan before becoming Affinity Bank in 1997. In 1999, AGI transferred ownership to Affinity Bank Holdings, Inc., a privately held corporation.

Affinity Bank began its new life by offering high-yield deposit products to customers of its two branch offices and by advertising to members of several travel and leisure clubs located throughout the United States. Today, the company offers a complete array of business and consumer deposit products including checking, savings, money market accounts, certificates of deposit and IRAs through a growing network of local branches and a national call center.

The bank has a terrible Bauer rating for its safety and soundness - 0 out of 5 stars. Affinity Bank is FDIC insured (FDIC Cert: 27197). The bank has approximately 1.2 billion in assets at the end of 2008.

It makes little sense to keep money in money market accounts in a big bank or in most local and regional banks, not when there are always a handful of banks really out there competing for your money. It makes even less sense when all these savings accounts are equally insured by the FDIC. A lot of people search for the best rates for CDs. Far fewer pay attention to the significant spreads for regular savings accounts in FDIC institutions.

Most simple savings accounts offer miniscule returns these days in the range of .25% and .35%. But there are equally safe returns, ten to twelve times these amounts at other FDIC banks. If you stop and think about it, the difference in returns is significant. Say you have $100,000 in a savings account at .25 earning $250 a year, and you switched to one offering 3.0% return earning $3,000 a year, you would be realizing a return on the same money 12 times what you now receive or $2,750. And, I have made this kind of a switch and it only takes minutes to do; most of the banks offering high rates are on line and easy to find. Just look at this website; there are three banks offering 3% and more for regular savings.

The math is simple, the money saved is nothing to sneer at, and the time required is minimal. In these times, these kinds of savvy savings are especially important.

Citibank is offering a competitive 12-month CD that pays 2.70% APY. Yesterday is was paying 2.75% APY but I didn't get a chance to post until today. Even at the lower rate though, it's still one of the top 12-month cd rates.

There are some limitations though. It must be opened in a branch and as far as I know it's only for Massachusetts customers.

If Citibank is offering it in other states, please post below.