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Best Online Savings & Money Market Account Rates 2025

Best Online Savings & Money Market Account Rates

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Webster Bank Offers Up to $100 Bonus for New Accounts

Webster Bank is offering tiered cash bonuses for new accounts in NY, MA, RI and CT, but this offer is only good until 7/11/11. It's a great deal, if you already have certain banking practices in place.

We could all use some extra money in our pocket, especially if it's easy to come by. Now through July 11, 2011, Webster Bank is offering a $50, $75, or $100 bonus for new checking accounts opened in New York, Massachusetts, Rhode Island, or Connecticut. This could be a great way to put some extra cash in your wallet, if you already have the banking habits that coincide with the requirements of Webster Bank’s checking accounts.

You can earn $50 bonus by opening a Webster Value Checking account. Highlights of this account includes free mobile and online banking, free online bill pay, and a free debit card with rewards through the Visa Extra Rewards program. If you don't have 10 purchases with your debit card each month or maintain a $1,000 average monthly minimum balance, the account will cost you $8.95 per month. For those aged 65 and over, the monthly service charge will be waived as long as you have direct deposit.

If you're interested in the WebsterOne Relationship Checking, you can earn a $75 bonus. This account gives you all of the above bonuses, plus you will not incur Webster fees when you use another bank's ATM (but the other bank’s fees will still apply). This account will also earn interest, but is only a 0.05% APY. As such, you should definitely not use this account as your primary investment tool. If you have more than $4,000 in your combined Webster checking, savings, money market accounts or $20,000 in deposits or loan balances from CDs, home equity, or installment loans, the monthly service fee is waived. Otherwise, it will cost you $15 per month (or $13 per month if you have direct deposit).

Opening the Premier Checking account gives you $100 bonus plus all of the above benefits. Additionally, they will rebate other bank’s ATM fees, you'll have automatic enrollment in the Visa Extras Rewards program with 5,000 bonus points, free incoming wire transfers, and free official, teller, and travelers checks. Their website states that you will earn tiered interest rates based on the amount of your deposit: over $2,500 earns 0.10% APY, and under $2,500 earns 0.05%. In order to avoid the $20 monthly maintenance fee, you will need to have $10,000 in combined Webster checking, savings, or money market accounts or $50,000 in deposit from CDs or loan balances.

If you're looking to change banks and you already have the high average balances for these accounts (or you already make 10 or more debit card purchases for the Value Checking account), then the bonuses are a nice deal. However, if you have large deposit balances, you should also weigh the bonus you're receiving with the interest rate the account is paying. It’s possible there may be a better deal out there for your particular banking situation.

Find a Webster Bank branch near you or find other checking accounts in you area.

People's Bank and Trust of Pickett County Offering 1.90% APY 12-Month CD

People's Bank and Trust of Pickett County Offering is offering a 1.90% APY 12-Month CD. That's one of the most competitive 12-month cd rates for any bank in the country.

People's Bank and Trust of Pickett County is offering is offering a 1.90% APY 12-Month CD. That's one of the most competitive 12-month cd rates for any bank in the country. There is a minimum balance requirement of $25,000 to get that rate and it must be opened in a branch. People's Bank and Trust Company of Pickett County is an FDIC insured institution located in Byrdstown, TN. It was founded in 1978 and has approximately $0.13 billion in assets. Customers can open an account via one of its one branch also located into Byrdstown, TN. The bank does have a relatively high Texas Ratio of 74.84% versus the national average of 24.44%. The lower the Texas Ratio the better when evaluating bank safety and soundness.

Don't live anywhere near Byrdstown, TN? You can't get this deal but there are still plenty of attractive local cd rates which you can find by checking our local cd rates page.

For those that prefer to bank online, the top nationally available 12 month online cd rate is 1.25% APY from Nationwide Bank.

BestCashCow Research: Banks That Offer High Rates As Stable Or More Stable Than Their Peers

One question I frequently get asked when discussing bank rates is whether higher rates are usually offered by distressed banks. The thinking goes that distressed banks need to hang on to deposit dollars in order to maintain their liquidity. As a result, they offer higher rates in order to attract new money and convince depositors to keep money in the bank. Anecdotally, this is the kind of behavior we saw at the height of the financial crisis, when mega-banks like Countrywide and Indymac offered some of the highest rates in the country right before they were closed.

The question is whether a bank’s rates and its underlying financial condition are correlated?

First, it’s important to understand that banks that are highly distressed will not have high rates. Once a bank appears on the FDIC’s less than capitalized list, the agency generally prohibits it from offering rates above a national rate cap it has established.

But that still doesn’t answer the question of whether banks that offer higher rates are less financially secure. The answer is important. If high rates are usually offered by distressed banks then it may not be worth the extra yield the bank offers.

The Analysis

Two analyses were done to answer this question using data for FDIC insured banks. It's important to note that this analysis only covers FDIC insured banks. Extremely high rates offered by non-FDIC insitutions should be an immediate warning signal.

The first analyzed the correlation between average 1 year CD rates and the average Texas ratios for each state using data from BestCashCow’s database of 7,000 banks and 2,000,000 product rates. The Texas ratio compares the amount of loans at risk and the amount of owned real estate with the amount a bank has on hand to cover any losses. While it is not a definitive guide to bank risk and soundness, it has been found to be a good indicator in the past.

The data was graphed on the scatterplot below.

Are Banks That Offer Higher Rates In Worse Financial Shape

The scatterplot shows a low negative correlation between average state 12-month CD rates and state average Texas ratios which is confirmed with a coefficient of -0.12393 (with +1 showing a high positive correlation and -1 showing a high negative correlation). A negative correlation means that as the average rate rises, the average Texas ratio drops. Lower Texas ratios are a sign of a healthier bank, so on average according to this analysis, higher rates are offered by healthier banks. As the plot shows, some of the states with the highest rates, had the banks with the lowest Texas ratios (healthier banks).

Analysis 2

As a next step, I used the BestCashCow database to pull the top 100 CD rates in the country and then examined the Texas ratios of the respective banks. The average Texas ratio for this group of banks was 25.56% versus an average Texas ratio for all banks of 24.44%. Distressed banks usually have Texas ratios above 100%. This analysis shows again that banks that offer high rates are not less financially sound than the average bank.

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While anecdotally, it may appear that high rates are offered by distressed banks, a thorough review of the data shows that in aggregate, higher rates are not a sign of a distressed banks and if anything, may be a sign of a more secure bank. With bank rates, you can have your cake and eat it.

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