Prospect Mortgage issued a press release yesterday saying it was acquiring Indymac's retail mortgage branches. The release reads in part:

(Northbrook, IL, July 8, 2008) – Prospect Mortgage has signed an agreement to acquire the majority of IndyMac Bankcorp’s retail mortgage branches. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed.

The transaction encompasses approximately 750 employees along with more than 60 branch offices which will rebrand as Prospect Mortgage. John Johnston and Ron Bergum will remain in leadership roles with the retail branch group and report to Mark Filler, CEO of Prospect Mortgage.

I spoke with Prospect Mortgage and this transaction just covers Indymac's mortgage business. They are not purchasing other bank functions or the bank's deposit business. Indymac has stated that it plans to exit the retail mortgage business and this looks like a logical step.

Everbank raised the rates on its money market and savings accounts today, continuing a general bank trend of rising rates. The Money Market intro rate increased from 4.01% APY to 4.76& APY. This is a three month guaranteed intro rate. After that, the rate falls to 3.51% APY, which is still pretty competitive and puts it at the top half of the BestCashCow savings and money market rate tables.

The balance on their FreeNet Checking Account also increased from 4.01% APY to 4.76% 3 month intro APY with a continuing rate currently at 3.51% APY.

As we've mentioned before, the three month guaranteed rate is a great alternative to a 3 month CD. The money is liquid and it rolls over to a competitive rate.

• See what others are saying about Everbank

Rates are on the rise. Deseret Bank has raised the rate on its Deseret Money Market account to 3.56% APY. The rate is competitive and is within the top 10 yielding money markets. The account is also competitive with a mimimum balance requirement of only $1000.

For more details on the bank and the rate see a good post on Bank Deals.