The Federal Reserve made emergency cuts to the Fed Funds rate, taking the benchmark rate to a range of zero to 25 basis points as the COVID-19 crisis hit our shores last month.

While the Fed move will cause savings rates to fall over time, savings rates at many of the leading and most recognized online banks have remained somewhat competitive as these banks have shown some deference to their customers. (They have also in most cases, maintained competitiveness in their CD offerings too).

But, some other banks really took the knife to things. Emigrant Bank, for example, quickly and quietly moved their My Savings Direct account rate to 1%. The Emigrant move was particularly appalling as Emigrant had offered a market leading 2.40% in the Fall in an effort to attract new clients and as Emigrant Bank also raised its Dollar Savings Direct affiliate to 1.50% at the same time as it cut My Savings Direct to 1%. Unfortunately, Emigrant’s games were not surprising to those who are familiar with the bank’s rate practices over the last decade.

Other banks did similar things, and just as quietly, but nothing was quiet as egregious as Emigrant.

Now, banks have the right to set their own rates, and to decide whether they want to be competitive or not at a given point. But, the major online banks – CIT, Synchrony, Marcus, Amex, Ally, Barclays, Citizens Access, Capital One and Discover – have made multiyear commitments to the online banking space in the US, and are extremely unlikely to undermine their competitiveness and their relationship with their customers with quick and powerful rate moves down.

If anything, this period reminds us that sticking with a large recognized name brand is a tried and true strategy in the online banking space.

Here at BestCashCow, we’ve been inundated by people thanking us for the work that we are providing in organizing and displaying bank rates over the last several weeks. We are grateful that we can continue to provide everyone with the ability to find the best savings rates, CD rates, mortgage rates and home equity rates during this difficult and unprecedented times.

Yet, some folks still aren’t getting the message. Just two weeks ago, before the markets’ latest fall, BestCashCow was attacked on Twitter by someone operating the Market Rebellion twitter handle. (Market Rebellion is the latest branding effort of Jon Najarian and Pete Najarian). The criticism read “Whatever with BestCashCow. We hope your followers enjoy their 2% CDs!”.

So, let’s make this clear. First, the stock market goes in all sorts of difficult directions. In spite of what we have been conditioned to believe over the last 11 years, it goes down too, sometimes dramatically. Over the last month, it has lost a third of its value and if you are blinded to that reality by screamers on CNBC on up days, you need to outline your assets on an Excel Spreadsheet to see how much you have lost. And, even now, you need to consider how much more you can tolerate, because all doctors and medical professionals are saying that our Coronavirus problems have not peaked. In fact, it may be many months or years, before this crisis in under control.

Second, there is always somebody of the other side of your trade. And, in the case of the buying that you were doing in February, we now know that among the people who were selling to you were North Carolina Senator Richard Burr and Georgia Senator Kelly Loeffler. They had information that you didn't have and may still not have.

If these two realities don’t cause you to reconsider your allocation to savings and CDs, nothing will.

The Federal Reserve has made its second emergency rate cut in a little over a week, cutting the Fed Funds rate by a full 1% to a range of zero to 0.25%, in order to address the unprecedented economic slowdown caused by Coronavirus.

On March 3, 2020, the Federal Reserve made an emergency cut to the Federal Funds rate by 50 basis points to a rate of 1.00% to 1.25%. Our advice at that time was to buy 1-year CDs and this advice was reiterated a week ago when 1-year CD rates were at or just over 2%.

I get multiple inquiries every day from readers inquiring about long-term CD rates. Even though BestCashCow is the most comprehensive source of these rates, neither I nor anyone who works here would recommend the panicked move of locking into a 5-year CD here. At this point, it is the unanimous belief of even the most conservative medical professionals that Coronavirus will not be with us for more than another 18 months. We are likely to see inflation after it passes. Against that backdrop, a five-year CD seems like too far of a reach here. Plus, for comparison purposes, 5-year CDs were at 2.30% to 2.50% the last time that the Fed Funds rate was at zero, and you are not being rewarded with rates that high right now.

In fact, you are not getting any premium in 5-year CDs over 1-year CDs at the moment.

Since savings and money market rates are likely fall over the coming week to 10 days in response to today's cut, we’d continue to strongly recommend locking into 1-year products. It is just about securing the growth, however small, of your money for the next year.

The best online savings and money market rates are here.

The best online 1-year CD rates are here. You should also consider 1-year rates at local banks here, and 1-year rates at credit unions here.

If you think you may need to access your principal over the next 12 months, you should opt for No Penalty CDs. These products will not offer the same yields as one-year CDs, but they may still enable you to lock in a rate of return until we get to the other side of this challenging time.