People with a New York mailing addresses get a higher interest rate on “Savings Plus” savings accounts from Citibank than we here in Florida get.
So much for a national capital market, eh?
I learned this when I called Citibank to ask about rates and was accidentally given the New York one at first and then couldn’t find it on their web site.
In any case they are all low. Citibank, much like other big banks, offers less than 0.5% to savers — how much less depends on which product and where you are. In contrast some online banks, Sallie Mae for example, seem to go up to 1.15%, slightly edging out Costco’s 1.06%.
All these numbers compare poorly with the annualized rise in the Consumer Price index — 3.6%. Not to mention what banks charge for loans.
The banks don’t need money from you when they’re getting essentially free money from the Fed, who would rather you spend your money than save it.
But the low interest rates on savings predates the recession which makes one wonder how banks raise deposits to lend out…or is it all dishonest accounting?
After observing the mortgage bubble, the collapse of Bear Sterns, Lehmans, the stress tests, The failures of HAMP, foreclosure fraud, and the revelations of mortgage security trust fraud…I don’t have the impression that bank regulators know how to audit the banks they are supposed to be overseeing.