October Rate Roundup: CDs, Money Markets and Mortgages

by Dan Burrows | October 26, 2012 1:00 pm

If there’s any silver lining to the rock-bottom interest rates available to savers, well, at least they didn’t drop any farther since last month. And while mortgage rates ticked up from September, it did get a bit cheaper to refinance or borrow on the equity in your home.

Otherwise, the Federal Reserve’s plan to smother the yield curve — keeping both savings rates and borrowing costs at historic lows — continues to go according to plan. Yields on savings products were essentially unchanged from a month ago. As for housing products, it was pretty much a wash: Mortgages spiked but home equity loans dropped sharply.

As we noted last month[1], investors have lots of cash parked on the sidelines — but they’re still getting nothing for it. The national average interest rate on a money market account stood at 0.49% as of Oct. 25, up from 0.48% a month ago, according to data from Bankrate.com[2].

Meanwhile, yields on jumbo money market accounts continue to tick down, with a national average of just 0.64%. That’s one basis point less than September’s reading of 0.65%, and down again from August’s 0.66%.

Here are rates on other popular savings products as of Oct. 25, according to Bankrate:

• National Average Rate on Interest Checking Account: 0.52%, unchanged from a month ago
• Best Rate on Savings Account: 1.05% (Sallie Mae, no minimum), no change
• Best Rate on 1-Year CD: 1.1% (CIT Bank [NYSE:CIT[3]], $25,000 minimum), no change
• Best Rate on 3-Year CD: 1.42% (CIT Bank, $1,000 minimum), no change
• Best Rate on 5-Year CD: 1.75% (Discover Bank [NYSE:DFS[4]], $2,500 minimum), no change
• Best Rate on 5-Year Jumbo CD: 1.85% (CIT Bank, $100,000 minimum), down from 1.9%

At the same time, rates on some of the most common mortgage products rose since last month, while costs to refinance or borrow on homes declined.

Here are the average national rates offered on popular loan products as of Oct. 25, according to Bankrate:

• 30-Year Fixed Mortgage: 3.5%, up from 3.46% a month ago
• 15-Year Fixed Mortgage: 2.88%, up from 2.84% a month ago
• 5/1 Adjustable-Rate Mortgage: 2.99%, up from 2.93% a month ago
• 30-Year Fixed Mortgage, Refi: 3.46%, down from 3.52% a month ago
• $30,000 Home Equity Line of Credit: 4.56%, down from 4.57% a month ago
• $30,000 Home Equity Loan: 5.61%, down from 5.63% a month ago

Source URL: https://investorplace.com/2012/10/october-rate-roundup-cds-money-markets-and-mortgages/

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