Personal loans should be carefully shopped for, just as a costly and important purchase should be. Choosing a borrowing opportunity needs to be done with care, making sure to compare rates and terms between potential lenders and to read and understand all terms and conditions, including those written in small print. Never be afraid to ask questions when it comes to financial vocabulary that is not clearly understood and don’t bother with a lender who is unwilling to take the time to help you to completely understand what you are agreeing to.

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Minimum deposit on the CD is $5,000. Unfortunately, there’s a $15 monthly fee on the advantage checking account unless $5,000 is deposited, so a total of $10,000 is required in your savings, checking, and CD. As a result, it’s probably not worth it to go for the extra .25% unless you have a huge deposit.

KeyDirect is a subsidary of KeyBank, which is FDIC insured.

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BadCreditOffers.com now features rankings, interest rates, and other key data on bad credit credit cards from major credit card issuers.

The site also links to each offer’s online application, affording its visitors a quick and easy way to apply for their card of choice.

Current interest rates for the cards featured start as low as 7.9% and go as high as 19.92%, with many offering applicants a credit decision in less than a minute of application.

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As the debate over a $700 billion bank bailout rages on in Washington, one of the nation’s largest banks — Washington Mutual Inc. — has collapsed under the weight of its enormous bad bets on the mortgage market.

The Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. seized WaMu on Thursday, and then sold the thrift’s banking assets to JPMorgan Chase & Co. for $1.9 billion.

What now? Well, the sale of assets to JPMorgan Chase means that your deposits are probably safe. However, the seizure by the government means that shareholders’ equity in WaMu was wiped out. The deal leaves private equity investors including the firm TPG Capital, which led a $7 billion cash infusion in the bank this spring, on the sidelines empty handed.

So what will happen to WaMu’s great rates? Will the high yields continue? Are we allowed to make penalty-free early withdrawals from the CDs? According to the FDIC Q&A:

All interest on deposits accrued through September 25, 2008, will be paid at your same rate. JPMorgan Chase Bank will be reviewing rates and will provide further information soon.

Not only is the WaMu website still functioning, but they’re still listing the 5% 12-month online CDs.  It would appear that WaMu CDs will continue at the same rate. We’ll probably gradually see lower rates on WaMu’s online savings accounts and new CDs just like at Countrywide when Bank of America took over. This acquisition looks a lot like Bank of America’s acquisition of Countrywide except that the FDIC was involved in this case.

Aside from the 5% online CDs, WaMu also offers a 4.00% savings account. This is one of the best savngs rates available, so if you want to keep your money on hand, be sure to check it out.

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In order to qualify for the bonus you must:

• Open a qualifying Citibank regular checking account and fund it with a minimum of $1,000 by 12/31/2008
• Within the first month, make at least one direct deposit into your account or at least two electronic bill payments from your account each month for three consecutive months

Some of the important details:

• Offer is not valid for existing Citibank checking customers
• $100 will be deposited to your Citibank checking account within 120 days from the end of the statement period in which you met the qualifying requirements
• This offer is only available to Citi cardmembers who are the primary credit card account holders

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What should you do if you have bad credit? Here are 10 tips that are designed to improve your credit history and raise your credit score:

(more…)

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Here’s some details on the checking account:

• Limit one $50 bonus per household
• Minimum initial deposit of $100 required
• No monthly service fees
• No minimum balance requirements
• The $50 bonus will be deposited to your new Wells Fargo checking account within 45 days of opening
• The $50 bonus is available with all Wells Fargo checking accounts, including: non-interest-earning checking accounts, except for Wells Fargo College Checking, Wells Fargo Teen Checking and Wells Fargo Opportunity Checking accounts

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For millions of people, payday loans are a fast and convenient way to cover unexpected expenses such as car repair and medical bills. A payday loan can even save you money by helping you avoid bounced checks and late fees on bills. But payday loans aren’t always the best solution for your financial needs. (more…)

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• Complete 2 or more online bill payments
• Make 10 or more debit card purchases
• Keep $500 or more in your account
• Sign up for electronic e-statements
• Make two or more in-branch transactions
• Make a $50 opening deposit

Their “Moolah” checking account is eligible for this offer, and it currently has a yield of 4.26% APY on balances up to $25,000.

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The flaws studied included the following:

Insecure Login System

Nearly half of the banks examined had “secure” login systems on insecure web pages which did not use the SSL protocol. Failure to use SSL, the study says, allows for the possibility of an attack that would allow for the interception of login details if a user was accessing the site wirelessly, called a “man in the middle” attack. The study notes that most banks secure the internal portions of their site, but many leave the login page unsecured.

Putting Contact Info on an Insecure Page

The biggest flaw of the bunch (55 percent failing the test): A similar attack to the above could simply let a hacker change the phone number listed on the contact info page, redirecting customers to a phony call center ready to snap up their user name and password.

Redirecting Outside the Bank Without Warning

When users are directed to third party services (like, say, bill payment sites), the bank doesn’t warn them of the change. A user may not know if what he’s seeing is trustworthy or not.

Using Social Security Numbers or Email Addresses as User IDs

These are simple things to guess or find out, especially email addresses. Banks should allow users to create a custom user name, as well as have a policy on weak passwords, but 28 percent of banks tested did not.

Emailing Secure Information Insecurely

Things like password resets and financial statements should be sent securely: Passwords, for example, should never be sent as plain text, yet 31 percent of banks failed this test.

The full study (10 pages, PDF link) can be reviewed here. Specific sites failing the various tests were not revealed. Also note that the study was performed back in 2006 (the results are only being published now), so things may have improved since the original analysis.

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