We documented earlier this week the battle of letters between GMAC/Ally Bank and the American Bankers Association over what the ABA called GMAC’s “particularly egregious” and too-high deposit rates.
Well, it seems that GMAC has retreated. The Bank Deals blog is reporting today that GMAC/Ally has quietly cut its deposit rates. Here’s a table that shows GMAC/Ally’s new pricing:
Will the ABA be satisfied with these rate cuts? Bank Deals says probably not:
I doubt these new rate cuts are low enough to satisfy the American Bankers Association (ABA). They probably would like to see rates as low as the Weekly National Rates and Rate Caps that the FDIC now publishes. That table shows the national average savings account rate of only 0.22%. As I mentioned [previously], the FDIC’s new rules to restrict deposit rates of banks that are not well capitalized won’t go into effect until 2010.
I have no reason to disagree.
Indeed. That’s why the FDIC has imposed rate caps for institutions that are not well-capitalized.
I remember e-Trade bank and HSBC offering rates around 4.5% a couple of years ago. Would they be able to do that today?
I think those rates were over 5%. I opened an HSBC account back then.
Me too, but the yield has dropped.
The rate-cap rule does not go into effect until Jan. 1, 2010.