Head to Houston for top CD rates at Chasewood Bank.

With a $1,000 minimum deposit, it’s paying:

• 1.16% APY for 3-month CDs.
• 1.21% APY for 6-month CDs.
• 1.41% APY for 12- to 18-month CDs.
• 1.76% APY for 24-month CDs.

Each beats the best nationally available CD rates for their corresponding terms on our CD Rates Leaderboard.

You don’t need to be a resident of Texas to buy these certificates of deposit, but you do need to visit a branch of Chasewood Bank (www.chasewoodbank.com) in person.

There are two, in Houston and suburban Spring.

See how these returns compare with the best CD rates from scores of banks in our extensive database.

RealtyTrac has deemed Chicago as the city with the biggest backlog of foreclosed homes among the 20 top metropolitan areas in the nation. More 118,000 homes were either owned by banks or going through the foreclosure process in May.

Real estate experts say the high numbers are due to a number of factors including Attorney General Lisa Madigans investigation into bank robo-signing, protections for borrowers built into Illinois law, and the unwillingness by banks to get rid of properties at a lower price than the original mortgage loans taken out for the homes. All of this means that the properties stay in the possession of banks longer, leading to the massive backlog of foreclosed homes in the Chicagoland area.

Puerto Rico Credit Union is offering a very competitive savings account rate to its members. Currently, the credit union is advertising a 1.01% APY on its Regular Share account.

Individuals interested in one of the more competitive savings internet rates available today should consider this rate from Puerto Rico Credit Union. It allows account holders to withdraw up to $500 from their accounts daily via their bankroll ATM card or through ATH. In order to take advantage of the account, you must become a member of the credit union (membership is open to employees of various companies associated with the financial institution) and contribute $5 biweekly to your share account.

Puerto Rico Credit Union got its start in 1960 as the Puerto Rico Telco Employees Federal Credit Union. Currently, the credit union offers a number of services in addition to deposit accounts, such as personal and auto loans, as well as credit cards.

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Dear Dr. Don,
My kids are fortunate to have grandparents that bought them savings bonds at various milestones in their lives. My question is: Do savings bonds continue to pay the same rate of interest that they did during their maturation years, or does the interest change once the bond matures? Thank you in advance for your suggestions and guidance.
– Richard Redeem

Dear Richard,
Savings bonds stop paying interest when they reach their final maturity. Older savings bonds had an original maturity and then an extended maturity period. The section on EE/E bonds’ rates and terms on the TreasuryDirect website explains the maturities and interest rates for Series EE/E savings bonds. Series I bonds mature 30 years after their issue date.

I’d suggest inputting the children’s savings bond portfolios into TreasuryDirect’s Savings Bond Wizard.

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Most prepaid debt cards get a bad rap, and they deserve it. They can prey on customers by offering no perks, high fees and awful protections.

But there are a few good prepaid cards, and perhaps the best we’ve seen is new and comes from an unlikely source — American Express, which is now offering the American Express Prepaid Card.

The worst feature on prepaid cards is the fees.

Whether you’re loading the card, withdrawing the money or even using the card, most issuers charge a fee.

Amex nearly eliminates user fees.

You’ll pay only:

• If you make more than one ATM withdrawal monthly (second and subsequent withdrawals will cost you $2, not counting fees levied by the ATM operator).
• If you reload the card with cash. You can

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Treynor State Bank is pushing for their best checking account called Kasasa Cash checking. The bank lets you earn an interest rate of 3.51% APY on balances up to $25,000. The portion of the deposit beyond $25k earns you an interest rate of 1.01% APY. You can refund ATM fees of up to $25 when you meet the following requirements:

• make at least 15 purchases using your debit card at the point of sale
• setup at least 1 ACH auto debit, direct deposit, or online bill payment
• subscribe to electronic bank statement

In case you do not meet the bank’s monthly prerequisite you will not be able to refund your ATM fees and you will only earn their base interest rate of 0.05% APY. You don’t have to worry since you will still be able to get unlimited free checking and get a chance to get this best interest rate on the next month. You

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Some of the credit card offers we’ve told you about in recent months have gotten better.

Easier-to-earn rewards, bigger rewards, more time to apply.

These are some of the new features you can expect to find with these credit card offers.

Here’s what’s new:

It’s now easier to earn the $200 cash-back offer for opening a Chase Freedom Visa credit card.

Instead of earning the full reward after spending $1,500 in the first six months, as we told you last week, Chase now will give you the cash-back bonus after you spend $500 in purchases during the first three months.

This new offer, however, does come with a higher purchase annual-percentage rate than the previous offer.

You’ll be charged a variable 15.99% APR to 22.99% APR (prime rate plus 12.74% to 19.74%).

Chase also has boosted its offer on its line of Ink small business cards.

T

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Texas Bank is pushing for their best reward checking account called Texas Reward Checking. This money in the bank deal earns you an interest rate of 4.07% APY for balances of up to $25,000. You can earn 0.25% APY for the portion of the balance beyond $25,000. You can also get your ATM surcharges of up to $15 refunded when you meet the following requirements every month:

• make at least 12 purchases using your debit card at the point of sale
• make at least 1 direct debit or direct deposit
• maintain a valid email address and subscribe to electronic bank statement

In case you do not meet the bank’s requirements, you will only earn an interest rate of 0.25% APY and you will not be able to refund your ATM fees. For you to enjoy this best checking account, you will have to make an initial deposit of at least $100 to open an account.

This money in the bank deal does not require a minimum balance after opening of account nor any monthly service fee. Y

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Dear Dr. Don,
I have about $75,000 I need to invest. I do not want an annuity or stock market investment. In the past, it was invested in a certificate of deposit, but I can’t find any decent rates. Not sure what to do. What do you suggest?
– Lana Longbond

Dear Lana,
It’s a tough call. People who want to avoid investing in the stock market typically are uncomfortable with risk to principal, meaning they want to be sure they get their money back at the end of the investment. CDs fit that bill quite nicely. So do U.S. Treasury securities. With U.S. Treasury securities, the market value of the securities will fluctuate, but you’re guaranteed to get the face value of the investment at maturity.

There’s another risk when investing, and that’s purchasing power risk. That’s the risk that you don’t earn enough on your investments to keep pace with inflation.

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