FDIC & NCUA Insurance Limits Extended to 2013

On May 20, President Obama signed a law the Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009. The law expands the reach of the Administration’s Making Home Affordable Programs, improves the Federal Housing Administration’s Hope for Homeowners program and streamlines how HUD supports thousands of homeless support programs across America. Also important to CD investors is the law includes provisions that extend the $250,000 FDIC & NCUA deposit insurance limit to December 31st, 2013.

Last year when the financial crisis began, FDIC and NCUA deposit insurance was temporarily increased from $100,000 to $250,000 until the end of this year to help the banks. The bulk of the the "Helping Families Save Their Homes Act of 2009" bill dealt with mortgages and foreclosures, so higher deposit insurance took a back seat in terms of limelight.

If $250,000 of coverage isn't enough and you don't feel like opening up numerous bank accounts, then you can always $50 million in FDIC insurance through the CDARS program but that comes at a price.

Today's US Treasury Rates Bonds, Bills and Notes

Today's rates for US Treasury Bonds, Bills and Notes are:

From Current US Treasury Rates at a Glance

U.S. Treasuries

TERM	COUPON	MATURITY DATE	CURRENT YIELD
3-Month	0.000	08/20/2009	0.17%
6-Month	0.000	11/19/2009	0.29%
12-Month	0.000	05/06/2010	0.45%
2-Year	0.875	04/30/2011	0.88%
3-Year	1.375	05/15/2012	1.38%
5-Year	1.875	04/30/2014	2.20%
10-Year	3.125	05/15/2019	3.45%
30-Year	4.250	05/15/2039	4.38%

Data current as of 5/233/09

• More at Current US Treasury Rates at a Glance

US Treasuries are backed by the full faith of the US Government and its ability to tax.

Ally Bank is New Name of GMAC Bank

On Friday, May 15, 2009 GMAC Bank renamed itself "Ally Bank." This has the appearance of distancing itself from government bailouts and its connection to General Motors (GM) which may go bankrupt soon.

Reuters reported:

GMAC LLC, stung by billions of dollars in losses at its auto finance and mortgage units, on Friday scrapped its own name from its banking unit, which it will now call Ally Bank in an effort to gain customers.

Sanjay Gupta, the bank's chief marketing officer, said the company wanted a name that would help it shed the baggage that many Americans now associate with banks, which have taken hundreds of billions of dollars of taxpayer money after losses from bad loans and investments piled up.

"We fully expect more customers will use us," Gupta said in an interview.

GMAC's conversion to a bank holding company in December was a central part of the Detroit-based company's survival plan, and allowed it to get access to new government funding.

While GMAC got a $6 billion bailout in December, including $5 billion from the Troubled Asset Relief Program, regulators ordered it last week to plug an $11.5 billion capital shortfall to protect itself in case of a severe recession.

Nineteen large banks underwent government "stress tests," and of the 10 told to raise capital, GMAC had by far the biggest shortfall relative to its size"

With that sort of negative stigma, you can see the rush to change their name.

From the Ally Bank web site:

Who we are: "We are Ally Bank, built on the foundation of GMAC Financial Services. And with that experience we’ve learned that these times demand change and a new way of doing business. So we’re taking banking in a new direction."

Lets hope the "new direction" includes responsible lending to people who can pay back the loans.

• Reuters Story
  
  
• Ally Bank CD Rates

Current LIBOR Rates Down Near Historical Lows

The short term, 1-month Libor rate is down 2.11% to only 0.40% from 2.51% just a year ago. This table shows all LIBOR rates are down significantly from a year ago.

Updated 5/6/2009	This week	Month ago	Year ago
1 Month LIBOR Rate	0.40	0.45	2.51
3 Month LIBOR Rate	0.99	1.12	2.68
6 Month LIBOR Rate	1.54	1.66	2.83
1 Year LIBOR Rate	1.78	1.95	2.99

See Libor Rates at a Glance for current rates and graphs.

Definition: LIBOR is the London Interbank Offered Rate. It is a daily reference rate based on the interest rates banks in the London wholesale money market (or interbank market) offer to lend unsecured funds to each other. LIBOR is usually slightly higher than the London Interbank Bid Rate (LIBID). LIBID is the rate the same banks are prepared to accept deposits.

• Current Libor Rates
  
  
• Historical Libor Rates
  
  
• Libor Rates at a Glance
  

PenFed CD Rates Pentagon Federal Credit Union

4% CD Rates at PenFedCU Pentagon Federal Credit Union

PenFed CU, or Pentagon Federal Credit Union, is paying 4.0% on five and seven year NCUA insured certificates of deposit.

At a time the 1-year US Treasury note is only paying 0.47%, PenFed is paying nearly four times that for certificates with a 1-year term.

==> " Pentagon Federal Money Market Certificates " <==
as of 5/1/09

Term   APY

6-Month 1.75%
1-Year  2.00%
2-Year  2.25%
3-Year  3.50%
4-Year  3.75%
5-Year  4.00%
7-Year  4.00%

More information at Pentagon Federal Credit Union

For more rates and terms, see

• Very Best CD Rates with FDIC
  
  
• US Treasury Rates at a glance

Congress has temporarily increased NCUA share insurance from $100,000 to $250,000 per depositor through December 31, 2009.

Your Pentagon Federal Credit Union deposits are insured to at least $250,000 and backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government. National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government agency. We do business in accordance with the Federal Fair Housing Law and the Equal Credit Opportunity Act.