We anticipate the Prime Rate will be lowered by banks today to 3.25% and will update our Prime Rate Page upon completion of our comprehensive bank survey.
Wells Fargo has already announced the reduction in their rate to 3.25%. JPMorgan Chase and Bank of America have also announced the same reduction. Wachovia has followed.
The Federal Funds Target Rate was reduced today to 0.25% or Lower. They now have a target range of 0.00% to 0.25%. See http://www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/press/monetary/20081216b.htm.
This is a historical low for the Federal Funds Target Rate. The Fed Funds Target Rate is a short-term rate objective of the Federal Reserve Board. The actual Fed Funds Rate is the interest rate at which depository institutions lend balances at the Federal Reserve to other depository institutions overnight. The real rate changes daily but is usually close to the target rate desired by the Federal Reserve. Lately the actual rate has been considerably lower. For example, last month the target rate was 1.00%, but actual rate averaged .39%. Yesterday, the target rate was 1.00%, but the actual rate was .11%. You can find the actual rate at http://www.moneycafe.com/markets/interestrates.htm?qm_target_page=Rates. The symbol is !FFUNDS.
We now anticipate the Prime Rate will be lowered by banks today to 3.25% and will update upon completion of our bank survey.
The Federal Reserve is considering today whether to reduce the Federal Funds Target Rate and will announce the decision at 2:15 p.m. Eastern. The consensus seems to be they will drop the rate .50% to an all time low of .50%. If this happens, we anticpate the Prime Rate will also drop by .50% and we will take a bank survey this afternoon to confirm.
Check back later for an update.
This is a look at some of the best interest rates for deposits and loans from national banks and lenders. (Surveyed Monday morning.)
|
Bank |
Savings Account |
1 Year CD |
3 Year CD |
|
3.25% |
2.90% |
4.00% |
|
|
4.00% |
|
|
|
|
3.30% |
2.25% |
1.80% |
|
|
3.75% |
4.10% |
4.25% |
|
|
3.00% |
3.50% |
2.75% |
|
|
2.75% |
3.75% |
3.50% |
|
|
|
|
|
|
Rates are APY (Annual Percentage Yield)
|
Mortgage Lender |
|
5/1 |
30 Year |
|
|
5.492% |
5.163% |
|
|
|
5.380% |
4.898% |
|
|
|
5.016% |
|
|
|
|
5.427% |
5.059% |
|
|
|
5.125% |
5.116% |
|
|
|
5.169% |
5.213% |
|
|
|
|||
|
|
|
|
|
Rates are APR (Annual Percentage Rate)
Assumptions: $320,000 conforming loan, 20% down, excellent credit, documented income,
California property (Rates Survey between Friday and Monday)
Looking to find a great rate on a certificate of deposit (CD), money market or savings account. There is a very interesting service we found called MoneyAisle.com. They essentially auction your money to the bank that bids the highest rate for your account.
It’s a free service that lets you know the bank with the best offer in just a couple of minutes. They only work with FDIC insured banks. They even have a test drive so you can first see how it really works without fully registering. If you register and run an auction, but don’t want to open an account, there is no obligation to accept the winning bid. It only takes a few minutes and doesn’t cost anything, so it’s definitely worth a try to see if you can get a better rate on your deposits.
Let us know how it goes and what types of rates you are seeing.
Tax time is just around the corner. This week we have seen the release of some of the leading do it yourself tax solutions. We are providing links here so you can check out some of the offerings for this year.
One big change for this year is that federal e-filing is now included in the price by all major providers. With this change, tax filers will no longer have an economic impediment to federal e-filing. The software now costs the same whether you print and mail, or just simply e-file. If you count postage, return receipt fees, driving to the post office and the delay in getting a refund, it’s just not worth it anymore to mail your return to the IRS. There is a big push every year by the IRS to get as many returns e-filed as possible and it looks like the major providers have now seriously helped out the cause.
Of course e-filing was a major source of revenue for providers, so prices of the base products have increased. We don’t have all of last years data, but it looks like each provider’s total cost to prepare and file online will be roughly the same this year. Both TurboTax Online and TaxCut Online are closely priced.
Preparing and e-filing a federal and state return costs $50 with TurboTax Basic and $65 with TurboTax Deluxe. The same return with TaxCut Basic is $50 and TaxCut Premium is $70. CompleteTax is slightly less at $45. TaxACT is significantly less expensive at $17. If you aren’t sure which online solution is best for you, each one is free until you try to print or file. So you can give them all a try at no cost.
As for desktop software, it’s a little more complicated. TurboTax Desktop will now charge a fee for each additional return plus state e-filing charges. TaxCut allows up to 5 federal returns, but charges a little more for each state e-filing. Here’s the back of the envelope calculations for a federal and state return, both being e-filed. TurboTax Deluxe costs $78 for the first return and $28 $18 for each additional. TaxCut Premium costs $70 for the first return and $20 for each additional up to five. Again, TaxACT’s desktop download is priced significantly below the other two software providers at only $28 for one return. UPDATE – TurboTax now allows up to 5 federal returns at no additional charge.
All of the prices quoted here are subject to change. And these companies are known to adjust prices during tax season. (They actually changed within hours of our post.) One great thing that hasn’t changed and won’t change – low income and simple federal returns can still be prepared online and federally e-filed for free.
We haven’t made feature comparisons at this point, but these links take you to the different features of each of the products. If you find any good product reviews and feature comparisons, please share the links by commenting on this post.
Online Tax Preparation
Which TurboTax Is Right For You? Click Here.
Compare TaxCut Online products
TaxACT
Compare TaxAct Online Solutions.
See the CompleteTax offering.
Desktop Tax Software
TaxCut Software Complete Features List
TaxACT
Compare Software Downloads
