Savers Punished by Falling CD Yields; Bankrate.com Posts Weekly CD Survey Results.

Business Editors

NEW YORK--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Jan. 29, 2003

Stock prices are not the only investments falling. Unfortunately for savers, certificate of deposit yields are dropping, too, according to Bankrate.com's new national survey of large financial institutions. Yields across all maturities, already at record lows, continue to decline. In addition, many returns trail the annual rate of inflation, currently 2.4 percent.

"Ongoing concerns about Iraq and the economy will keep downward pressure on interest rates," explained senior writer Laura Bruce, who covers savings for Bankrate.com. "Rate declines shouldn't be more than a basis point or two, but when rates are this low every nick hurts."

        Deposit averages from Bankrate.com's national CD survey

         Money market account: 0.78%, unchanged from last week
          6-month CD yield: 1.25%, down from 1.27% last week
           1-year CD yield: 1.45%, down from 1.46% last week
           5-year CD yield: 3.15%, down from 3.16% last week

Investors willing to shop for their FDIC-insured money market and certificates of deposit nationwide will do much better than average. This week, Bankrate.com found eight institutions paying from 2.25 percent APY to 2.4 percent APY on money market deposit accounts, down from nine institutions last week. On one-year CDs, Bankrate.com found eight institutions that pay from 2.5 percent APY to 2.65 percent APY. Last week, three institutions topped the charts at 2.7 percent APY, but have since trimmed rates. All yields are available nationally to customers who do not have an existing relationship with the institution.

Bankrate.com conducts two surveys each week for money market accounts and CDs. The 100 Highest Yields survey is conducted weekly to find the highest-yielding CD and money market accounts available to consumers nationwide. Bankrate.com also conducts a weekly national CD survey, which compiles the rates from the largest banks and thrifts in each of the 10 largest U.S. markets to arrive at a national average.

These surveys are supplemented by the Rate Trend Index, a weekly poll of bankers and industry experts on the direction of CD returns in the coming week. This week, those polled for the Index said they expect no improvement soon. The vast majority of those polled say they expect rates to stay unchanged or drop further.

To see data from Bankrate's 100 Highest Yields survey, go to http://www.bankrate.com and click on "CD/Savings."

To see the complete Bankrate Rate Trend Index, go to http://www.bankrate.com/CD-RTI

About Bankrate Inc.

Bankrate Inc. (Nasdaq:RATE) owns and operates Bankrate.com, the Internet's leading consumer banking marketplace. Bankrate.com averages 4 million unique visitors per month, according to comScore Media Metrix, which ranks Bankrate.com first in unique visitors in the "Financial information and advice" category. Bankrate.com reviews more than 4,800 financial institutions in 173 markets in 50 states. Bankrate.com is a destination site of personal finance channels, including banking, investing, taxes and small business finance. It is the leading aggregator of more than 100 financial products, including mortgages, credit cards, new and used auto loans, money market accounts and CDs, checking and ATM fees, home equity loans and online banking fees.

Bankrate.com provides financial applications and information to a network of more than 80 partners including MSN (Nasdaq:MSFT), Yahoo! (Nasdaq:YHOO), America Online (NYSE:AOL) and Smart Money. Bankrate.com's information is also distributed through more than 100 national and state publications.