I have been receiving some very good questions lately, and this is another one. If the bank you are planning to buy the certificate of deposit from is FDIC insured, you are probably OK from the standpoint of your principal being safe. This does not guarantee that you won’t have any service problems with the bank itself. For example, when buying a CD you will be signing an agreement that is filled with a lot of fine print, such as withdrawal penalties, automatic rollover to a new term, and other bank related policies. It may turn out that you need to sit down with someone at the bank and work out a problem. If you are dealing with a bank across the country, you may be limited to a phone call to resolve your service issues. In many cases, a phone call just will not be enough to get a significant problem resolved.
I would personally try and keep my bank business local if at all possible. You may be able to bring in a rate you found on the Internet and get a local bank to match it. Banking used to be very simple, but banks have become very crafty at how they do business. You would not believe the e mails that I receive from people being hit with hundreds of dollars in fees over a single check problem at their bank. I am very skeptical of banks these days and would probably want to stick with one in my own city so I could go in to discuss any problems I had in person. Furthermore, if I had to file a lawsuit against them I could do so in my own local court system.
Agree or disagree, click on comments below.
My main website is www.ChristianMoney.com
James L. Paris
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