5-Year CD Rates in Greater Las Vegas Region Lower Than National Average

NEW YORK - RateWatch, a premier banking data and analytics service owned by TheStreet, Inc. (NASDAQ: TST) reported today that national averages this week for CD rates for all durations remained unchanged as the Federal Reserve has continued to keep the short-term federal funds rate at a range of zero to 0.25% since late 2008.

"For the sixth-straight week CD rates remained unchanged. Minutes from the Fed's latest meeting showed the central bank wasn't signaling any blueprint to raise rates. CD rate changes may stay quiet throughout the summer, leaving savers who want to park their cash little hope of higher returns in the near term," reported Joe Deaux, TheStreet's Economics Analyst.

NATIONAL AVERAGE RESULTS - $10K

In the Greater Las Vegas Region area, the average 5-year CD rate sat at 0.89%, lower than the national average of 1.14%. Rates on the 5-year CD ranged from 0.2% on the low end to 2.0% at the high end, which can be found at Charles Schwab. The average 3-year CD rate in Greater Las Vegas Region was 0.6% with a range of 0.05% to 1.5% found at Charles Schwab. And if you are on the market for a 1-year CD, take a look at Beal Bank USA, which currently offers a rate of 1.01% as compared to the Greater Las Vegas Region average of 0.34%. Other top rate issuers can be found in the tables that follow.

GREATER LAS VEGAS REGION AVERAGE RESULTS - $10K

TOP RATE ISSUERS - $10K

This is a list of issuers with top interest rates in the Greater Las Vegas Region area. The issuer's Financial Strength Rating is an independent, unbiased evaluation of quarterly regulatory statements. Institutions are assigned a letter grade of A-E with "A" representing the highest rating based on a review of many aspects of financial safety including capitalization, asset quality, profitability and liquidity. For more information, visit www.weissratings.com/help/what-our-ratings-mean.aspx. Information is believed to be accurate, but not guaranteed.

Data is surveyed weekly with averages calculated each Monday afternoon from RateWatch's unbiased national interest rate survey of over 96,000 financial institution locations across the United States.

More About CDs:

CDs, or certificate of deposits, are bank-issued promissory notes wherein an investor deposits money for a set amount of time and, provided the money remains untouched, receives interest on the total sum when the investment matures.

While the money can't be accessed during that time (without incurring penalties), the advantage of a CD over a regular savings deposit is the higher rate of interest. Typically, a CD can be taken out on as few as three-month terms but can range to up to five years; generally, the longer the timeframe the higher rate of interest.

CD Laddering:

To provide further financial security, a CD laddering strategy offers conservative investors the opportunity to stagger their capital across numerous deposits set to expire at different intervals. Not only does this hedge against variable rate fluctuations by offering a guaranteed return at a locked-in interest rate, it also increases liquidity given that one CD will mature at predictable and established intervals.

Using an example of a five-year ladder strategy, an investor would divide his or her money amongst one-, two-, three-, four-, and five-year CDs. Once the one-year deposit matures, he or she will reinvest the money into a five-year CD, and will do so every subsequent year upon each CD's maturation. In this way, the investor has a CD that matures each year and thus, steady income from the interest on the maturing investments.

Nevertheless, investors must keep in mind that the onus of developing a ladder strategy is on the investor, not the bank or financial institution. In developing a strategy, map out each rung of the ladder, determining how long you want to invest for, the kind of return you are targeting and the length of time you can tolerate not having access to the principal and interest.

About RateWatch

For over 20 years, RateWatch has been the premier provider of competitive interest rate and product information to financial institutions across the United States. Consistently providing top quality, highly relevant data RateWatch maintains the largest database in the industry with deposit, loan, and fee information monitoring over 96,000 locations. Rate surveys, product comparisons, financial strength reporting, local/regional/national averages, fee reporting, specialty reports and more are available. To learn more about RateWatch, visit www.rate-watch.com. RateWatch is a division of TheStreet, Inc.

National Average is calculated using one unique rate per institution. Averages are based on banks, savings & loans, brokers and internet banks with assets greater than $1 billion.