A Good Time to Save

Now that the heat of summer has is in full effect and dreams of Christmas in July have gone, many local stores are doing their best to remind patrons that Fall is just around the corner. Walmart hasn't quite put up their Christmas decorations yet...

What they really want to know is, "Have you started saving for Christmas?"

While it's true that banks are not offering the best interest rates right now (average of local banks in the Norman area is around 0.5%), now is a good time to start a savings account, or start seriously contributing to the one you have, and keep contributing throughout the year.
The third quarter earnings are going to be very high for a lot of regional banks, which have been benefiting from the record low mortgage rates and strong feelings of insecurity and distrust in national bank chains, which will push up interest rates on all deposit items (savings accounts, money markets, and CDs). These reports will be released internally by the end of October and externally in November, usually in time for Black Friday. August and September are also months when most banks offer specials on some deposit accounts, such as CD's and first time checking accounts for college students.

Many banks offer a "Christmas Club" Savings account, which will only allow deposits until November, when it will either send out a check for the balance of the account, transfer the funds to a pre assigned checking account, or send a out a prepaid Visa. These accounts are separate from normal savings accounts so emergency funds aren't confused with Christmas money. Christmas Savings accounts sometimes have differing interest rates from normal savings accounts, since they function as an 11 month rolling deposit CD.