Quote:
Originally Posted by Rain Man
I've wondered this myself, but I developed a theory. I have no idea if it's right or not.
If you're a bank, you're typically making some long-term loans. If you pay me a 5 percent rate for 5 years, and then you loan that out to some sucker with a 30-year mortgage at 6 percent or a 10-year car loan at 8 percent, then you're making money.
That said, a JP Morgan CD that I had at 6 percent just called it in. That really sucks. I knew it was callable but didn't know how likely it was to happen. It was a 5.6 percent CD so I was really happy, but in the fine print they can call it and just give me my money back early, and they did that. It's the first time I've had that happen, so unless it starts happening more frequently with other banks I'll be avoiding JP Morgan CDs going forward.
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5.6% is really high for a 5-year term, but you’re essentially correct. A bank will use the money you have in a CD and lend it out longer term. My previous bank would buy CDs on the secondary market to make USDA guaranteed loans, but the rates were typically variable limited to the term the CDs were purchased for. You can review a banks net interest margin to see how good a bank is at this.