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1.
Is
RateService a bank?
RateService is the online web division of North American
Resources, Inc. North American Resources is a Deposit Broker
as specified by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation
(FDIC). RateService is not a bank and does not
handle any customer funds. All CDs purchased through
RateService are wired directly to the underlying banks or
bank custodians..
Although most investors have traditionally purchased
Certificates of Deposit through local banks, many brokerage firms now offer CDs.
Deposit Brokers can sometimes negotiate a higher rate of
interest for a CD by promising to bring a certain amount of
deposits to the institution. The deposit broker can then offer
these CDs to their customers.
2.
How much will it cost me to open a CD through
RateService?
There are no fees charged to institutional investors for
placing a CD through RateService. RateService receives
it's fees directly from the depository institutions or their
agents.
3.
What are RateService's hours of operation?
RateService is available online 24 hours a day, 365 days
a year. For settlement purposes, CDs are executed
during regular business hours, Monday through Friday, 9:00am
to 5:00pm eastern time, except U.S. banking
holidays.
4.
What information do I need in order to purchase a CD
through RateService?
In order to purchase a CD through RateService, in
addition to your account name, address, and telephone
number; a valid U.S. tax-ID or social security
number is required. Before your initial purchase,
we do our best efforts to validate your information.
Additionally, at this time, we are only approving
qualified institutional and accredited investors for
membership to RateService.
5.
How will my account information be used?
At RateService we appreciate your business and respect
your right to privacy. We understand that the
confidentiality and security of your account information
is of the up most importance to you, as it is to us.
Utilizing industry wide established security measures,
we always try to protect your account information from
unauthorized access to the best of our abilities.
Any information that we collect is used solely for the
purpose of enabling us and our registered financial
institutions to settle your transactions and provide the
highest rates and services possible.
6.
What is the minimum amount of money that I may invest?
The amount of money required for an investment is listed
on the Certificate of Deposit Detail page for each
product. Generally, given the fact that we work
primarily with institutional investors, the minimum
amount of money per investment is approximately $95,000
to $99,000 per CD. Given the interest payment
frequency, theses amounts keep our investors under the
current FDIC federal insurance maximum.
Occasionally, we are able to offer limited "odd lot"
certificates in smaller denominations. If you are
interested in a smaller denomination CD (exp. $25,000 to
50,000), it is best to let us know by
contacting us.
7.
When will I find out if my order has been executed?
After you initiate a purchase of a Certificate of
Deposit on any CD Detail screen or through an Account
Representative, you will be notified via email that we
have received your order. Orders are then executed
on a first come, first serve basis during regular
business hours. Upon execution of your order, we
will again notify you via email and your transaction
will be automatically entered into your RateService
Online Portfolio.
8.
Is RateService.com a secure web site?
RateService utilizes state of the art security methods
including Site Authentication and Secure Socket Layers
(SSL) when necessary. Site authentication keeps
your information private and SSL is the de facto
standard for data encryption over the internet.
This protects unauthorized individuals from deciphering
your sensitive data.
9.
How can I tell if the bank I'm purchasing is FDIC
insured?
FDIC Insurance certificate numbers are shown on all
RateService's Certificate of Deposit Detail pages. To
verify FDIC insurance coverage directly with the FDIC,
please visit the FDIC's website at
http://www.FDIC.gov or
visit their
Bank Find page directly. While there, you may
also want to review the FDIC publications "Your
Insured Deposit" and "Insured
or Not Insured".
10.
How do I send my funds to the issuing bank for purchase
of a CD?
Upon execution of your transaction, RateService will
email you an order confirmation detailing the terms of
your transaction. Included on this confirmation
will be the name and address of the purchased banking
institution, any custodian, and the wiring instructions
for purchase. At no time does RateService handle
any of your funds. All funds are wired either
directly to the institution or to the custodian
depending upon the transaction. It is also
possible to mail a check to the institution or
custodian. However, the trade will not be deemed
settled until the check clears.
11.
Will I receive a notice when my CD matures?
Before your CD matures, RateService will email you a
Maturity-ALERT notice. This email contains
information about your upcoming maturity as well as a
list of replacement investments; should you like to
reinvest. In the event you would like to have your
funds sent home, instructions are provided on the
maturity notice or you can call or fax a representative
directly with wiring instructions. Usually wires
are sent out the same day, providing funds are received
back to the custodian before wire cut-off times.
12.
How do I see a list of my transactions?
Besides emailing you confirmation of transactions upon
settlement, RateService maintains a detailed Portfolio
Management System. Portfolio management gives you
the ability to see all of the details of your
transactions both through RateService and outside of
RateService. It also provides statistical asset
allocation for your portfolio and lets you easily see
current financials, as provided by the FDIC, for your
entire portfolio. When you purchase a CD through
RateService, your transaction is automatically placed
into your online portfolio.
One of the major benefits of offering Portfolio
Management for transactions both inside and outside of
RateService is the ability for us to filter the CDs that
you see when purchasing CDs online. This way, when
you purchase a CD from RateService, you are able to
easily to see only the CDs that are available for you to
purchase and keep you under the current FDIC insurance
maximums.
13.
What other features does RateService's Portfolio
Management offer?
The RateService Portfolio Management system is a
professional online system for managing your complete CD
portfolio. Besides being able to search, sort, and view
individual transactions; the system also lets you add
CDs and other fixed income investments to your online
portfolio for tracking. Additionally, there are many
asset allocation functions including graphical
allocation charts and current statistics. As part of the
Portfolio Management System, we also offer our exclusive
Maturities at a Glance.
14.
Can I add investments purchased outside of RateService
to my online portfolio?
You absolutely can add investments purchased outside of
RateService to your online portfolio. Because of
our ability to filter already owned CDs from your
listings, we strongly encourage you to enter your other
CD holdings into the RateService system. As a
matter of fact if you would like us to enter your CD
portfolio for you, just
email or fax us at (631)614-7944 a report including
at least the banks name, city, state, and maturity date
and we will be glad to enter the information for you.
Additionally, many of our members use the RateService
online portfolio system to track their entire fixed
income portfolios. So, we have made it easy to
enter non-CD items as well.
15.
Can you tell me a little about Maturities at a Glance?
Maturities at a Glance is a online system that shows you
a graphical representation of your online portfolio and
literally show you a current laddering of your
portfolio. Additionally, the system shows you
actual investments that are available to purchase during
the various terms of your ladder; making it easy for you
to ladder your portfolio in a way that you always have
the funds maturing when you need them.
16.
What type of portfolio reports does RateService offer?
RateService offers a variety of specialized online
portfolio reports for the convenience of our members.
All of our reports are presented in Adobe PDF format in
order to facilitate a professional printed quality.
In order to read the online reports, you will need to
have installed the free Adobe PDF reader available
here.
Along with a variety of portfolio listing reports
(sorted in various ways) , we also offer a unique FDIC
Financial Report that gives you the ability to see all
of the latest FDIC financials for your current
portfolio. Additionally, a number of our members
have specialized reports directed specifically for their
business. If you are an active member and would
like a specialized report, please
let us know what you are looking for and we will try
to fulfill your requirements.
17.
What is Rate-ALERT and Maturity-ALERT and how do they
work?
By keeping our members informed when certain events
happen, our members are able to make better decisions
and take total control of their CD portfolios.
Rate-ALERT is a totally opt out email system that
periodically sends messages to our members telling them
where rates are and what rates are available for them to
invest in that are not currently in their online
portfolio. Maturity-ALERT simply notifies members
when they have maturities in their online portfolio and
gives them a number of reinvestment alternatives that
they are not currently invested in.
18.
What exactly is a CD and what type of CDs do you offer?
Investors searching for relatively low-risk investments
that can easily be converted into cash often turn to
Certificates of Deposit (CDs). A CD is a
special type of deposit account with a bank or thrift
institution that typically offers a higher rate of
interest than a regular savings account. Unlike
other investments, CDs feature federal deposit
insurance, currently up to $100,000 per investor.
Generally, here’s how Certificates of Deposit work. When you purchase a CD, you invest a fixed sum of money for fixed period of time
(exp. six months, one year, ten years, or more) and in exchange, the issuing bank pays you interest, typically at regular intervals. When you cash in or redeem your CD, you receive the money you originally invested plus any accrued interest. But if you redeem your CD before it matures, you may have to pay an "early withdrawal" penalty or forfeit a portion of the interest you earned.
At RateService we offer a variety of Certificates of
Deposit including "Jumbo", Negotiable, Variable Rate,
and "Zero Coupon" CD. The details of each CD is
listed on the individual Certificate of Deposit Details
pages.
19.
What is the Annual Percentage Yield (APY)?
Annual percentage yield (APY) is the yield you earn on a deposit over
the course of a year; it is a standardized way of comparing investments.
The APY is important because it takes into account the
assumed compounding of your interest. Compounding
is simply a method of making earnings on your earnings.
The APY
shows you how much you’re actually earning on your money. Other ways of quoting a rate don’t necessarily show you the
full picture. On RateService, we use the standard Effective Annual Rate calculation
for calculating the APY .
20.
What is a callable CD?
Some longer term high yielding CDs have "call" features, meaning that the issuing bank may choose to terminate – or call – the CD after
a fixed period of time. Only the issuing bank may call a CD
and not the investor. For example, a bank might decide to call its high-yield CDs if interest rates fall. But if you’ve invested in a long term CD and interest rates subsequently rise, you’ll be locked in at the lower rate.
21.
Can I sell my CD using RateService?
Although
RateService does not maintain a market for CD's or any
security, some brokered CDs issued using a custodian
are able to be sold. If interest rates have fallen since you purchased your CD and demand is high, you may be able to sell the CD for a
premium (above the face value of your certificate). But if interest rates have risen, there may be less demand for your lower-yielding CD. That means you may
only be able to sell the CD at a discount
(below the face value of your certificate). Of course, if you
hold the CD to maturity, you will receive your total
face value regardless of market conditions.
22.
If I am a bank, can I offer CDs for sale through
RateService?
If you are a federally insured bank and are interested
in taking in funds through RateService, please call us
at 1(800)766-3434 Ext. #410 or
contact us here to speak with an account
representative. Depending on the amount of funds
required and the time period for taking in those funds,
we are confident that you will find RateService to be
extremely competitive and efficient.
22.
How do I contact RateService?
If you are interested in purchasing CDs through
RateService and are an institutional or accredited
investor, simply
click here to fill out an online form and open a
members account. Should you have any questions or
need any help with the purchase of your CDs or operation
of our website, you can always
contact us online or call our toll free telephone
number 1(800)766-3434 during regular business
hours (Monday through Friday 9:00am - 5:00pm eastern
time except bank holidays - USA). You can also fax
us anytime at (631)614-7944.
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