www.moneyaisle.com

Do I Hear 4%? On This Site, Banks Bid for Your Cash

Excerpt:

IN some bazaars, vendors call out their prices, lowering them on the spot as they vie with one another for a shopper’s business.

That’s the kind of competitive selling — and possible good deals for shoppers — that one new Web site hopes to bring to those looking to invest a nest egg in a certificate of deposit or other savings account at an attractive rate.

The hawking will not be done by shouting vendors, but instead through a modern, electronic equivalent: automated auction software running on a Web site that gets its bidding orders from dozens of banks looking for business. When a customer comes to the site and asks for the terms of a C.D., the banks bid against one another via the software to win the deposit.

MoneyAisle (www.moneyaisle.com) has signed up 108 small and midsize banks across the country, many of them eager to build their customer bases, especially in a time when some investors are withdrawing money from shakier investments in search of a safer harbor. When people come to the site shopping for a C.D. or a high-yield savings account, the banks engage in a fast-moving auction. A hundred banks may bid in the first round, 80 in the second round, 50 in the third, until the bank with the highest offer wins the auction.

Comment: Looks promising! I gave it a try without committing. $ 2000 CD for 6 months. The rate was over 4%! Actual screen shot!