Can somebody tell me when banking became such a pain? The second of a two part series.

I just want to let you all know about what Wells Fargo does with their customers who have CDs.

Things to know:

• When your CD matures, Wells Fargo automatically renews your CD after a certain period of time for the same length term.

• Rates are for the most part low, with the exception of a few select term lengths that pay significantly more.

Let’s illustrate this with a current example:

Suppose you have $10,000 and are looking for a CD with a term of about 3 years or less.

Standard interest rates are:

• 2.00% for 3-5 months
• 2.50% for 5-11 months
• 2.75% for 12-23 months

• 3.00% for 24-36 months

However, there are their featured rates:

• 3.75% for 7 months
• 4.00% for 13 months

• 4.25% for 26 months

Clearly, it’s in your best interest to take one of the featured rates. But now, when your CD matures, the featured rates will be for different lengths of times. Maybe like 6 months, 14 months and 25 months. So your CD will automatically renew (after some length of time) into a more standard interest rate.

Therefore, you have to go into the bank and specifically choose the new term length to get the featured rate. It’s a hassle for you, the customer. What does the bank get out of it? Well I guess it has to pay you a lower interest rate if you are lazy and don’t come into the bank (because it’s such a hassle to go there anyway).