First Midwest Bank caught our eye with a novel 32-month certificate of deposit whose rate increases every eight months.

The “Rising Rate CD” starts with a not-bad 1.76% APY, graduates to 2.05% APY for the second eight months, then goes to 3.05% APY and finally to 4.05% APY.

It works out to an average annual return of 2.76% over the full, 32-month term.

That’s more than twice the national average for 30-month CDs and very close to what the best 30-month CDs are paying.

The minimum deposit is $5,000 and it must be new money or funds that have not been deposited at First Midwest in the past 90 days.

You must also buy your CD at one of First Midwest’s branches in Illinois, Indiana and Iowa, and live in one of those states (or Wisconsin).

Click here to compare this deal with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

This South Florida bank is making a big splash with the best CD rates available on four different types of certificates of deposit.

TotalBank is paying 2.55% APY on 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month CDs, with just a $1,000 minimum deposit.

That is not only two to three times the national average for those four types of CDs, but it also vaults TotalBank to the top our rankings for the best, nationally-available rates for each of them.

TotalBank is owned by Spain’s third largest bank, Banco Popular Espanol SA, and deposits are insured by the FDIC.

Although it has 15 branches in the Miami area, these e-special rates are only available when you apply online.

The process doesn’t allow you to name a beneficiary for your investments, so consider opening a joint account when you buy these certificates of deposits.

Click here to compare these CD rates with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

We’ve seen it happen time and time again.

A successful small bank offers a couple of great CD rates to depositors nationwide and gets buried in applications.

Overwhelmed by the paperwork and the influx of cash, the bank quickly cuts its rate or starts refusing out-of-state deposits.

The banks that topped our latest listings of the best 6-month and 12-month CD rates are the most recent to succumb to that pressure.

Wilshire State Bank was paying 2.50% APY on 6-month and 12-month CDs.

That put the Los Angeles-based bank at the top of our rankings of the best-paying 6-month CDs and second in our rankings of the best paying 12-month CDs.

Now Wilshire is paying a very respectable 1.96% APY on its 6-month CDs and 2.15% on 12-month certificates of deposit.

Quantum Bank is still paying the 2.66% APY that put it at the top of our rankings of the best-paying 12-month CDs.

But the suburban Atlanta bank is now accepting deposits from Georgia residents only.

That means UFB Direct now has the best nationally-available rate for 6-month CDs — 2.00% APY.

Two big online banks, Ally Bank and Discover Bank have moved to the top of our rankings for the best 12-month CD rates — 2.30% APY.

We suspect this problem will continue as long as small banks are offering far better rates than big banks.

And that will continue as long as the federal government remains a bottomless source of cheap money for the big banks.

They just don’t have to compete for deposits and can pay, for example, 0.80% APY (Wells Fargo), 1.50% (Bank of America) or 1.70% APY (Citibank) for 12-month CDs.

Click here to compare these returns with the best
CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

Six-month CD rates have slumped to record lows the summer.

The average return is a depressing 0.89% APY, the lowest it’s been since Bankrate began tracking 6-month CD rates in January 1984.

But you can still earn 2%, or close to it, on these short-term certificates of deposit if you take advantage of the very best deals.

These offers top our list of the highest-paying 6-month CDs available nationwide:

2.50% APY with a $1,000 minimum from Wilshire State Bank, based in Los Angeles with branches in Southern California, New York, New Jersey and Texas.

This is actually more than the best 6-month CDs were paying back in April when Ebank in Atlanta was offering 2.30%.

2.00% APY with an $8,000 minimum deposit from UFB Direct. The CDs it sells actually come from Waterfield Bank, which has a couple of branches in Carmel, Ind., and Germantown, Md.

1.95% APY with a $10,000 minimum deposit from Corus Bank in Chicago.

1.95% APY with a $500 minimum deposit from Ascencia Bank, an online operation of Porter Bancorp, which also owns PBI Bank of Louisville, Ky.

Click here to compare these returns with the best
CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

Mortgage rates are up a half-point or so from the record lows they set this spring.

But there are still some very good deals out there.

We searched the extensive database of mortgage rates on Bankrate.com and Interest.com for 10 major cities.

Here’s the lowest rate we found for what we consider to be the best loan for most purchases and refinancings: A 30-year, fixed-rate loan with no points and fees of less than $2,000:

Baltimore: 5.375% from American Lending Group.

Atlanta: 5.625% from Total Mortgage Services.

Boston: 5.25% from American Interbanc.com.

Chicago: 5.50% from Sterling Home Mortgage.

Dallas: 5.375% from Austin First Mortgage.

Miami: 5.50% from First Nationwide Lending.

Minneapolis: 5.375% from AimLoan.com.

Philadelphia: 5.625% from Mortgage Capital Associates.

San Francisco: 5.375% from AimLoan.com.

Seattle: 5.25% from American Interbanc.com.

We suspect you’ll find similar offers if you search those databases for the best deals in your city or town.

The fine print: These rates are for borrowers with credit scores of at least 700 and conforming loans, which means they’re for less than $417,000. For scores from 680 to 699 you’ll usually pay higher fees, up to 1% of the loan value, or a higher rate.

This offer for a Citi Platinum Select MasterCard can make it quicker and easier to pay off your credit card debt.

It allows you to transfer the balance from a card that’s charging lots of interest to a new Citi account that charges no interest for up to a year.

Exactly how long you get to enjoy the 0% interest rate depends on your credit history. The more dings you have, the more likely it is that you’ll only get to go interest free for nine months. Or maybe even six months.

Although you’ll have to pay a 3% balance transfer fee, other cards are charging as much as 4% and it’s almost impossible to find a card waiving that fee even for promotional deals.

But not paying interest makes your credit card debt a lot easier to get rid of. Every cent of every check goes towards reducing the balance.

You’re also charged 0% APR on all purchases during that time, so you can use the card without having to pay interest on new charges.

Without that perk you’d have to pay interest on those purchases while you paid off your balance transfer.

After the introductory rate expires you’ll pay a competitive adjustable rate of prime plus 7.74% or 11.74% or 15.74%, again depending on your credit score. (That works out to 10.99%, 14.99% or 18.99% right now.)

But by then, we’d hope you’d be out of debt.

There’s also no annual fee. We don’t believe anyone should pay for the privilege of carrying a credit card.

Yet a growing number of credit cards are imposing annual fees from $39 for a basic bank card to an astounding $495 for high-end cards with concierge service such as Barclay’s Black Card.

Citi Platinum Select is not a rewards card, so you won’t earn any cash rebates, or miles towards airline tickets, or points you can redeem for gift cards.

But if you’re carrying a balance, interest charges wipe out any benefits you’d get from a rewards card.

You need the lowest interest rate possible until you’re debt free, and you can’t get any lower than 0%.

Click here to compare Citi’s offer with dozens of other credit card deals. Pick the one with the interest rate and terms that fit your needs.

The precipitous decline in CD rates slowed over the past week, raising hopes that maybe, just maybe, they’ve bottomed out.

Bankrate’s weekly survey of large banks and thrifts taken June 17 found the average annual yield for a:

Three-month CD slid to 0.60% from 0.62% the previous week. That’s the lowest average since Bankrate began tracking 3-month CD rates in March 1989.

Six-month CD fell to 0.89% from 0.91% — the lowest average since Bankrate began tracking 6-month CD rates in January 1984.

One-year CD increased to 1.19% from 1.17% — the lowest it’s been since May 2004.

Two-year CD increased to 1.47% from 1.46% — the lowest it’s been since August 2003.

Five-year CD fell to 2.17% from 2.20% — the lowest average since Bankrate began tracking 5-year CD rates in January 1984.

Of course you can earn more than that if you use our extensive database of CD rates to search for better-than-average deals.

But the best rates you’ll find today are no better — and sometimes worse — than the average rates we were earning last summer and fall.

No one in Washington will come right out and say this, so I’ll do it for them.

Saving the banking industry from collapse after its reckless lending binge of the early 2000s is a higher priority than helping average Americans earn a reasonable return on their savings.

That’s why the Federal Reserve is pushing interest rates artificially low — well below where they would be if they were being set by the marketplace.

One way to help the banks boost profits and cover all of the bad mortgage and credit card debt on their books is to increase the difference, or spread, between what they pay for money and what they can earn from loans.

To do that, the government-controlled bank has dropped what it charges commercial banks to borrow money to rock-bottom levels, charging from 0% to 0.25% for overnight loans.

With the government providing so much cheap money, the banks can pay next to nothing for our deposits — such as the 0.01% Chase Bank is offering on its savings accounts.

What could make the Fed reverse course?

Clear signs that the big banks are returning to financial health and no longer need lots of cheap money or a spike in the inflation rate.

Indeed, many free-market advocates insist that the Fed’s policy and record federal budget deficits will ignite a bout of hyper-inflation like the kind we suffered through in the late ’70s.

Maybe worse.

But the Consumer Price Index, the government’s key measure of inflation, has fallen 1.3% over the past year.

Although that’s almost entirely due to a 23.5% decline in energy prices, it’s still the largest decline in the CPI in nearly 60 years.

The “core CPI,” which excludes volatile food and energy prices, did increase 1.8% from May 2008 to May 2009.

Since the Federal Reserve usually considers inflation to be in check when the core CPI is growing by less than 2% a year, there’s nothing in the latest CPI numbers released Wednesday to make it change course anytime soon.

But if not now, or not this summer, then when?

Futures contracts tied to the Fed’s overnight rate indicate that money market traders think there’s a 70% chance it will raise rates by a modest quarter point in November.

They base that opinion on the improvements they’re seeing in the banking industry and overall economy, and projections that the recession will end late this year.

Many economists argue that Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke will be far more cautious. They say he won’t start raising interest rates until he’s sure the recession is over and a strong recovery is underway — and that won’t be until mid-2010.

Either way, it appear the best we can hope for this summer is that CD rates will level out and stop plunging to new lows each week.

Since last month a little bank outside Atlanta has been offering the best rate on 24-month CDs — 2.97% APY with a $1,000 minimum deposit.

Now Quantum National Bank has the best, nationally available rate on 12-month certificates of deposit, paying 2.66% with a $1,000 minimum deposit.

Wilshire State Bank, based in Los Angeles with branches in Southern California, New York, New Jersey and Texas, has jumped into second place, paying 2.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000.

Since we surveyed 12-month CD rates earlier this month, Ally Bank lowered its return from 2.80% to 2.35% APY, and Corus Bank cut its rates from 2.63% to 2.35% APY.

(Click here to see how the FDIC is pressuring Ally to lower its CD rates.)

But Quantum is still paying more than twice the national average of 1.17% for 12-month CDs.

It has branches in Suwanee and Milton, Ga., and accepts applications from across the country.

Although it runs credit checks on out-of-state applicants, and confirms their information by phone before opening an account, an official told Bankaholic that it accepts virtually all individual depositors.

Click here to compare these returns with the best
CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

Credit card companies sent out fewer solicitations for new customers in the first three months of the year — only about a third as many as in the first quarter of 2008.

But more of those offers required customers to pay an annual fee if they signed up — 27% versus 18% last year, according Mail Monitor, a direct mail tracking service.

The fees ranged from $24 to $72 a year and reflect what could be a new trend — more cards charging more customers for the privilege of being in their wallets.

Lenders are looking for ways to cover losses from a growing number of defaults, and the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility and Disclosure Act of 2009 will limit their ability to raise other fees and interest rates when it takes effect in February.

Since only about 20% of all credit cards currently charge an annual fee, it’s an obvious way for the banks to boost their revenue.

Three of the four most recent credit card applications to land in the Bankaholic mailbox — all for reward travel cards — include annual fees.

The No Hassle Miles Ultra MasterCard from Capital One was the exception. It proclaimed “NO ANNUAL FEE” in big red letters and offered the lowest, variable interest rate — prime plus 6.74%, or 9.99% right now.

The AirTran Airways A+ Visa Signature card from Barclays Bank included a $39 annual fee and an interest rate of prime plus 10.99% (currently 14.24%) or prime plus 13.99% (currently 17.24%), depending on your credit history.

The Southwest Airlines Rapid Rewards Visa Signature card from Chase Bank imposed a $59 annual fee and a variable interest rate of prime plus 9.99% (currently 13.24%.)

But there was a strange twist in the fine print (and all of these offers came with a voluminous amount of fine print).

Applicants who don’t have the income or credit history required to qualify for a Visa Signature card might be offered a Visa Platinum card instead — with no annual fee. (But you only get two rather than 16 bonus credits for signing up.)

The Gold Delta Sky Miles card from American Express wanted us to pay a $95 annual fee, although it would be waived for the first year, and a fixed interest rate of 13.24%.

Click here to compare these deals with the best credit card offers in our extensive database.

Here’s how the FDIC is pressuring Ally Bank to lower its rates on CDs and savings accounts. It’s the latest example of how the government is punishing savers to save the banking industry. The post is on Bankaholic’s Personal Finance Blog, which you can reach by clicking on the “finance” tab on any page.