The best deals on home loans are just as good as they were in September.

The lowest rates for a 30-year, fixed-rate mortgage ranged from 5.125% to 4.875% in the 10 cities we surveyed this month, almost identical to the 5.125% to 4.625% range we found in September.

That definitely beats the best deals we were seeing over the summer with one caveat. Although interest rates are lower, the fees lenders are charging to arrange home loans are a little higher this fall.

Anyone shopping for a mortgage can use these results to judge the deals they’re being offered.

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American Express Bank has popped onto our radar screen with a couple of good CD rates.

The credit card company’s online bank is paying 2.35% APY on a 24-month CD, which is not far from the 2.50% APY that the best, nationally-available 2-year certificates of deposit are paying.

While some of the CDs at the top of our rankings require investments of up to $50,000 to qualify for that rate, American Express has no minimum deposit.

It’s also offering 2.75% APY on 36-month CDs, which is about a point more than the national average of 1.74% and only one-quarter point less than the best-paying 36-month CDs. Again, there’s no minimum deposit.

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

As CD rates settled ever lower this week, there’s word that President Obama is preparing to stomp on the top execs at two big banks that helped caused the financial crisis.

According to reports from the Associated Press and New York Times, the president will demand that the annual salaries of the 25 highest-paid executives at Bank of America and Citigroup have their pay cut 50% or more from last year.

About time.

Savers have certainly had their incomes cut because of the incompetent, overpaid leadership at those two banks.

Bankrate’s weekly survey of large banks and thrifts taken Oct. 21 found the average annual yield for a:

3-month CD remained at 0.41% for the third week. But that’s the lowest average since the survey began tracking 3-month CD rates in March 1989.

6-month CD fell to 0.59% from 0.60% — the lowest average since the survey began tracking 6-month CD rates in January 1984.

1-year CD fell to 0.91% from 0.92% — the lowest average since the survey began tracking 12-month CD rates in October 1983.

2-year CD fell to 1.41% from 1.42% — the lowest average rate since July 2003.

5-year CD fell to 2.21% from 2.23%.That’s slightly above the 2.15% reached in July, which was lowest average rate since the survey began tracking 60-month CDs in January 1984.

(Smart savers won’t settle for average returns. Use our extensive database of CD rates to compare the best deals from scores of banks.)

Investors are suffering because the Federal Reserve is pushing interest rates artificially low to save the banking industry from its reckless lending of the early 2000s.

Bank of America and Citigroup are being singled out by the White House because they’re among the seven firms that received the biggest government bailouts but continued to reward themselves like they were titans of industry.

(Executives at the other five, which include General Motors and insurer American International Group will also have their pay slashed.)

The best thing that could happen is that some of those top Citi and Bank of America execs quit because those banks desperately need new and better leadership.

If you’ve got big money, Ridgestone Bank has big CD rates.

It’s paying 2.50% APY on a 25-month CD, which matches the best rates on nationally available 24-month CDs.

The drawbacks are that Ridgestone wants a hefty $40,000 minimum deposit and you can’t buy one of these certificates of deposit online.

You have to call one of the bank’s two branches in suburban Chicago (847-805-9520) or suburban Milwaukee (262-789-1011) to get an application e-mailed to you.

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

Country Bank for Savings has one of the best short-term CD rates around.

It’s paying 1.80 APY with a $500 minimum deposit on 5-month and 6-month certificates of deposit.

That’s the best, nationally available deal on a 6-month CD since H&R Block Bank switched its special to 3-month CDs last week.

The fact that the 14-branch bank based in Ware, Mass., just outside Springfield, is paying the same top rate on a slightly shorter 5-month term CD is even better.

The only drawback is that you can’t open an account online. It has to be done by mail. Contact a customer service representative to get started.

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

With most 12-month CD rates dropping like a stone, who’d have thought the best returns would be higher this month?

But they are.

Two banks offering 2.25% APY lead our October rankings of the top-paying, nationally-available 1-year certificates of deposit.

That’s up from 2.05% in our September rankings.

That increase comes despite the fact that average return on 12-month CDs fell from 0.96% to 0.92% over the past four weeks.

Just one year ago, the national average was 2.47% APY, or more than the best rates available right now:

2.25% APY with no minimum deposit from ING Direct, the online bank of the Dutch financial giant ING. That’s for an “added value” CD funded with money not currently on deposit with ING.

2.25% APY with a $25,000 minimum deposit from MetLife Bank, the online bank owned by the big insurance company.

2.10% APY with a $10,000 minimum deposit from Amboy Direct, the online division of Amboy Bank, which has 24 offices in central New Jersey.

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

The best home equity lines of credit are a little more costly this fall than they were in early summer.

Back in June a number of lenders were offering HELOCs for less than 4%. Now only a couple have deals that good, and most borrowers will pay 4.25% or more.

The cost of these variable-rate loans will almost certainly go up even more next year when the Federal Reserve starts raising short-term interest rates.

But home equity lines of credit remain the cheapest type of consumer loan and you’ll have a tough time beating our six favorite deals.

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Bank of America and Discover have cast themselves as the virtuous credit card companies by pledging not to raise interest rates before tough new federal regulations go into effect in February.

But they can afford to be magnanimous because they’ve already raised the rates on many of their credit cards this year.

(Remember posts like these about Bank of America and Discover’s rate hikes?)

We don’t know why supposedly savvy news sources such as Reuters and CNN haven’t called them on this.

Then, only a few days after announcing the interest rate freeze, Bank of America said it would begin imposing annual fees of $29 to $99 on some accounts that have been free up to now.

We can only conclude that having exhausted all the possibilities for raising rates, the Charlotte-based bank is moving on to annual fees because they aren’t regulated by the Credit Card Accountability, Responsibility, and Disclosure Act.

A spokeswoman told the Associated Press “we’re testing this to see what the feedback is.”

It should be an outraged: “NO! Cancel my card.”

H&R Block Bank has replaced its top-paying 6-month CD special with a 90-day promotional rate.

The online bank owned by the well-known tax preparer had led our rankings of the best 6-month CD rates for more than a month by offering 2.00% APY with a $10,000 minimum deposit.

But that’s over now and H&R Block Bank has a new special — 1.50% APY on a 90-day CD with a minimum deposit of $5,000 that runs through Nov. 9.

We only know of one nationally-available offer that’s better — 1.65% APY on a 3-month certificate of deposit from TotalBank.

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