CD At A Quick Glance:
- APY: 1.9%
- Deposit Length: 11 months
- Minimum deposit required: $10,000
- Maximum deposit allowed: $2,000,000
- Insurance: FDIC
The Offer
No direct link, but confirmed by Bloomberg
- Morgan Stanley is offering an 11 month CD with an APY of 1.9%, minimum balance is $10,000 and maximum is $2,000,000. You need to have a Morgan Stanley brokerage account to open one of these CDs
The Fine Print
- Valid until September 18th, 2017
- Must be made in increments of $1,000 (e.g no $10,500 CDs)
- Each CD must be funded by new money (net cash inflow starting July 14, 2017 through the end of the promotion) deposited through your Morgan Stanley Smith Barney (MSSB) brokerage account; funds must come from sources other than an existing Morgan Stanley account
Our Verdict
This rate is 0.6% higher than any of the basic savings accounts offered so could be useful for people that are happy to tie up $10,000+ for 11 months and don’t want to chase rewards checking accounts for 5% APY (or have already maxed out those opportunities). We are very new to covering CDs so let me know what other sort of information we should include and if you like/dislike our current format. I’m trying to only cover deals that are significantly better than the top basic savings account rates, the first one we posted was 3% with NFCU for example. At some stage I’ll create a best CD page so it’s easy to track what is currently available.
Hat tip to reader Nathan Y
This is an 11month CD (not a full year/12month CD). Can I expect my contribution to grow by 1.9% or 11/12ths of 1.9% (forego the compounding discussion used when discussing APR vs. APY). If APY is receiving 11/12ths of the 1.9% APY, then any contribution would receive approximately 1.74% growth from the contribution (once again, please forego the compounding issues).
I talked to a MS rep and there’s a $150 annual fee even if you sign up for e-delivery. Fee is only waived if you bank $1M.
I had a MS brokerage account through my employer, but apparently I still have to sign up for a new account. Doing so requires filling in and emailing back a paper form.
Seems like this offer, either by design or intent, is more appropriate for existing MS wealth management clients.
Add me to those in favor of adding outstanding (and/or not-so-great, but educational) CD products to the mix.
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How do we get started here? Is there a point of contact you have at Morgan Stanley???
I agree with Peter. I absolutely think CD promotions should be posted here. Thanks Doc for posting better CD rates.
Also minimum to open a brokerage acct Just to establish a relationship with MStanley is 250k. Correct? Then you may be able to open the 1.9 cd rate.
It’s good to see CD rates slowly creeping up, but this is still too low for me to bother. I remember getting 4% after 6 months in the late 1990’s. Hopefully those will return one day.
I remember AmTrust Bank offering 5% or 6% CDs probably around 10 years ago. I don’t think those days will ever return.
I am quite interested in information like this, especially when rates are so far above market.
Other info useful:
What backs the entity issuing the CD? The listed ad does not show the FDIC, so I assume the Morgan Stanley Private Bank is not a bank with FDIC coverage. That ends my interest in this, if true.
Another facet if you hear of it is how easy it is to work with the offering entity. I am thinking of Synchrony, which has great rates but seems to be a rough road to work with.
Looking again, DOC lists that the Morgan CD does have FDIC coverage. This is accurate, right?
I bet the interest on $10,000 wouldn’t even be enough to cover the fees Morgan Stanley will charge you to buy the cd.