Washington Mutual is offering a 5% APY interest rate on the 12-month CDs for a limited time. There have been rumblings about them potentially going into the conservatorship of the FDIC but your money is safe even if that happens.

If you also have a WaMu high yield checking/savings account, this deal is a good one if you won’t need the funds for 12 months. The early withdrawal penalty is 90 days interest, you can open the account entirely online, fund it online, and has only a $1,000 minimum.

Washington Mutual recently increased their one-year (and 13 month) Certificate of Deposit rates to 4.50% APY, which appears to be in lock-step with their 3.75% APY online savings account. WaMu has been in the news lately for liquidity issues, an acute problem that brought down other banks recently, but they are FDIC insured up to the standard $100,000 so you won’t have to worry about losing anything.

Hat tip to Bank Deals!

If you have been thinking about laddering CDs, whether it’s just for your savings or if it’s for an emergency fund, here’s a pretty straightforward CD laddering tutorial detailing all the specifics of doing so.

Don’t get hung up on the rates of return or the use of ING Direct as the example, you can buy CDs from any bank or from multiple banks. ING Direct was simply used because it’s easy to get to their rates of return and they have great CD laddering online features.