You know it’s a tough economy when U.S. Treasury Secretary Tim Geithner can’t sell his house, and when the unraveling credit markets look, as the old saying goes, like an ugly bag of snakes.

But let’s brighten things up a bit. This week’s edition of “Deals of the Week” shines a light on a nice CD deal, a novel way to get cheap concert tickets using a credit card, and a good rate on an online banks savings account.

Here’s the scoop:

CDs

Certificate of deposit rates have been languishing for a while. In fact, the highest CDs today aren’t even yielding as much as the average CD paid out in 2008. According to BankingMyWay.com, the average two-year CD is only paying 1.6% today – roughly 100 basis points below last year’s rate deals.

So how about a 2.5% interest rate on a two-year CD with Connexus Credit Union? It only takes a small membership fee to join the Wisconsin-based union ($10).

You’ll need a $1,000 deposit to get the rate, but past that, only membership is standing in your way – and it’s really not a high hurdle to join.

Apply at the credit union’s Web site.


Credit Cards

Citibank (Stock Quote: C) has an interesting offer for live music lovers – a chance to buy tickets to see high-powered acts like Motley Crue, the Black Crowes and even blasts from the past like KC and the Sunshine Band for as low as $5.

The offer is a co-branded one from Citibank and Live Nation (Stock Quote: LYV), a big U.S. concert promoter.

It works like this. You click on to the Live Nation concert promotion Web site. Type in “CITI” and the first two digits of your Citi credit card number, and you’re immediately plugged in to a geographical list of U.S. concerts where the discount ticket price is honored (provided you use the Citi credit card to pay for the tickets).

Not every ticket price is $5 – it really depends on the act you want to see. But even the highest discount prices are only $10-to-$15 or so, making the savings significant given the standard ticket price of up to $60 per ticket to see some of the shows included in the promotion.

Savings Accounts

At 0.24%, according to the BankingMyWay.com savings rates tracker, bank savings rates are anemic – no doubt about it.

But some of the best ways to get beyond such a low savings rate is to plug into an online bank, where the overhead can be low and the interest rates an be high (at least relative to what some of the big banks are offering these days).

Consider Bank of Internet, which is offering a 2.5% rate on its Bank of Internet USA Advantage savings account. The San Diego-based bank offers the 2.5% APY for customers who put down a minimum $100 deposit and commit to making three debit payments per month using the bank’s ATM card.

There’s no management fee and no minimum balance – it’s basically a steak-and-potatoes deal without many frills attached beyond the great rate.

But a savings rate that pays out approximately eight times better than the average national bank savings rate may be well worth the trouble of opening a new savings account.

Check it out for yourself.

— For more ways to save, spend, invest and borrow, visit MainStreet.com.