It’s growing fairly quiet on the bank deals front this week, with the number of great rate deals diminishing, perhaps a result of the FDIC’s warning earlier this month to Utah-based Ally bank to reduce its “risky” bank deposit rate practices.

The FDIC sent a letter to the lending arm of GMAC (which received $21 billion in federal bailout funds), after the American Banker’s Association complained that Ally was endangering the health of the FDIC insurance fund by offering significantly higher rates on bank deposit accounts than most of its competitors. But Ally has seen its total deposits rise 46%, to $2.5 billion – plenty of capital to withstand a run on assets, if that’s what the ABA is worried about.

Ally balked at the ABA complaint but did slice its one-year CD rate from 2.80% to 2.49% - still approximately twice the 1.24% one-year CD rate average found on BankingmyWay.com’s weekly CD rate tracker.

So despite some early signs of federal intervention, you can still find some great deals out there, if you’re diligent and determined not to settle for average rates.

With those thoughts in mind, here are a few tips for this week.

New Savings Programs

We haven’t written much about American Express Bank (Amex), but maybe it’s time we did. That after Amex rolled out a new online personal bank deposits program, with particular emphasis on its CD and banks savings programs that should grab the attention of consumers.

Amex’s savings account program offers a rate of 2.0% APY, light years ahead of BankingMyWay’s national bank savings account rate average of .025% this week.

Amex Bank also has a good deal on longer-term CD’s. It’s two-year CD offers a 2.50% APY, and its three-year CD clocks in with a 3.00% APY. All rates are good as of June 15.

The deals aren’t tied to any use of an American Express credit card, and all come with no minimum deposit requirements. You can also set up an account online and deposit funds electronically.

Rewards Checking

As we said, there may not be an over abundance of great deals this week, but the ones we’re finding are off the charts. Take United Federal Credit Union, which is offering a whopping 6.1% APY for bank account deposits up to $25,000 for its Interest Checking Plus Account.

Here’s the language from the Union’s web site:

“Introducing Interest Plus Checking from United Federal Credit Union. Not only do you earn 6.01% APY* on your balance (no minimum balance required) – you also receive free ATMs nationwide. 6.01% APY guaranteed until at least 2010!”

The deal comes with a few strings, but they don’t seem to onerous. They include:

• Enroll in eStatements – receive your statements electronically
• Have One Direct Deposit OR One ACH (Electronic Payment)
• Conduct a minimum of ten (10) Debit Card Swipe and Sign purchases (Credit transactions/Non-PIN based).

Find more info, including application help, at.

Money Markets

How about one more for the road?

It comes in the money markets category, and it’s from AIG Bank. That begs the question of whether any great deal from AIG, which has taken tens of billions in government TARP funds, might warrant a call from the FDIC.

But that hasn’t happened yet, so feel free to lock in a money market rate of 1.75% with a minimum account balance of $2,500. That rate was good as of June 16, 2009 when we checked the AIG web page.

Deposits of $10,000 earn an even better rate – 1.95%, anything over $50,000 gets a 1.99% interest rate on the AIG money market account. You’ll need the minimum $2,500 to open the account, and there’s a $10 service charge if your balance goes under that amount.

For more info, check out the bank’s web site.

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