Maryland Legal Alert for Financial Services

Maryland law requires depository institutions doing business in Maryland that make first lien residential real property loans and maintain escrow accounts for those loans to pay a minimum rate of interest on the escrow accounts. Maryland law also requires Maryland-chartered banks that offer certain short term "special purpose" deposit accounts (for example, Christmas Club Accounts) to pay a minimum rate of interest on those deposit accounts. The minimum rate of interest on these accounts is based on the weekly average yield of United States Treasury Securities adjusted to a constant maturity of one year as of the first business day of the calendar year. The minimum rate of interest to be paid on these accounts for 2017 is 0.89% (i.e., the statutory prescribed rate as of January 3, 2017, the first business day of 2017). This is up from 0.61% which was the minimum rate to be paid in 2016. Please contact  Margie Corwin if you have any questions.