The CODI has not been published for over two months and it doesn’t seem like it’s coming back. This Certificates of Deposit Index (or CODI) was commonly used in the past as an index for adjustable mortgage loans. The CODI is the 12 month average of the monthly average yields of 3 month certificates of deposit. In plain English, this index is calculated by averaging the previous 12 monthly rates of the 3 month CD rate, which was published monthly by the Federal Reserve.
But since July 1, 2013 the Federal Reserve has not provided data to calculate the CODI. The Federal Reserve says it doesn’t publish CD survey data “when the number of respondents is too few to be representative.” So apparently they are not getting enough information from banks and dealers. When we contacted the Federal Reserve this week to see when they will start publishing CD rates again, a Senior Financial Analyst said it was “unknown at this time when CD rates will be available again.”
So why does this matter? Well, there are many loans still outstanding that are tied to the CODI. If the CODI is no longer available, lenders will substitute or re-calculate an index. And we know from experience that doesn’t work out well for borrowers, as evidenced by the COSI (Cost of Savings Index) debacle that is still ongoing years later. In the COSI situation, borrowers have paid millions more in interest than they would have with other indexes.
We will keep watch on the situation as it unfolds. Please contact us or comment if anyone has more information.
For CODI Rate history see: https://www.moneycafe.com/personal-finance/codi-rate-certificates-of-deposit-index/
Has anyone heard from their lender about this?
just received letter from Wells Fargo stating that the “index was discontinued and FNMA has selected a comparable national index for determining future interest rate adjustments on your home loan.
Effective July 1, 2014, we will use the rate of the 6 Month Wall Street Journal London Interbank Offered Rate (LIBOR) index value as the new index for future interest rate adjustments on (your) mortgage.”
Looks like we will be paying higher interest on our loan than we have with CODI doesn’t it?
Just received a letter from Wells Fargo regarding Mortgages that originated with World Savings & Loan which were sold to Wacovia and eventually taken over by Wells Fargo. Dropping the CODI index and going to the 1-Month Eurodollar deposits (London) index. This doesn’t bode well.
Do we have any say in the changes or options?
I got the same letter from Wells Fargo. Dropping my CODI index which hasnt been published in over a year to the the 1-Month Eurodollar deposits (London) index with a reduction of 0.02 in my margin. I plotted the two over time on top of each other and they moved almost identically in unison. Seems fair enough I guess.