College Savings Bank, a Division of NexBank SSB

Founded in 1987, College Savings Bank offers the CollegeSure CD, a certificate of deposit indexed to college costs and guaranteed to meet future tuition, fees, room and board. It's backed by the full faith and credit of the United States up to $100,000 per depositor. The bank invests primarily in high-grade, adjustable-rate mortgage-backed securities, the majority of which are guaranteed by the U.S. government or its agencies. It limits its investments in this manner in order to avoid the types of credit risks that have often financially impaired other banks. The bank designs its investment portfolio and updates that portfolio periodically to match the interest rate sensitivities of its assets and liabilities. It pursues this matching to avoid the extreme interest rate exposure that has adversely affected many other banks. College Savings Bank is located in Princeton, N.J.