The Free Lakota Bank presently offers customers two types of deposit accounts: Demand (fee-based) and General Development Fund (fee-free). Each account is denominated and valued to the tenth ounce of .999 fine silver, not dollars or any other currency. It would do you well to begin thinking of silver in ounces, as the real value of an ounce of silver never changes: an ounce of silver is always worth an ounce of silver.Accounts are valued to the tenth of an ounce, as this is the smallest minted silver unit available at the present moment. All transfers and deposits are credited to the tenth of the ounce.

Demand Account:

Our basic account is the Demand Account, which offers the ability to make deposits, send and receive payments from other Free Lakota Bank account holders, and facilitate withdraws. The minimum deposit is 20 ounces unless you already hold a GDF Account contract, if you do not hold a GDF contract, there is a fee of one ounce of silver per month to maintain a Demand Deposit account.

Important Notes Regarding Demand Accounts:

1) Your account is not credited until we receive your deposit. If you are funding your account through an exchange at a partner mint, your account will not be credited until we physically receive the property.

2) If you establish a GDF deposit of 20 ounces of silver or more, the fee to maintain a Demand Account is waived.

General Development Fund:

The General Development Fund is a term agreement between a depositor and the Free Lakota Bank. Each contribution to the General Development Fund represents a specific agreement with the Bank for a particular length of time and rate of return. The minimum contract amount is 20 ounces. Subsequent GDF deposits can be made, however each deposit represents a new contract, term and rate.

The following GDF term lengths and rates are presently available:

12-month GDF contract – 3.25% annual return
24-month GDF contract – 4.25% annual return
36-month GDF contract – 5.25% annual return

Important General Development Fund Information:

1) Please note that all accounting is in ounces of minted Silver. While the “dollar” value of silver may fluctuate, the number of ounces in a GDF contract do not. Interest on your deposit is calculated in ounces of Silver, not dollars. For example, if you deposit 100 ounces in a 12-month GDF contract, you will accumulate 103.25 ounces, rounded down to the nearest tenth of an ounce. At the end of the contract, the “dollar” value may fluctuate up or down; this does not matter to us and is not considered in the valuation of your account. Your deposit is in ounces of metal, which do not fluctuate in “value”.

2) All debits and credits to your account are rounded to a tenth of an ounce. For example, if you deposit 100 ounces in a 12-month GDF contract, your annual return is 3.25 ounces, paid in 4 quarterly deposits of .8 ounces. Considering the rounding factor, your actual annual return is 3.2 ounces in this scenario, but the rounding may or may not affect your interest based on the total size and term of your GDF contract.