CD rates, comparedCertificates of deposit compared by APY, term, minimum deposit and early withdrawal penalty.
Independent research. Every number is checked against the provider's own page and dated. Some links may earn us a commission, which never changes a ranking. How we make money
15 CDs compared; 14 of 15 in the main list were re-read in the last 14 days (newest read Oct 19, 2026). Ranking rule: We sort by the APY we verified on each issuer's own page, current prints first. A rate we last checked more than 14 days ago stays listed with its date but never outranks a current one. It is the same order as the live CD table. How we rate
Each pick wins a specific rule, written on its label, and is chosen from the numbers on its own page. They are listed in the order of our ranking, and who pays us has no say in it.
Bread Savings pays 4.75% APY on its 18 month CD with a $1,500 minimum opening deposit.
$1,500 minimum deposit.
Rate note: 18 month CD. $1,500 minimum opening deposit in a single transaction…
Also: Best CD of 12 months or less
The Barclays 12 month Online CD pays 4.50% APY with no minimum opening deposit.
Open it with any amount.
Rate note: 12 month Online CD (interest rate 4.40%). Barclays states the rates are accurate as of 10/07/2026 and can change at any time. No minimum opening…
Sallie Mae's 36 month CD pays 4.45% APY, with a $2,500 minimum to open and to keep earning interest.
$2,500 minimum deposit.
A CD is a time trade: you are paid to not touch the money. The headline rates here are not one price for one product. 4.75% on 18 months with $1,500 to open is a different deal from 4.50% on 12 months with no minimum to open, so read the term and the minimum next to every rate. This directory uses the same dated catalog as the CD rates table: a rate we read earlier does not outrank one we read more recently. If you break a CD, the penalty can take a large share of the interest: Popular Direct charges 270 days of simple interest on its CD of 18 months, about half the term.
| CD rates | APY | Term | Min. deposit | Early withdrawal | Verified |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.75% | 18 months | $1,500 | 180 days of interest | Oct 14, 2026 |
| 4.65% | 18 months | $10,000 | 270 days of interest | Oct 19, 2026 | |
| 4.60% | 24 months | $500 | Withdrawals of principal are only… | Oct 14, 2026 | |
| 4.50% | 12 months | None | 90 days of interest | Oct 18, 2026 |
| 4.45% | 36 months | $2,500 | 180 days of interest | Oct 19, 2026 |
| 4.40% | 10 months | None | 90 days of interest | Oct 18, 2026 | |
 | 4.40% | 18 months | $500 | 90 days of interest | Oct 14, 2026 |
 | 4.35% | 24 months | $1,000 | See terms | Oct 19, 2026 |
 | 4.30% | 16 months | None | 180 days of interest | Oct 19, 2026 |
 | 4.25% | 18 months | None | 60 days loss of interest for terms… | Oct 14, 2026 |
Each date is when we last checked the provider's own page. Rates and terms can change, so confirm with the provider before you apply.
In ranking order. Each one lists the numbers that decide the choice, its main strengths and its main catches.
Bread Savings pays 4.75% APY on its 18 month CD with a $1,500 minimum opening deposit.
Rate note: 18 month CD. $1,500 minimum opening deposit in a single transaction, maximum $1 million per account. At maturity the CD auto-renews at the base rate then in effect…
Bread Savings is the online deposits brand of Bread Financial, and the accounts are issued by Comenity Capital Bank.
Watch out
Popular Direct pays 4.65% APY on an 18 month CD (rates effective Oct 5, 2026) but requires $10,000 to open.
Popular Direct is the online deposit brand of Popular Bank, the US arm of Puerto Rico based Popular Inc.
Watch out
Happen Bank's 2 year CD pays 4.60% APY with a $500 minimum; its 6 and 11 month CDs pay 4.30% and 4.40%.
Rate note: 2 year CD. $500 minimum to open, $500,000 maximum opening deposit. Happen states its APYs are accurate as of 10/13/2026. The page headlines the 11 month CD at 4.40%.
Happen Bank is the rebranded LendingClub Bank, and its own site still introduces itself as "Happen Bank, formerly LendingClub." The transition is not finished: some deposit account terms are still served from lendingclub.com URLs.
Watch out
The Barclays 12 month Online CD pays 4.50% APY with no minimum opening deposit.
Rate note: 12 month Online CD (interest rate 4.40%). Barclays states the rates are accurate as of 10/07/2026 and can change at any time. No minimum opening balance…
Barclays Bank Delaware sells its Online CD through its US online banking operation. There are no monthly maintenance fees and no annual fees.
Watch out
Sallie Mae's 36 month CD pays 4.45% APY, with a $2,500 minimum to open and to keep earning interest.
Sallie Mae is known for student loans, but Sallie Mae Bank also runs a deposits business with a high-yield savings account, a money market account, SmartyPig and eleven CD terms from 6 to 60 months. There are no monthly maintenance fees.
Watch out
American Express pays 4.40% APY on its 10 and 22 month CDs with no minimum deposit; other terms pay 3.65% or less.
Rate note: 10 month CD; the 22 month CD pays the same 4.40%. No minimum balance to open or to earn the APY. Amex applies the higher of the rate at application or at funding, and…
American Express National Bank is the deposit arm of American Express, and its CD is about as plain as a CD gets: pick a term, fund it, leave it alone. There are no branches, no monthly fee, and no minimum balance at all, so there is no minimum to open one.
Watch out
Marcus pays 4.40% APY on its 12 month and 18 month to 6 year High-Yield CDs, with a $500 minimum.
Rate note: 18 month High-Yield CD; the 12 month and 2 to 6 year High-Yield CDs pay the same 4.40%. $500 minimum to open and to earn the stated APY. Marcus states the APYs as of…
The Marcus High-Yield CD is the certificate of deposit arm of Goldman Sachs Bank USA's consumer brand. Terms run from 6 months to 6 years, every term takes a $500 minimum, and there are no monthly maintenance fees.
Watch out
EverBank's 24 month CD pays 4.35% APY with a $1,000 minimum; its 13 month CD pays 4.10% and its 7 month CD 3.60%.
Rate note: 24 month Performance CD, $1,000 minimum to open. EverBank states its CD APYs are accurate as of 10/09/2026.
EverBank, the former TIAA Bank, sells one retail CD line called the Performance CD. There is no product named the EverBank Basic CD any more. Performance CDs need $1,000 to open, charge no monthly maintenance fee, and compound interest daily.
Synchrony's featured 16 month CD pays 4.30% APY with no minimum deposit at all.
Synchrony Bank's CD lineup spans terms from 3 months to 5 years, plus a Bump-Up CD, a No-Penalty CD and IRA versions.
Watch out
Ally's 18 month High Yield CD pays 4.25% APY with no minimum deposit and a 60 day early exit penalty.
Rate note: 18 month High Yield CD. Ally shows the same APY at every opening deposit tier (under $5,000, $5,000 to $24,999.99, $25,000 and up) and states its APYs are accurate as of…
Ally Bank is an internet-only bank with no branches, and its High Yield CD is the plain vanilla member of a CD family that also includes Select CDs and a No Penalty CD.
Watch out
5 more CDs we cover ranked below the top 10. We show the facts that matter most for each, and say plainly when one fits a narrower need.
4.00% APY, 0.75 percentage points below the top of this list
12 months. No minimum deposit.
4.00% APY, 0.75 percentage points below the top of this list
1 year. $1,000 minimum deposit.
4.00% APY, 0.75 percentage points below the top of this list
12 months. $1,000 minimum deposit.
3.35% APY, 1.40 percentage points below the top of this list
60 months. No minimum deposit.
3.60% APY, 1.15 percentage points below the top of this list; last verified Sep 17, 2026, older than 14 days
3 months. $500 minimum deposit.
Rate is the last thing to lock, not the first. Work the term, the penalty, and the minimum in that order.
Popular Direct's 4.65% is for 18 months with $10,000 to open. Barclays' 4.50% is for 12 months, and BMO Alto's 3.35% is for 60 months. Those are not three prices for one product. If the money is a house down payment in about a year, a CD of that length such as Barclays (12 months, no minimum, 4.50%) or Capital One 360 (12 months, no minimum, 4.00%), or the American Express CD (10 months, no minimum, 4.40%), is the relevant row. A CD of 60 months is a different bet on where rates go.
Popular Direct charges 270 days of simple interest on its CD of 18 months, about half the term, and Bread Savings charges 180 days of simple interest on its CD of 18 months. Break either early and you can give back much of what you earned. A short CD such as Quontic's (3 months, 3.60%, $500 to open, read Sep 17, 2026) still charges a penalty, all the interest that would have been earned over the full term; it just gives you less time to be wrong.
Popular Direct's 4.65% needs $10,000 to open and Bread Savings' 4.75% needs $1,500. Marcus asks $500 for its CD of 18 months at 4.40%. The others: Happen Bank ($500), Sallie Mae ($2,500), EverBank ($1,000), CIT Bank Term ($1,000), First Internet Bank ($1,000), Synchrony (no minimum), American Express (no minimum), Barclays (no minimum), Ally (no minimum), Capital One (no minimum) and BMO Alto (no minimum). If you have less than $10,000, the Popular Direct row is not available to you.
A ladder of the American Express (10 months, 4.40%), Barclays (12 months, 4.50%), Synchrony (16 months, 4.30%) and Marcus (18 months, 4.40%) CDs is a reasonable cash schedule; their penalties are 90, 90, 180 and 180 days of interest. Adding a CD of 24 months or 36 months only makes sense if you will not break it, and Happen Bank does not publish its early-withdrawal penalty. The BMO Alto CD of 60 months (3.35%) only makes sense if you want that duration on purpose, against 4.50% for a CD of 12 months at Barclays.
Every APY here is the published figure we show in the table, with the date we read it. Banks reprice CDs without calling you. Open the product page, match the term (10 months is not "about a year"), and match the minimum before you wire.
Products that do one thing unusually well, with the catch we would want to know before applying.
4.00% for 12 months, $1,000 to open, and the bank shows the same APY on every term from 12 to 60 months. The penalty is 180 days of interest at 12 and 18 months and 360 days at 24 months and longer, so a longer term at this rate adds penalty without adding yield.
Read the review4.60% for 24 months, $500 to open. Withdrawals of principal are only allowed at the bank's discretion and the page does not publish the penalty amounts, so treat this as a hold-to-maturity CD. The bank's page headlines a shorter CD; the figure here is its CD of 24 months.
Read the review3.60% for 3 months, $500 to open, read Sep 17, 2026. Check the bank's page for the current rate before you rely on it. Useful as the front of a ladder, not as a rate trophy.
Read the review3.35% for 60 months, no minimum to open. BMO does not publish the early-withdrawal penalty amounts on its CD page. You are locking 60 months at a rate below the 4.50% that Barclays shows for 12 months. Only if you want that duration on purpose.
Read the reviewWe sort by the APY we verified on each issuer's own page, current prints first. A rate we last checked more than 14 days ago stays listed with its date but never outranks a current one. It is the same order as the live CD table.
Providers cannot pay to change this order: a list sorted by rate never includes a paid placement.
Each CD's APY and the term it applies to are read off the issuer's page and stamped with the date we checked.
The smallest amount you can open the CD with, from the product disclosure.
The cost of leaving early, as the bank states it, because it is what turns a good rate into a bad deal.
FDIC or NCUA coverage is on each CD's page.
Checked in the last 14 days
Date of the newest issuer-page stamp
Bread Savings Certificate of Deposit (18 Month CD) has the highest APY we have verified recently, 4.75% on an 18-month CD, as of Oct 14, 2026. A CD locks its rate for the term, so the rate you open at is the rate you keep. Confirm it on the bank's page before you fund the account.
The bank charges an early withdrawal penalty, usually a set number of days of interest, for example 90 or 180 days. On a short CD that can eat most of what you earned. Each product page lists that CD's own penalty.
A CD fixes your rate for the term, which helps if rates fall, but the money is locked. A savings account's APY can change any day, but you can withdraw at will. If you might need the cash before the term ends, a savings account is the safer fit.
We sort by the APY we verified on each issuer's own page, current prints first. A rate we last checked more than 14 days ago stays listed with its date but never outranks a current one. It is the same order as the live CD table.
Best CD Rates was last updated in October 2026 and uses rates and fees we verified against each provider's own page. Spot something out of date? Tell us.
