Best CD Rates of September 2026

Marcus by Goldman Sachs High-Yield CD

Marcus pays 4.35% APY on 18 month through 6 year High-Yield CDs, with a $500 minimum.

APY

4.35%

Term

18 months

Min. deposit

$500

Early penalty

90 days interest on the original…

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. As of September 7, 2026 the best rate on the menu is 4.35% APY on the 18 month High-Yield CD and on every High-Yield term from 2 years through 6 years. The 9 month High-Yield CD pays 4.30% APY, up from 4.10% on August 11. The curve is no longer inverted: locking money for 18 months or longer now pays more than the 9 month term. The rest of the High-Yield menu: 6 months at 3.95%, 12 months at 3.90%. No-Penalty CDs pay 3.75% for 7 months, 4.00% for 11 months, and 3.80% for 13 months. The 20-Month Rate Bump CD pays 3.75%. All of those figures come from Marcus's own CD rates page, dated September 7, 2026. For comparison, the Marcus Online Savings Account pays 3.40% APY with no term commitment, so the 18 month CD buys you 95 extra basis points in exchange for giving up access. Synchrony's featured 16 month CD still pays 4.30% APY with no minimum. Ally's 18 month CD pays 4.00% APY with no minimum. Two Marcus features are genuinely useful. The 10-Day CD Rate Guarantee means that if you open a CD, fund it with at least $500 within 10 days, and the posted rate for your term rises during that window, you automatically get the higher rate. Interest compounds daily, credits monthly, and can be disbursed out to your savings or an external bank each month with no penalty. The fine print is stricter than at some competitors. Marcus does not allow partial withdrawals of principal: if you need money early, you break the entire CD. The penalty is 90 days of interest on terms of one year or less, 180 days on terms over one year through five years, and 270 days on terms longer than five years. On an 18 month CD that is a 180 day penalty. You have 30 days after opening to finish funding, and no deposits are accepted after that. Balances are capped at $1,000,000 per account and $3,000,000 per owner across all Marcus deposits. This fits savers with at least $500 and a defined 18 month or longer horizon who want the top Marcus print. Skip it if you might need partial access. The 9 month at 4.30% is the shorter lock if 18 months is too long.

Popular Direct CD

Popular Direct pays 4.35% APY on an 18 month CD, the highest rate here, but demands $10,000 to open.

APY

4.35%

Term

18 months

Min. deposit

$10,000

Early penalty

270 days of simple interest for terms…

Popular Direct is the online deposit brand of Popular Bank, the US arm of Puerto Rico based Popular Inc. It has narrowed its CD line sharply: as of August 3, 2026 the site offers exactly three terms, 6 months, 12 months and 18 months. Older writeups describing eight terms out to five years no longer match what the bank actually sells. The rates are the reason to look. The 18 month CD pays 4.35% APY, the 12 month pays 4.25%, and the 6 month pays 4.15%. That 18 month rate is the strongest among the major online CD issuers in this comparison set and roughly 60 basis points ahead of what banks like First Internet Bank and Quontic are paying. The curve also runs the right way, rewarding longer commitments, which is rare in August 2026 when most banks are inverting their CD ladders. The cost of entry is the catch. Every Popular Direct CD requires a $10,000 minimum opening deposit and balance, which rules the product out for anyone building savings rather than parking a lump sum. The early withdrawal penalty is also steep and tiered by term: 89 days of simple interest under 91 days, 120 days for terms from 91 days to under 12 months, 270 days for 12 to under 36 months, 365 days for 36 to under 60 months, and 730 days at 60 months or more. An 18 month CD therefore costs 270 days of simple interest to break, roughly half the term. CDs renew automatically after a 10 day grace period at whatever rate is set on the maturity date, and Popular Direct does not publish a compounding frequency on its public CD pages. This is the right pick if you have $10,000 or more that is genuinely idle for a year and a half and you want the best fixed rate available without chasing a credit union membership. Deposits are FDIC insured to $250,000 per depositor per ownership category, and there are no opening or maintenance fees. Skip it if $10,000 is most of your liquid savings, because the 270 day penalty makes an early exit expensive enough to erase more than a year of the yield advantage. Skip it too if you want a five year lock, since that term simply is not offered any more. And diary the maturity date: with only a 10 day grace window, a 4.35% CD can auto renew into a materially lower rate before you notice.

Synchrony Bank Certificate of Deposit (16 Month CD)

Synchrony's featured 16 month CD pays 4.30% APY with no minimum deposit at all.

APY

4.30%

Term

16 months

Min. deposit

None

Early penalty

180 days of simple interest at the…

Synchrony Bank is an online-only bank with no branches, and its CD lineup is unusually wide: roughly a dozen terms from 3 months to 5 years, plus a Bump-Up CD, a No-Penalty CD and IRA versions. The feature that separates it from most competitors is that there is no minimum deposit and no minimum balance on any term. You can open one with $100 and still earn the posted rate, where Bread wants $1,500 and Sallie Mae wants $2,500. Synchrony's featured term is the 16 month CD at 4.30% APY. It sits near the top of the entire curve while asking for a little over a year of your money. The absolute highest rate is the 5 year at 4.35% APY, but that extra 5 basis points costs you 44 more months of commitment, which is a poor trade unless you specifically want to lock in today's rates for a long time. The rest of the range: 6 months and 1 year at 4.10%, 14 months at 4.15%, 18 months and 2 years at 4.25%, 3 years at 4.30%, 4 years at 4.00%. Watch the outliers at the bottom of the menu, because they are traps. The 3 month CD pays 0.25% APY and the 11 month No-Penalty CD also pays 0.25% APY. Those are not competitive with anything, including Synchrony's own High Yield Savings account at 3.30% APY. The 24 month Bump-Up CD pays 3.00% APY, so the option to request one rate increase during the term costs you about 125 basis points up front versus the plain 2 year CD. Do not buy the flexibility products here without comparing them to the plain CD first. The early withdrawal penalty is tiered by term: 90 days of simple interest at the current rate on terms of 12 months or less, 180 days on terms longer than 12 months but under 48 months, and 365 days on terms of 48 months or more. The 16 month CD therefore carries a 180 day penalty. You cannot add money after the CD is funded, though you can add funds during the 10 day grace period after maturity, and you can withdraw earned interest at any time without penalty and route it to a Synchrony savings account or an outside bank. This suits savers who want a top-of-market rate without a large deposit, and people building a CD ladder who value the unusual number of term choices. Skip it if you want branch access, since Synchrony has none, and skip the 3 month, No-Penalty and Bump-Up versions entirely at current pricing. If you might need the money back inside 16 months, a plain high-yield savings account will cost you less than a 180 day interest penalty.

Barclays Online CD (12 Month)

The Barclays 12 month Online CD pays 4.15% APY with no minimum opening deposit.

APY

4.15%

Term

12 months

Min. deposit

None

Early penalty

90 days simple interest on the amount…

Barclays Bank Delaware runs a small US online banking operation with three deposit products: Online Savings, Tiered Savings and Online CDs. There are no branches, no monthly maintenance fees and no annual fees. The Online CD comes in eight terms from 6 to 60 months, and there is no minimum opening balance or deposit on any of them. The 12 month CD at 4.15% APY is the one to look at, and it is not close. Rates as of July 31, 2026 run 3.50% at 6 months, 4.00% at 9 months, then 4.15% at 12 months, and then the curve falls off a cliff: 3.00% at both 18 and 24 months, 2.50% at 36 and 48 months, and 2.00% at 60 months. Barclays is paying you 215 basis points more per year to lend it money for one year than for five. That shape creates an unusual problem. Barclays Tiered Savings currently advertises up to 3.65% APY, which means every Barclays CD term of 18 months or longer pays less than the bank's own liquid savings account. Locking money into a 60 month Barclays CD at 2.00% while the same bank offers up to 3.65% with no commitment is a straightforwardly bad deal. Only the 9 and 12 month terms clear that bar. The mechanics are middle of the road. The early withdrawal penalty is 90 days of simple interest on the amount withdrawn for terms of 24 months or less, and 180 days for longer terms, so the 12 month CD costs 90 days of interest to break. If the forfeited amount exceeds the interest earned, Barclays takes the difference out of principal, meaning an early exit in the first few months returns less than you put in. The penalty can be waived on the death or legal incompetence of the accountholder. You must fund the account within 14 days of opening, and at maturity you get a 14 day grace period with email reminders about 30 days and 7 days ahead. Interest can stay in the CD or be routed to a Barclays Online Savings account or a verified external account. Buy this if you want a clean, no minimum, one year lock at a competitive rate from a large well known issuer, and you value the flexibility of starting with any amount. Skip every Barclays term of 18 months or longer at current pricing, and skip the bank entirely if you want a five year ladder rung, branch access, or the ability to add funds mid-term. Savers who might need the cash inside a year should compare the 90 day interest penalty against simply using a high-yield savings account.

EverBank Performance CD

EverBank's best CD rate is 4.10% APY on a 7 month term, and that term auto renews into a lower paying CD.

APY

4.10%

Term

7 months

Min. deposit

$1,000

Early penalty

Charged on principal withdrawn before…

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; the bank's own CD page lists exactly two options, the Performance CD and a CDARS CD for balances above the standard insurance limit. Performance CDs need $1,000 to open, charge no monthly maintenance fee, and compound interest daily. As of August 7, 2026 the headline term is 7 months at 4.10% APY, and it is the only rate on the board above 4%. Below it, the 25 month term pays 3.65%, the 3 month, 6 month and 13 month terms pay 3.60%, and everything else, from 9 months all the way out to 60 months, pays a flat 3.40%. That flat band is the tell: EverBank is competing hard on two or three odd terms and not bothering with the rest. Worth noting that EverBank's own Performance Savings account pays 3.90% APY on all balances for new accounts, which beats every EverBank CD except the 7 month one and stays fully liquid. The fine print on the 7 month CD matters more than usual. EverBank flags it as a term that automatically renews into a shorter term CD at maturity, not into another 7 month CD, so the promotional rate does not repeat unless you intervene. The same applies to the 13 month and 25 month terms. You get a 10 business day grace period after maturity to change instructions, and you can set or edit those instructions online any time up to 5 p.m. ET the business day before maturity. Early withdrawal of principal triggers a penalty that runs from 22 to 456 days of simple interest depending on the term; EverBank does not publish the per term table on its public rates page. This works for someone parking a defined chunk of cash for roughly half a year at a real bank with branches in a handful of states, who will set maturity instructions on day one rather than at maturity. The $1,000 minimum is low enough to be irrelevant for most savers, and interest can be withdrawn without penalty at any time if you elect that at opening. Skip it if you want a long lock, because 3.40% for five years is not compensation for five years of rate risk, and skip it if you are the kind of person who lets CDs roll. The auto renewal into a shorter, lower paying term is the specific way people lose money on this product. If you want the EverBank rate without the lock, the Performance Savings account at 3.90% is the more honest comparison.

Ally Bank High Yield CD (18 Month)

Ally's 18 month High Yield CD pays 4.00% APY with no minimum deposit and a 60 day early exit penalty.

APY

4.00%

Term

18 months

Min. deposit

None

Early penalty

60 days loss of interest for terms of 3…

Ally Bank is an internet-only bank with no branches, and its High Yield CD is the plain vanilla member of a three product CD family that also includes a No Penalty CD and a Raise Your Rate CD. The best rate in the High Yield line is the 18 month term at 4.00% APY as of August 2026. There is no minimum deposit and no monthly maintenance fee, so the entry cost is effectively zero. The rate curve is inverted and the drop past 18 months is steep. The 12 month pays 3.90%, the 9 month 3.75%, and the 6 month 3.50%. Go longer and you get paid less: both the 3 year and the 5 year sit at 3.50%, a full 50 basis points below the 18 month. Ally also runs a 14 month Select CD Special at 4.00%. There is no reason to buy a multi-year Ally CD at these prices unless you are deliberately paying for rate protection far into the future. Two Ally policies are worth real money. The Ten Day Best Rate Guarantee gives you the best rate Ally offers for your term during the 10 days after you open, so a rate rise right after funding works in your favor. And Ally adds a 0.05% Loyalty Reward when a CD renews with them, applied automatically to any term you pick, including IRA CDs. Interest compounds daily. The penalty schedule is milder than most: 30 days of interest for terms under 3 months, 60 days for 3 to 24 months, 90 days for 25 to 36 months, 120 days for 37 to 48 months, and 150 days for 49 months or longer. An 18 month CD costs 60 days of interest to break, roughly half what Synchrony charges on a comparable term. The penalty comes out of accrued interest first and then principal if needed, and it is waived if the account owner dies or is judged legally incompetent. Partial withdrawals are not allowed, and you cannot add funds mid-term, though you can schedule a transfer up to a year ahead to land during the 10 day grace period at maturity. This works for savers who want a competitive rate with a soft exit penalty and no minimum, and for anyone who dislikes the all-or-nothing rigidity of stricter banks. Skip the other two Ally CDs at current pricing: the 11 month No Penalty CD pays 2.70% and the 2 and 4 year Raise Your Rate CDs pay 3.00%, both below Ally's own Online Savings account at 3.00% or barely level with it. If you want branches or the single highest CD rate available anywhere, Ally is not it.

Capital One 360 CD (12 Month)

The Capital One 360 CD pays 4.00% APY on 12 months with no minimum deposit and real branch access.

APY

4.00%

Term

12 months

Min. deposit

None

Early penalty

3 months of interest for terms of 12…

The Capital One 360 CD is the certificate arm of a full service national bank, which makes it unusual in this category. Marcus, Ally, Synchrony and Barclays are all branchless. Capital One has physical branches and cafes, so you can open a CD online and still walk into a building if something goes wrong. Terms run 6, 9, 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 48 and 60 months, with no minimum deposit, no minimum balance and no monthly service charge. The 12 month term at 4.00% APY is the peak of the curve as of August 11, 2026. Everything else pays less: 9 months at 3.75%, 18 months and 60 months at 3.60%, 24, 30, 36 and 48 months all at 3.50%, and 6 months at just 3.30%. The 6 month rate is the weak spot, sitting 70 basis points below the 12 month and barely above the 3.00% paid by Capital One's own 360 Performance Savings account. If your horizon is under a year, the savings account is the better instrument here. Interest accrues daily using the daily balance method and is compounded and credited monthly. The early withdrawal penalty is simple: 3 months of interest on terms of 12 months or less, and 6 months of interest on anything longer. Partial withdrawals are not permitted, so an early exit closes the whole CD. At maturity you get a 10 day grace period to withdraw, renew or switch terms, and the CD auto renews at the prevailing rate if you do nothing. Two structural details matter. Balances are capped at $1,000,000 per CD, though you can open as many as 50 CDs at once, which makes laddering straightforward. And FDIC coverage now has a wrinkle: Capital One acquired Discover, and any Capital One or Discover Bank deposit accounts opened on or after May 18, 2025 are counted together when the FDIC calculates your $250,000 limit. If you hold money at both brands, check your combined exposure rather than assuming two separate buckets. This is a reasonable pick for savers who want a competitive one year rate from a large bank with branches, or who want to run a multi-rung ladder inside one login. Skip the 6 month term, which is not worth the lock-up. Skip the 24 to 48 month terms too, since paying 3.50% for four years when the 12 month pays 4.00% is a bad trade unless you are specifically buying insurance against falling rates. And if you already keep large balances at Discover, confirm your FDIC math before adding more here.

First Internet Bank CD

First Internet Bank tops out at 3.76% APY on a 6 month CD whose early withdrawal penalty exceeds the term.

APY

3.76%

Term

6 months

Min. deposit

$1,000

Early penalty

180 days of interest on the 6 month…

First Internet Bank of Indiana has been an online only bank since 1999, which makes it one of the oldest branchless banks in the United States. Its CD line runs eight terms from 3 months to 60 months, each with a $1,000 minimum, no monthly maintenance fee, and interest compounded and credited monthly rather than daily. The best rate on the board is the 6 month term at 3.76% APY, on a 3.70% interest rate. Behind it, the 12 month pays 3.67%, the 18 month 3.38%, the 24 and 36 month terms 3.30%, and the 48 and 60 month terms 3.45%. The curve dips in the middle and recovers slightly at the long end, which is unusual, but the spread across the whole lineup is only 62 basis points. Nothing here is a standout in August 2026, when several online banks pay above 4.00% on comparable terms. The detail that should decide this for you is the early withdrawal penalty, because it is disclosed right in the rate table and it is punishing. The 3 month CD costs 90 days of interest to break, which is the entire term. The 6, 12 and 18 month CDs cost 180 days of interest. On the 6 month CD that means the penalty is larger than all the interest the CD will ever pay, so an early exit comes directly out of principal. The 24 through 60 month terms cost 360 days of interest. First Internet Bank also notes that rates can change daily and are updated by 10:00 a.m. ET, and the posted table carried a June 16, 2026 last updated stamp when checked, so confirm the live rate at application. This makes sense for a saver who wants a six month lock at a long established institution, has $1,000 to commit, and is certain about the timing. Self service tools for renewal, redemption and transfers are built into online banking, and deposits are FDIC insured to $250,000 per depositor per ownership category. Skip it if you are rate shopping, because 3.76% for six months is roughly half a point behind the best short CDs available right now, and monthly rather than daily compounding costs you a little more on top. Skip it entirely if the money might be needed early: a 180 day penalty on a 180 day CD is the worst possible shape for an emergency fund, and a plain high yield savings account would pay a similar rate with no lock at all.

Quontic Bank CD

Quontic's highest CD rate is 3.60% APY on a 3 month term, and breaking it early forfeits all the interest.

APY

3.60%

Term

3 months

Min. deposit

$500

Early penalty

For terms up to 12 months, all interest…

Quontic Bank is a New York based digital bank that is also a certified Community Development Financial Institution and a Minority Depository Institution, which means a defined share of its lending goes to underserved borrowers. Its CD line is small and easy to read: six terms, a $500 minimum, no monthly service fee, and interest that compounds daily and is credited monthly. Quontic labels the 3 month term as its highest CD rate, at 3.60% APY. From there the curve is inverted the whole way down: 6 months and 12 months both pay 3.50%, 24 months pays 3.15%, 36 months pays 2.85%, and 60 months pays 2.75%. In other words, the longer you commit, the less Quontic pays you. Anyone shopping Quontic for a multi year CD is being paid to take rate risk in the wrong direction. The early withdrawal penalty is the harshest detail here and it is easy to miss. For terms up to 12 months, the penalty equals the interest for the full stated term, not a fraction of it. Break a 3 month CD in month two and you hand back every cent of interest the CD would ever have paid, which turns a 3.60% APY into 0% and can dip into principal if interest has already been credited out. For 12 to 24 month terms the penalty is one year of interest, and at 24 months and over it is two years of interest. CDs renew automatically with a 10 day grace period after maturity. The 3 month CD suits someone with a firm, known date for the money, three months out, who wants a fixed rate and likes that their deposit funds CDFI lending. The $500 minimum is among the lowest of any competitive online bank, which makes it usable for small balances, and FDIC coverage runs to $250,000 per depositor per ownership category. Skip it if the timing is soft. A full term interest penalty on a short CD is worse than most banks charge, and a high yield savings account at a comparable rate would leave you liquid for free. Skip the long terms outright, since paying 2.75% to be locked for five years when the same bank pays 3.60% for three months is not a trade any saver should take. And check the effective date before you apply: Quontic's posted rates carry a June 18, 2026 effective date, so confirm the live number on the application.

American Express National Bank CD

American Express pays 4.25% APY on a 10 month CD with no minimum deposit, but the rest of its curve is weak.

APY

4.25%

Term

10 months

Min. deposit

None

Early penalty

90 days of interest on terms under 12…

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 you can open one with $50 or $500,000. Interest compounds daily and is credited monthly, and the rate is locked once the account is funded. The number worth paying attention to is the 10 month term at 4.25% APY, verified at 4.25% on July 28, 2026 and still the top of the lineup in August. Everything else is materially worse: the 22 month term pays 3.75%, the 11, 12 and 14 month terms sit at 3.25%, the 18 and 24 month terms at 3.00%, and the 36 and 48 month terms drop to 2.25%. The 60 month term pays 3.00%, which is less than the 10 month. That is not a normal yield curve, it is a promotional rate on one term surrounded by filler. The fine print that actually costs money is the early withdrawal penalty. Under 12 months it is 90 days of interest, which on a 10 month CD is roughly a third of everything you would have earned. Between 12 and 48 months it jumps to 270 days, between 48 and 60 months to 365 days, and at 60 months or more to 540 days. Amex also does not allow partial early withdrawals or additional deposits after funding, and the CD must be funded within 60 days of approval or it is closed. At maturity it auto renews into the same term after a 10 calendar day grace period, so if you forget, a 4.25% 10 month CD can quietly roll into whatever Amex is paying that day. This is a reasonable fit if you already bank with Amex, want a short lock with zero minimum, and will actually diary the maturity date. The no minimum policy is genuinely useful for small balances that other banks price out, and Amex is a large, well capitalized issuer with FDIC coverage to $250,000 per depositor per ownership category. Skip it if you want anything longer than a year. Paying 2.25% for a three or four year lock in August 2026 is worse than leaving the money in a competitive savings account, and several banks pay more than 4% on 12 to 18 month terms. Also skip it if there is any chance you need the money early, because the penalty schedule is harsher than most online banks and you can end up withdrawing less than you deposited.