Bread Savings Certificate of Deposit (18 Month CD)

Bread Savings is the online deposits brand of Bread Financial, and the accounts are issued by Comenity Capital Bank. The old breadsavings.com address now redirects to breadfinancial.com, so if you bookmarked the standalone site you will land somewhere unfamiliar. The business itself is open and taking new customers. There are no monthly maintenance fees and no incoming wire transfer fees. The 18 month CD at 4.50% APY is the headline, and it is the strongest rate across the nine terms Bread offers. The full curve: 3 months at 3.80%, 6 months at 4.00%, 9 months at 4.40%, 1 year at 4.25%, 18 months at 4.50%, then 2, 3, 4 and 5 years all flat at 4.25%. Two things stand out. The 18 month is the single best rate, and unlike most competitors Bread does not punish you for going long: a 5 year Bread CD at 4.25% still beats the best five year rate at Ally, Capital One or Barclays. The 9 month at 4.40% is the pick if you want a shorter commitment. The entry cost is the main tradeoff. Bread requires a $1,500 minimum opening balance, where Ally, Synchrony, Capital One and Barclays all require nothing. Balances are capped at $1 million per account. Interest compounds daily and is credited monthly, and although you cannot withdraw any portion of principal before maturity, credited interest can be withdrawn during the term without penalty. The penalty tiers are ordinary: 90 days of simple interest on terms under 12 months, 180 days on terms from 12 months to three years, and 365 days on terms of four years and up. The 18 month CD therefore costs 180 days of interest to break, which is a meaningful bite. There is a 10 day grace period starting the day after maturity in which you can withdraw principal penalty free, and the CD auto renews at the base rate in effect if you do nothing, so set a calendar reminder. Buy this if you have at least $1,500, a horizon of roughly a year and a half, and you want the highest rate among the big online CD names. It is also the best choice in this group for anyone deliberately building a long ladder, since the 4 and 5 year terms stay at 4.25% instead of collapsing. Skip it if you have less than $1,500, if you might need partial access to principal, or if you want the brand-name familiarity of a bank you can walk into, because Bread has no branches.