CIT Bank Term CD

CIT Bank is the online deposit brand of First Citizens Bank, and its Term CD is a straightforward fixed rate CD with a $1,000 minimum, no opening or maintenance fee, and daily compounding. It sits alongside a separate 11 month No Penalty CD and a Jumbo CD line that needs $100,000. The rate to know is 4.00% APY on the 1 year term, which is genuinely competitive for August 2026. The 6 month term pays 3.75%, the 13 month pays 3.25%, and the 18 month pays 2.75%. Then the lineup falls off a cliff: the 2 year and 3 year terms pay 0.40% APY, and the 4 year and 5 year terms pay 0.50% APY. Those are not typos and they are not legacy rates, they are CIT's live pricing. CIT's Jumbo CDs, which demand $100,000, pay the same 0.40% to 0.50% and are strictly worse than the standard Term CD at every comparable point. Two pieces of fine print deserve attention. First, CIT's 11 month No Penalty CD pays 3.90% APY, only 10 basis points below the 1 year Term CD, and lets you withdraw the full balance plus interest any time after the first seven days. For most savers that is the better risk adjusted choice, and it is unusual for a bank to price its no penalty product that close to its locked product. Second, CIT does not publish an early withdrawal penalty schedule on the pages that are publicly readable, so you should get it in writing from the account disclosures before funding a Term CD. The 1 year Term CD is a fine choice if you want a one year lock, you can meet the $1,000 minimum, and you are comparing it honestly against the No Penalty CD. CIT is FDIC insured to $250,000 per depositor per ownership category through First Citizens Bank, and the account has no fees to erode the yield. Skip every CIT term longer than 18 months. Accepting 0.40% for two or three years when short CDs and savings accounts pay above 3.50% is a straightforward loss, and the Jumbo tier makes it worse by locking up $100,000 for the same rate. Also skip the Term CD entirely if there is a realistic chance you need the cash back early, since the No Penalty CD gives up almost nothing in yield and removes the penalty question completely.