Best 18-Month CD Rates for July 2023
These are the highest paying 18-month CDs that anyone in the country can open
We independently evaluate all recommended products and services. If you click on links we provide, we may receive compensation. Learn more.
The APYs listed below are up to date as of the date of publication on this article. Our methodology consists of reviewing CD rates every weekday morning and updating the information below accordingly.
For savings you won't need to access in the near term, certificates of deposit, or CDs, are a safe and reliable way to earn more interest than you'd get from a standard savings account. Below are the top certificate of deposit rates available from our partners, followed by a ranking of the highest 18-month CD rates available to consumers nationwide.
- 6-month CD, guaranteed 5.00% APY
- No account opening or maintenance fees
- Daily compounding interest to maximize your earning potential
- Earn a 4.90% APY with an 11-month, no-penalty CD
- Enjoy no monthly service fees and no penalty if you access funds before maturity. Conditions apply. See site for details.
- Benefit from daily compounding interest to maximize your earning potential
- Earn a 5.00% APY with a 18-month CD from Discover
- Enjoy $0 monthly fees and get started with as little as $2,500
- See how your earnings grow depending on how long you commit to a high-yield CD
- Earn more, save more with a 5.25% APY on a 9-month TIAA Bank CD and no monthly account fee
- Range of terms from 3 months to 5 years to grow your savings on your terms
- $1,000 minimum deposit to open. Early withdrawal penalties apply. Member FDIC.
- Earn a high rate and grow your savings faster
- 24/7 online and mobile banking
- No monthly fee if you elect eStatements
- Earn up to 4.95% APY
- Rates vary by state and zip code. Please click "Learn More" to see your rate before applying
- Choose the term length that works best for you and earn guaranteed interest
- 12-month term CD
- Open account in 3 minutes or less
- Guaranteed returns, FDIC Insured
- Increase your savings in a secure and predictable way
- Enjoy a 5.00% Annual Percentage Yield (APY) on a 12-month certificate with a Bethpage Certificate Account
- Start with as little as $50 and save with confidence
- Earn a 4.00% APY with a 5-year CD from Discover
- Enjoy $0 monthly fees and get started with as little as $2,500
- Lock in your CD rate to earn guaranteed interest
Based on daily monitoring of the rate data from about 200 banks and credit unions that offer certificate products nationwide, we continuously rank the highest-paying CDs with approximately 18-month terms (this includes maturities ranging from 15 to 20 months). The minimum deposit can be no more than $25,000, and only institutions that are federally insured (by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation for banks or the National Credit Union Administration for credit unions) are eligible for our list.
Where more than one institution pays the same top rate, our rankings prioritize CDs by the shortest term, then the CD requiring the smallest minimum deposit. If there is still a tie, we then rank alphabetically by institution name.
Best 18-Month CD Rates
- INOVA Federal Credit Union – 5.50% APY
- NASA Federal Credit Union – 5.45% APY
- Department of Commerce Federal Credit Union – 5.34% APY
- Citizens State Bank – 5.33% APY
- Connexus Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- Langley Federal Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- Jovia Financial Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- The Federal Savings Bank – 5.25% APY
- Rising Bank – 5.20% APY
- Luana Savings Bank – 5.20% APY
- MYSB Direct – 5.20% APY
- Crescent Bank – 5.20% APY
- CIBC Agility – 5.17% APY
- Alliant Credit Union – 5.15% APY
- My eBanc – 5.10% APY
Detailed information on these top-paying nationally available 18-month CDs is provided below, including specifics about minimum deposits and early withdrawal penalties. For credit union CDs, information is also provided on how to easily join the credit unions offering them.
INOVA Federal Credit Union – 5.50% APY
- Term (months): 15
- Minimum deposit: $200
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- Membership: Anyone can join INOVA with a $5 donation to the nonprofit Tru Direction or Elkhart River Restoration, a $10 one-time fee, and $5 or more kept in a member savings account.
NASA Federal Credit Union – 5.45% APY
- Term (months): 15
- Minimum deposit: $10,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: All interest up to 6 months' worth
- Membership: Anyone can join NASA FCU by signing up for a free membership in the National Space Society and holding $5 or more in a savings account.
Department of Commerce Federal Credit Union – 5.34% APY*
- Term (months): 12-23
- Minimum deposit: $25,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: Three months of interest
- Membership: Anyone can join the DCFCU by agreeing to a free membership in the nonprofit American Consumer Council.
*Rates listed in DCFCU's rate charts are 0.10% lower than what's listed here, for a minimum deposit amount of $500. But the fine print indicates that for deposits of $25,000, a 0.10% premium applies.
Citizens State Bank – 5.33% APY
- Term (months): 15
- Minimum deposit: $10,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- Membership: Headquartered in Hudson, Wisconsin, Citizens State Bank dates back to 1904. It has five locations in Wisconsin but also offers online banking nationwide.
Connexus Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- Term (months): 15
- Minimum deposit: $5,000
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- Membership: Anyone can join the credit union by donating $5 to the Connexus Association and holding $5 or more in a savings account.
Langley Federal Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- Term (months): 17
- Minimum deposit: $500
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: Anyone can join Langley Federal Credit Union by simply keeping $5 in a member savings account.
Jovia Financial Credit Union – 5.25% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $100
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- Membership: Anyone can join Jovia by agreeing to a free membership in the affiliated CrossState Foundation and keeping at least $5 in a savings account.
The Federal Savings Bank – 5.25% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $5,000
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: The Federal Savings Bank is a national bank with a network of over 55,000 ATMs across the U.S. It offers checking and savings accounts, as well as mortgages and loans.
Rising Bank – 5.20% APY
- Term (months): 15
- Minimum deposit: $1,000
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: Rising Bank is an Internet-only division of Midwest BankCentre of St. Louis, Mo., established 1906.
Luana Savings Bank – 5.20% APY
- Term (months): 17
- Minimum deposit: $5,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: Luana Savings Bank was founded in 1908 in northeastern Iowa, and in addition to operating six Iowa branches, it serves nationwide customers online.
MYSB Direct – 5.20% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $500
- Early-withdrawal penalty: All earned interest (3 months minimum)
- About: MYSB Direct is the online banking arm of M.Y. Safra Bank, which is headquartered in New York City and operates a single branch there.
Crescent Bank – 5.20% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $1,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: Founded in 1991, Crescent Bank is primarily an auto loan provider that also offers banking services in the Greater New Orleans area as well as online to customers nationwide.
CIBC Agility – 5.17% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $25,000
- Early withdrawal penalty: 1 month of interest
- About: Headquartered in Toronto, CIBC's U.S. operations were established in 1991. CIBC Agility is the bank's online banking arm.
Alliant Credit Union – 5.15% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $1,000
- Early-withdrawal penalty: All interest up to 4 months' worth
- About: Anyone can join Alliant by agreeing to a free membership in the nonprofit Foster Care to Success.
My eBanc – 5.10% APY
- Term (months): 18
- Minimum deposit: $5,000
- Early withdrawal penalty: 6 months of interest
- About: My eBanc is an online banking arm of the brick-and-mortar institution BAC Florida Bank, established 1973.
What Is an 18-Month CD and How Does It Work?
Certificates of deposit are bank or credit union accounts in which you agree to hold your funds on deposit without withdrawals for a prearranged period. Thus, an 18-month CD requires you to keep the funds untouched for a year and a half. In exchange for giving up access to your funds, you will generally be rewarded with a higher interest rate than the bank pays on savings and money market accounts.
When opening a CD, you deposit a lump sum of funds into the account at or above the minimum required deposit for that CD. The funds will then sit in the account for 18 months, earning interest along the way. When the CD hits its maturity date, you can take the funds plus their earned interest out of the account with no penalty. Alternatively, you can keep the funds on deposit and roll them into a new CD.
KEY TAKEAWAYS
- Opening a CD account means you agree to keep your funds on deposit without withdrawals until the established maturity date of the certificate.
- In exchange, the financial institution will pay you an established interest rate that provides an earnings boost over what its savings and money market accounts pay.
- By shopping around for the best rates and choosing a top-paying CD, you can earn many times the national average interest rate.
- If you need to withdraw your funds early, it's not impossible. It just means you'll be charged an early-withdrawal penalty, so consider an institution's penalty calculation before making your final CD choice.
When Is an 18-Month CD a Good Choice?
An 18-month CD is a suitable option for money you won't need in the coming year or longer. For those with a specific plan for the money, such as a down payment on a house or paying college tuition bills for a child, an 18-month CD might provide just the time frame you need to keep funds safe and reliably earning interest.
Another appeal of 18-month CDs is to provide one rung of a shortened CD ladder. A CD ladder is a strategy for investing your funds in five CDs of differing terms rather than all at once. For a yearly ladder, you would own a one-year, two-year, three-year, four-year, and five-year CD. But you can also create a shorter ladder, with six-month increments between the CDs (e.g., six-month, 12-month, 18-month, etc.).
Why Do Shorter CDs Sometimes Pay More Than Longer CDs?
Generally speaking, the shorter the CD term, the lower the interest rate paid by the bank, and vice versa. That's because the bank recognizes you need to be rewarded more substantially the longer you're being asked to leave the money on deposit.
However, not all institutions use a perfectly linear scale of interest rates that increase with the CD terms. A common strategy is offering one or more special or promotional CDs that pay a significantly higher interest rate to entice customers to the institution. And to limit how long the bank is paying the boosted rate, promotional CDs are often shorter in duration, such as less than two years.
Though consumers tend to think about CD maturity terms in nice round numbers, be sure to consider odd-term CDs, such as 15-month, 18-month, or 21-month certificates. It's not uncommon for a promotional rate CD to have an odd length, so don't limit yourself to only the conventional terms.
Are Online Bank CDs Safe?
Many of the highest deposit rates, whether for CDs, savings accounts, or money market accounts, are offered by online banks. Some of these are online-only banks, meaning they operate solely on the Internet, while others are brick-and-mortar banks with a separate online banking arm.
Though it may seem scarier to deposit your funds into an Internet bank instead of at a physical branch, online accounts and institutions are just as safe as their more traditional counterparts. That's because FDIC insurance doesn't discriminate—the $250,000 in deposit insurance it provides to consumers in case of bank failure applies just the same to online banks as it does to physical banks.1
What if I Need My Money Before the CD Matures?
When you open a CD, you know the precise date that the funds will be ready for penalty-free withdrawal. But sometimes, emergencies crop up, or your financial situation changes, and you need funds from your CD. The good news is that you can almost always withdraw the money at any time.
The catch is that doing so before maturity will trigger the institution's early-withdrawal penalty. Each bank and credit union has a policy for how that penalty is calculated, and the most common method is for the bank to keep a certain number of months' worth of interest. For instance, if you break an 18-month CD early, you will typically lose three to six months of the interest you earned.
Rate Collection Methodology Disclosure
Every business day, Investopedia tracks the rate data of more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs to customers nationwide, and determines daily rankings of the top-paying certificates in every major term. To qualify for our lists, the institution must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the CD's minimum initial deposit must not exceed $25,000.
Banks must be available in at least 40 states. And while some credit unions require you to donate to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don't meet other eligibility criteria (e.g., you don't live in a certain area or work in a certain kind of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more about how we choose the best rates, read our full methodology.
댓글 없음:
댓글 쓰기