Key Takeaways
While the best certificate of deposit rates have been sliding lower ahead of what is now widely expected to be a cut in the Fed funds rate next month, all the top rates across terms remained stable today.
That means you can still earn the best 5.40 per cent from INOVA Federal Credit Union, whose 5-month CD locks in your rate through 2025.
Lock a rate in for 2025 with the following top 1-year offers of 5.25 per cent from five banks: Liberty Savings Bank, Allltrust Bank, Maine Community Bank, Superior Community Bank and YorkBank. Or consider a 5.15-per-cent rate for 15 months with FedChoice Federal Credit Union.
The longest CD paying at least 5.00% is a 2-year certificate from USAlliance Financial, which locks in your rate through 2026. Rates locks of 3–5 years reach the mid-4% range as their best APYs.
Best to open the CD now, rather than wait, so long as rates are high, since the Fed is expected to lower rates two or three times this year.
Featured below are our partners’ top rates, followed by our best CDs ranking of rates nationwide.
Guarantee a Rate of 5.15% to 5.40% into 2025
Before the Fed begins cutting interest rates next month, and likely for some time thereafter, our weekly nationwide CD rankings show the best rates generally have edged downward. But today the top CD rates held firm across every CD term.
INOVA Federal Credit Union still tops the charts with an APR of a whopping 5.40 per cent over five months, but if you want your rate guaranteed for an extra month, you could go for runner-up DR Bank with an APR of 5.35 per cent for six months.
Want to lock in your rate even longer? The best 1-year CDs pay 5.25%, and there are plenty of choices at that rate. Four institutions pay that APY for 12 months, and another does so for an 11-month term. Every one of those will take you into mid-2025.
A top rate of 5.15 per cent for a 18-month term is available for 15 months!That 5.15 per cent quoted by the FedChoice Federal Credit Union was for a 18-month certificate, but it locks in your rate until a little after Thanksgiving in 2025.
CD Rates Locked Into 2026—or Beyond—Are Smart Right Now
Right now, you won’t earn high annual percentage yields (APYs) when you buy multi-year CDs, but they are a great bet to buy before the Fed embarks on a new round of cutting its benchmark federal funds rate, which is scheduled to start Sept 18 and could include another 2024 and 2025 cut. Downward pressure on interest rates might even stretch into 2026.
If you want to lock in your rate until at least 2026, the highest-paying CD with an 18-month fully penalised term available right now is 5.05% from The Federal Savings Bank. Or try 5.00% for 2 years from USAlliance Financial.
But a mid- to upper-4% rate can be locked down for several more years. The best 3-year term is 4.75% on average over 36 months at American 1 Credit Union. The best 4-year leader pays 4.55% from The Federal Savings Bank. And 4.50% with Pima Federal for 5 years,
To see the top 15-20 state rates for any term, select that term length to the left above.
Though Below the Peak, CDs Are Still a Wise Buy
And while the best nationwide CD returns are no longer at their absolute highs, they are still historically elevated. In October, the top nationwide rate rose to 6.50% — for a couple of days — and today the top rate is down to 5.40%. Nevertheless, well into the double-digits are the number of banks and credit unions paying 5.00% or higher. Currently, 24 offers among our best nationwide CDs pay 5.25% or more.
Compared with that is early 2022, before that Federal Reserve embarked on its fever-pitch rate-hike campaign. The best CDs available then paid from 0.50 per cent to 1.70 per cent APY on various terms.
Jumbo CDs Lead Only Among 18-Month Offers
Deposit requirements of jumbo CDs tend to be a lot more substantial, but not always by much, and top jumbo CD rates don’t always lead. Today’s leading jumbo CDs can be beaten in the 18-month term, for example. State Department Federal Credit Union pays 5.20% APY on a 15-month jumbo CD — still a top nationally available deal — while the leading rate on a standard 18-month certificate is now 5.15%. However, you can still get top rates on jumbo CDs as easily as on standard CDs in the 1-year and 3-year terms.
*Rates listed are the best APYs available in each term. For detailed lists that rank the top-paying CDs of bank, credit union, and jumbo certificates of deposit across all terms, click on the column headings above.
How Far Will CD Rates Fall in 2024?
Not surprisingly, the US Federal Reserve left the federal funds rate unchanged at its meeting that ended on 31 July. But, speaking today at the Fed’s annual meeting in Jackson Hole, Federal Reserve chair J Jerome Powell made clear that the central bank is on the cusp of finally cutting rates. He demurred, however, from announcing how much the rates will be cut or how soon the cuts will come.
‘It’s time for policy to adjust,’ Powell said. ‘The direction of travel is clear, and the pace of rate cuts will depend on incoming data, the evolving outlook, and the balance of risks.’
Pre-market trading on the CME FedWatch tool implies investors are giving a 2-to-1 likelihood that the Fed will shave its key interest rate 0.25 percentage points on 18 September, rather than the 0.50 increase that traders forecast for 30 October, and almost a sure bet that the federal funds rate will have been trimmed by at least a full percentage point by 18 December.
As the Fed tried to stomp out inflation on the mandate of its dual mission, the central bank increased the federal funds rate by 11.25 percentage points between March 2022 and July 2023, shooting the benchmark interest rate to the highest levels in 22 years. Savers who have kept cash in the bank have benefited from the Fed’s rate-hike campaign, as the fed funds rate determines the rates that banks and credit unions pay on CDs. The rates paid on CDs rose to a 20-year high last fall. People who have cash in a high-yield savings or money market account have eked out positively history-changing rates.
Fed officials are careful not to get ahead of themselves, so they will probably wait for a few more reports before altering the fed funds rate. However, confidence in a September rate cut is high, so CD rates will probably move ahead of the central bank’s move. If you have the cash to spare, consider locking in a top CD rate before it’s too late.
Daily Rankings of the Best CDs and Savings Accounts
Keep in mind that the ‘top rates’ cited here are the highest rates in the nation that Investopedia has found in its daily research of hundreds of banks and credit unions, not the national average that includes all the banks that offer a CD with that term (including many big banks that pay a pittance in interest), which are always quite low while the top rates you can find by shopping around are often 5, 10 or even 15 times higher.
How We Find the Best CD Rates
Daily, Investopedia’s market-rate system evaluates the terms offered by more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs to consumers nationwide, and daily updates national rankings of top-paying certificates of deposit in each major term. Institutions must be insured by the FDIC (for banks) or the NCUA (for credit unions) to qualify for our lists, and CD minimum initial deposits cannot be greater than $25,000 or any specified maximum deposit less than $5,000.
Banks need to be 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 otherwise qualify (for example, if you don’t live in a certain area or work a certain type of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirement is $40 or more. For more on how we pick the best rates, check out our full methodology.