December 2024's Best CD Rates

Bread Financial offers one of the best one-year CD accounts on the market, as it comes with multiple benefits. Customers who open a one-year CD account at Bread Financial will receive a 4.10% APY, which is a great starting point for those who want to save at a faster pace. And as your 1-year CD account continues to grow, your interest will compound daily. 

Bread Financial is flexible with additional CD terms for customers that range from two years at 4.00% to five years at 3.85%. If you want to open an account with the bank, you will need a $1,500 minimum deposit, which is on the higher end for one-year CD terms specifically.

Capital One is among the nation’s largest banks in terms of consumer deposits, and it now offers one of the best 1-year CD accounts on the market. 

Capital One comes in with a 4.00% APY (as of 11/21/24), and no minimum deposit requirement, which is a great option for a customer beginning their savings journey. As your 1-year CD with Capital One continues to grow, you won’t have to worry about market risk, since CDs aren’t overly attached to short-term market volatility. 

The bank offers additional flexibility for customers with CD terms that range from six months at a 3.80% APY (as of 12/19/24) to five years at a 3.50% APY (as of 9/17/24). Capital One also features one of its highest rates on its 18-month CD, which offers customers a 3.70% APY (as of 12/19/24) with no minimum deposit requirement as well.

Barclays provides a wide range of certificate of deposit (CD) products, and its high balance CDs really stand out with terms reaching 3.00% APY or higher. Barclays offers 24-month CDs with an APY of 3.00% and no minimum balance is required. That means you don’t need to make a deposit to open the account and you also don’t need to maintain a minimum balance to keep the 3.00% APY. So, once you open a 24-month CD account, you will begin seeing the benefits of the quality rate and interest that compounds daily. 

Barclays offers seven CD terms from 6 months to 60 months. If you are looking to open a 12-month CD, your APY will be a bit higher than the 24-month term at 4.15% with no minimum balance requirements. And if you have your eyes set on a 36-month CD rate, you’ll have access to a great APY of 3.00%. The drawback with Barclays is that it’s an online-only bank here in the U.S. So you have to make sure that you are comfortable with online banking frequently.

If you’re looking to save more, Marcus by Goldman Sachs is one of the best banks to move your money to. The core of its high-interest accounts includes a great CD and savings account combination.

More specifically, Marcus’ 2-year CD has an APY of 3.70%, while its online high-yield savings account boasts an APY of 3.90%. There is no minimum deposit for the savings account, and the CDs call for only a $500 opening deposit.

Where Marcus struggles compared to some of its major competitors is in its customer service. While the bank recently introduced a mobile banking app for Apple and Android devices, its customer support is only available 14 hours a day during the week and 10 hours a day on the weekends. This could make for a frustrating experience if you need help immediately.

Pentagon Federal Credit Union has a range of different certificate of deposit (CD) offerings, ranging from six months to seven years. 

The minimum on all of these CDs is $1,000. So if you want to open a CD with PenFed, you'll need to have some cash lying around. But if you can meet that minimum, you'll be met with solid APYs, ranging from 3.00% to 3.65%, depending on term length. 

The credit union's 2-year CD APY currently sits at 3.55%, which is one of the highest around. The catch is that you'll need to become a PenFed member in order to open up a CD with the credit union. This used to be a tall order, in that you had to be somewhat involved with the military, either yourself or as a family member or cohabitant. PenFed recently waived this requirement. 

Now, you can become a member and open up a CD just by doing the following: 

• Be a U.S. citizen or permanent U.S. resident 
• Have a government-issued photo I.D. 
• Be at least 18 years old 

If you can meet those requirements, you can easily open an account with PenFed and open a CD account today.

Synchrony, an online- and mobile-only bank, offers one of the best three-year CD terms in the market in the form of a high APY and minimum deposit affordability. Synchrony’s three-year CD presents a great 3.75% APY to help get first-time savers on the right track. For example, an account holder with $5,000 in savings in their initial deposit with a 3.75% APY would be able to earn an additional $583.86 over 36 months.

Synchrony doesn't require a minimum deposit. The bank offers flexible options outside of those in need of a three-year CD. The bank has 16 different CD terms, one of which starts at three months with a 0.25% APY. Other terms range from six months at a 3.70% APY to five years with a 4.00% APY.

Bread Financial has a premier five-year CD account that features an incredibly strong 3.85% APY. To put this rate into perspective, if you deposited $10,000 in the account and left it there for five years, you’d walk away with nearly $2,079 in interest earned. This can happen not only because of the great rate, but also because Bread allows balances to compound daily.

If you’re looking to open a five-year CD with Bread, the main stipulation you’ll encounter is a $1,500 minimum opening deposit. This may make the account inaccessible for some prospective account holders. However, in the grand scheme of things, many CDs have higher minimums than this.

Ally’s bump-up certificate of deposit is an account that functions like a normal CD, only it allows the account holder to increase their APY during the account’s term should rates rise. So if you own an Ally Raise Your Rate CD, and the interest rate that’s offered for your account goes up, you can initiate a rate increase to take advantage of that benefit. Note that you can only use this option once during the term of your CD, so if rates start to rise, you’ll need to decide the best time to pull the trigger.

This CD comes in two term length variations: two-year and four-year. In both cases, the starting APY is 3.40%. There are no minimum initial deposits for either account, meaning you can take advantage of them regardless of how much you have to invest. There is also a 0.05% APY loyalty reward waiting for any Ally customers that renew their CD to another Ally CD upon maturation.

Once your account’s term matures, you’ll have a 10-day window to withdraw your money. Otherwise, it will be reinvested into the same CD again.