Best 24-Month CD Rates Edge Lower

The banks are pretty much the same. But the returns are worse.

That’s the sorry story of our latest rankings of the best, nationally available 24-month CD rates.

In November our top-paying banks were offering 2-year certificates of deposit for 2.60% to 2.55% APY and you only needed a $1,000 minimum deposit to qualify for the top rate.

This month you’ll earn 2.50% to 2.30% APY and need a whopping $50,000 to qualify for the top rate.

Although that’s still twice as much as you can make with the typical 2-year CD, it’s not saying much. The average rate on these CDs plunged to a record low of 1.26% APY last week.

The best, nationally available deals on 24-month CDs are:

2.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $50,000 for “Silver CDs” from Frontier Bank, which has 50 branches in Washington and Oregon. You can also earn 2.45% with a $25,000 minimum deposit and 2.40% with a $500 minimum deposit.

2.40 APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 from The Jacksonville Bank, with five locations in that Florida city.

2.40 APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 from Atlantic Coast Bank, with 12 full-service branches in southeast Georgia and northeast Florida.

2.30 APY with a $5,000 minimum from Hudson City Bank with dozens of branches in New Jersey, New York and Connecticut. If you live near a Hudson City branch the minimum deposit is only $500.

Click here to compare these offers with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our database.

Related Posts:Frontier Alone At Top Of 2-Year CD RatesBest 24-Month CD Rates Jump to 2.60%Best 24-Month CD Rates Hold At 2.50%Hudson City Rockets Up CD Rate RankingsOne Bank Still Pays 3% On 3-Year CDs

H&R Block Tops 6-Month CD Rates

H&R Block Bank has jumped to top of our rankings of the best 6-month CD rates.

Its promotional offer of 2.0% APR with a minimum deposit of $10,000 is available until Sept. 30, and you can apply online.

That’s the same rate United Central Bank was offering when it led our latest rundown of the best, nationally-available 6-month certificates of deposit.

But United Central cut its rate in half just before Labor Day and H&R Block stepped up to take its place as the only bank still offering 2.0%.

Click here to compare these rates with the best CD rates and terms from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

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Citi Takes Lead In 18-Month CD Rates

It’s been a long time since a big bank had a CD rate that made us sit up and take notice.

But Citibank is offering 2.25% APY on an 18-month certificate of deposit with a very modest $500 minimum deposit.

That’s the best nationally-available deal on an 18-month CD that we know of, beating the 2.13% APY from Discover Bank, OneWest Bank and MetLife Bank. (They have much higher minimum deposits, too.)

The Federal Reserve and Treasury Department have been pumping so much cheap money into the big banks that they haven’t needed our savings.

Ever since the banking crisis struck last the best rates have come from smaller banks that still needed to compete for deposits.

But desperate savers would flood those banks so much money they’d quickly lower their rates, sometimes in a matter of days, contributing to the extraordinary volatility we’ve seen in CD rates this year.

Could Citi be leading the big banks back into the market?

Use our database to compare Citi’s offer with the best CD rates from scores of other banks.

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1.85% Leads 3-Month CD Rates In August

TotalBank tops our survey of the best 3-month CD rates for the second straight month.

The Miami-based bank is offering less than the eye-catching 2.25% APY it was paying in July, with a $1,000 minimum deposit.

That deal was short-lived, dropping to 1.85% APY just days after it was posted.

But TotalBank has maintained that rate ever since and it’s still significantly higher than all other nationally available 3-month CD rates.

It’s also more than three times the average rate for 3-month certificates of deposit, which fell to a record low 0.49% APY last week.

The next-best banks in our August rankings have changed, but the rates they’re offering are very close to those in our July rankings:

1.55% APY with a $1,000 minimum from Beal Bank Nevada, which has a single office in Las Vegas.

1.55% APY with an $8,000 minimum from UFB Direct. CDs sold at UFBDirect actually come from Waterfield Bank, which has a couple of full-service offices in Carmel, Ind., and Germantown, Md.

These are all Internet specials and accounts must be opened online to qualify for these rates.

Click here to compare them with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.

Related Posts:TotalBank Leaps To Top Of CD RatesUFBDirect 2.90% 12-month CDEarn 2.25% With Top 3-Month CD RatesEarn 2.50% With Top 6-Month CD RatesSmall Banks Lower Top CD Rates

Tennessee Bank Boosts 24-Month CD Rates

Tennessee Commerce Bank has increased the return on its 24-month CDs to 2.50% APY from 2.20% APY the past couple of weeks.

Although it only has one office in Franklin, Tenn., the bank accepts out-of-state deposits, allows accounts to be opened online and imposes a modest $2,500 minimum deposit.

We’ve written about Tennessee Commerce before and don’t recall any negative comments about its service.

The increase puts Tennessee Commerce near the top of our rankings for the best, nationally-available 24-month CD rates.

Only one bank has a better deal: Frontier Bank, which has more than 40 branches in Washington and Oregon, is paying 2.60% APY with a $500 minimum deposit, or 2.70% with a $50,000 minimum deposit.

That’s about a point higher than the national average for 24-month CDs.

You can use our extensive database of CD rates to compare these offers with the best deals from scores of banks.

Related Posts:11-Month CD Special Offers 2.78% APYBest Savings Accounts Up To 2.50% APYTwo Banks Offer Top 30-Month CD RatesTennessee Commerce 3.27% 36-Month CDTop 36-Month CD Rates Remain Above 3%

Top 36-Month CD Rates Fall Below 3%

Intervest National Bank is now offering the best nationally available deal on 36-month certificates of deposit — 2.90% with a minimum deposit of $2,500.

The bank, which is based in New York City and has six branchs in the Clearwater, Fla., area, didn’t accomplish that by raising its rates.

It just stood pat while the two banks that had been offering better deals cut their rates.

newdominionDIRECT.com was the only bank paying more than 3% in our July survey of the best 36-month CD rates.

Boston-based First Trade Union briefly hit 3% earlier this month.

But both have pulled back well below 3%.

Frontier Bank with 38 locations in Washington and four in Oregon, is also offering 2.90% APY on a 3-year certificate of deposit.

The minimum deposit, however, is a hefty $25,000.

While Intervest and Frontier still beat the national average of 1.77% for 36-month CDs by more than a full percentage point, you’ll have to buy a top-paying 48-month CD to earn more than 3%.

(We’ve written about Intervest several times before and haven’t heard any complaints about its service. It’s also paying a respectable 2.50% APY on a 30-month CD and 3.15% on 48-month CDs, with the same $2,500 minimum deposit.)

You can use our extensive database of CD rates to compare these offers with the best deals from scores of other banks.

Related Posts:Intervest Bank 2.95% on 18-month CDIntervest National 2.60% Savings AccountFirst Trade Union Tops 36-Month CD Rates36-Month CD Rates Down But Not OutTop 36-Month CD Rates Remain Above 3%

Best 12-Month CD Rates Hold Steady

The banks are different, but the deals are pretty much the same, in our latest survey of the best 12-month CD rates.

That is encouraging.

Ever since the financial crisis struck last fall, all of the top-paying certificates of deposit have come from small banks.

They quickly got all the deposits they needed, cut their rates, and created an incredible amount of churn in our rankings of the best deals.

For the first half of the year, the community and online banks that claimed a top spot inevitably offered lower rates than those they replaced.

That’s why today’s best CD rates are lower than last summers average CD rates.

But over the past few weeks we’ve seen the banks rising to the top of our list with offers that are close to those they’re replacing.

Could interest rates be bottoming out? Could long slide that began two years ago finally be over?

When we ranked the best, nationally-available deals in July the three top rates for 12-month CDs were 2.26%, 2.25% and 2.25%.

These are the best 12-month CD rates available now:

2.30% APY with a $10,000 minimum deposit from Wilshire State Bank, headquartered in Los Angeles with 21 branches in four states.

That’s for Wishire’s “Flex CD,” which allows you to make additional deposits and up to six withdrawals before maturity. If you don’t have that much to invest, you can earn 2.15% with a $1,000 minimum deposit in a traditional CD.

2.25% APY with a $500 minimum deposit from Frontier Bank, with 38 locations in Washington and four in Oregon.

2.25% APY with a $1,000 minimum deposit from United Central Bank, which is based in Garland, Texas, and has 19 offices in Texas, Virginia, California, Maryland and Georgia.

Use our extensive database to compare these deals with the best CD rates from scores of other banks.

Related Posts:Top 6-Month CD Rates Now 2% — Or LessWashington Bank Tops 24-Month CD RatesFirst Trade Union Tops 36-Month CD RatesEarn 2.50% With Top 6-Month CD Rates17-Month Special Beats Most CD Rates