You have a fleeting opportunity today to get a Certificate of Deposit (CD) with a market leading APY of 5.50%, but unfortunately it will evaporate by the end of the business day. INOVA Federal Credit Union has a 20-month promotional certificate that pays that price, but is withdrawing the offer at 5:30pm ET.
Langley Federal Credit Bank, the former interest rate leader, still offers 5.35% APY for 22 months.
INOVA has a second special CD, paying 5.25% over 11 months, which also expires today. Adding these two certificates brings the total number of CDs that pay at least 5.25% APY to 10.
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- Today’s highest rate available nationwide across all CD terms has risen to 5.50% APY, and it’s available with a 20-month certificate, but limited-time offer ends at 5:30 PM ET.
- You can now earn as little as 5.25% APY on 10 different CDs in our rankings, up from eight yesterday.
- A GPA of at least 5.00% APY continues to be provided each semester from 3 months to 3 years.
- The maximum you can earn on mega CDs has been stable for more than two weeks.
- The Fed could raise interest rates again in as little as two weeks, but it’s still a good time to secure record high deposit rates.
INOVA and Langley, as well as all of the credit unions in our rankings, are open to online clients across the country. Most of the included credit unions make it as easy to join as banks, and they’re all covered by the same $250,000 in federal deposit insurance as the banks. The only difference is that coverage is provided by the National Credit Union Association (NCUA), which is the credit union equivalent of the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC).
| CD term | Yesterday’s national high | Today’s highest national price | Today change (percentage points) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 5.00%APY | 5.00%APY | No change |
| 6 months | 5.25%APY | 5.25%APY | No change |
| One year | 5.25%APY | 5.25%APY | No change |
| 18 months | 5.25%APY | 5.50%APY | +0.25 |
| Two years | 5.35%APY | 5.35%APY | No change |
| 3 years | 5.00%APY | 5.00%APY | No change |
| 4 years | 4.73%APY | 4.73%APY | No change |
| 5 years | 4.68%APY | 4.68%APY | No change |
| 10 years | 4.30%APY | 4.30%APY | No change |
Dozens of higher rates on certificates of deposit still beat the March inflation rate of 5%, which was released last week. This is a relatively rare occurrence, at least in recent years. No one knows what the inflation number for April will be, but this may be a good time to lock in the inflation counter-inflation rate.
| CD term | The highest rate of the National Bank today | Highest rate in the National Credit Union today | Today’s highest national jumbo price |
|---|---|---|---|
| 3 months | 5.00%APY | 4.50%APY | 3.91%APY |
| 6 months | 5.25%APY | 5.01%APY | 5.25%APY |
| One year | 5.25%APY | 5.25%APY | 5.15%APY |
| 18 months | 5.10%APY | 5.50%APY | 5.25%APY |
| Two years | 5.28%APY | 5.35%APY | 5.04%APY |
| 3 years | 4.60%APY | 5.00%APY | 4.99% APY |
| 4 years | 4.55%APY | 4.73%APY | 4.89%APY |
| 5 years | 4.50%APY | 4.68%APY | 4.84%APY |
| 10 years | 4.10%APY | 4.30%APY | no one |
The highest rate for a Jumbo Certificate is fixed at 5.25%, offered in two terms. It’s always smart to keep your search open on standard CDs, even when you have a huge deposit because you can usually find better rates among the standard certificates. But right now, the jumbo 4-year and 5-year APYs are better than the other market leaders in those terms.
Are CD prices going up or down?
Cash deposit rates have increased dramatically as a result of the Federal Reserve raising the federal funds rate to combat inflation. Although the Fed has raised the federal funds rate twice this year, both times by 0.25%, this is far less than the cumulative 4.25% in the increases it applied last year. As a result, interest rates on deposit accounts rose in 2022, and then only slightly this year.
We are less than two weeks away from the next meeting of the Federal Reserve to set interest rates, which ends on May 3rd. The current market forecast is an 89% chance that the Fed will raise interest rates by at least a quarter point. But after that, fed funds futures traders generally expect that we will see interest rates stabilize and eventually come down. So, while rates may be a little higher, they’re already at their highest levels since 2007, making now a good time to consider securing CDs that will pay attractive dividends for months or years to come.
Note that the “higher rates” listed here are the highest rates available nationwide that Investopedia has determined in its daily rate search on hundreds of banks and credit unions. This is very different from the national average, which includes all banks that offer a CD with that term, including many of the larger ones that pay minuscule interest. Thus, the national rates are always very low, while the higher rates that you can find out by shopping around are often five, 10 or even 15 times higher.
Disclosure of the price collection methodology
Every business day, Investopedia tracks pricing data for more than 200 banks and credit unions that offer CDs to customers across the country and determines daily ratings for the highest-paying certificates in each key term. To qualify for our listings, an organization must be federally insured (FDIC for banks, NCUA for credit unions), and the minimum initial CD deposit must not exceed $25,000.
Banks must be available in at least 40 states. And although some credit unions require you to make a donation to a specific charity or association to become a member if you don’t meet other eligibility criteria (for example, you don’t live in a certain area or work in a certain type of job), we exclude credit unions whose donation requirements are $40 or more. For more information on how to choose the best rates, read our full methodology.
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