Top CD Rates Today, July 11, 2024 - Earn 5.40% to 6.00% for Up to a Year

Below you'll find featured rates available from our partners, followed by details from our ranking of the best CDs available nationwide.

Top Rates from 5.40% to 6.00%—With 9 Guaranteed Until 2025

NuVision Credit Union continues to wear the national CD rate crown, paying 6.00% on a 10-month term. Until last month, we hadn't seen a rate that high since November. But while this is easily the best CD return nationwide, NuVision's promotional certificate only accepts a $5,000 maximum deposit.

Holding its ground as national runner-up is T Bank. Its entry in the 6-month CD term is a 5.60% offer for 9 months. You might also like one of seven additional certificates paying 5.40% APY or better on terms of at least 6 months—which means they'll stretch into 2025. That includes the best 12-month rate of 5.40%, available from both USAlliance Financial and NexBank.

Multi-Year CDs Offer Up to 5.10%—Locked Until 2026 and Beyond

Since it's generally expected U.S. interest rates will decline over the next couple of years, it's smart to lock in a high multi-year rate while you can. The top 2-year CD rate is 5.10% APY. This rate is available from Credit Human on a term of your choosing between 18 and 23 months, or from USAlliance Financial for a full 24 months. These CDs would let you stretch this rate into 2026.

If you're looking for an even longer rate guarantee, consider the best 3-year CDs, which are paying 5.00% APY. Vibrant Credit Union promises that APY for 30 months, while DollarSavingsDirect offers it for a full 36 months.

To secure your rate further, the best 4-year CD pays 4.70%, or you can secure 4.75% for 5 years. Both of these term leaders are offered by BMO Alto, with the 5-year rate seeing a reduction yesterday from 4.80% APY. Grow Financial also pays 4.75% on a 5-year CD.

CD Rates Are Near Their Highest Level in 20 Years

CD rates briefly touched a historic peak of 6.50% in October 2023, and they have drifted just slightly lower since then. In February of this year, 30 CDs in our daily ranking guaranteed at least 5.50% APY. Now, however, you'll find just nine.

Despite that, looking back over the past 20 years shows that today's CD rates remain exceptional. APYs above 4% still present a great investment opportunity, and it may be worth locking one in now—before the Fed cuts rates.

Note that you don't have to get the absolute highest APY to feel satisfied with your choice. If you find a certificate account with a term length and features you like, it may be wise to grab it now, rather than perhaps regret it later if rates go down and you miss your opportunity.

Jumbo CDs Sometimes Offer a Premium Rate

If you've got a big enough deposit for a jumbo CD, you can also shop our ranking of the best jumbo CDs. But in every term but one right now, you can earn more from the best standard CD. The one term where you can score a slight rate premium with a jumbo CD is the 5-year term, where Grow Financial Federal Credit Union is paying 4.86% vs. the top standard-CD rate of 4.75% APY.

Where Are CD Rates Headed in 2024?

To combat decades-high inflation, the Federal Reserve aggressively hiked the federal funds rate between March 2022 and July 2023, raising the benchmark rate to its highest level in 22 years. That's important to savers because when the fed funds rate rises, banks and credit unions increase the interest rates they're willing to pay on customer deposits.

As a result, this past fall saw historically favorable conditions for CD shoppers and anyone holding cash in a high-yield savings or money market account. Rates on CDs rose to an October-November peak that was the highest we've seen in two decades.

However, the Fed has been in a holding pattern since its last rate hike in July 2023. As was all but certain, the Federal Reserve's rate-setting committee announced on June 12 that it was once again maintaining the federal funds rate at its current level. It was the seventh meeting in a row in which the central bank has held its benchmark rate steady.

That's because inflation has been cooling, allowing the Fed to stop raising interest rates and enter a wait-and-see mode as it looks for the right timing to begin lowering the federal funds rate. It's also expected the Fed will hold rates steady for one more meeting, which will conclude July 31.

But the latest Consumer Price Index (CPI) data, released this morning, provided encouraging evidence that inflation is coming further down. Compared to the 3.3% annualized inflation reading last month, today's CPI came in at just 3.0%.

As a result, fed funds traders have increased their bets that a first rate cut will come in September. For the next meeting, concluding July 31, more than 90% of traders still expect a rate hold. But by the Sept. 18 meeting announcement, more than 90% are predicting the Fed will have implemented a 0.25 percentage point decrease.

In the meantime, Fed officials will continue watching and waiting for additional data before making any decisions. But it's possible that today's stronger confidence in a September rate cut could start pushing CD rates lower. So it's a good time to lock in one of today's stellar CD rates while you can.

How We Find the Best CD Rates

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.