What Is a Certificate of Deposit CD and What Can It Do for You?

What Is a Certificate of Deposit CD and What Can It Do for You?

Consumers who want a hard copy that verifies their CD purchase may request a paper statement from the bank, or print out their own from the financial institution’s online banking service. In the United States, CDs are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) for banks and by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for credit unions. If you have funds that certificate of deposit account definition you want to keep safe for anywhere from a few months to a number of years, a CD could be a good way for you to save. The early-withdrawal penalty on a CD encourages you to keep your money in the bank rather than spend it. We think it’s important for you to understand how we make money. The offers for financial products you see on our platform come from companies who pay us.

Choose from business checking, business credit cards, merchant services or visit our business resource center. Make purchases with your debit card, and bank from almost anywhere by phone, tablet or computer and more than 15,000 ATMs and more than 4,700 branches. Another disadvantage is that CD https://personal-accounting.org/simple-rent-receipt-template-in-excel/ interest rates can sometimes struggle to keep up with inflation.1 When inflation rises, the value of your dollar goes down. So if you invest $1,000 in a 1-year CD with a 1.5% interest rate, and inflation rises 1.9% in that same year, your money will be less valuable at the end of the year.

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A certificate of deposit (CD) is a time deposit sold by banks, thrift institutions, and credit unions in the United States. CDs typically differ from savings accounts in that the CD has a specific, fixed term before money can be withdrawn without penalty and generally higher interest rates. The bank expects the CD to be held until maturity, at which time they can be withdrawn and interest paid.

certificate of deposit account definition

That’s because they offer more liquidity than CDs — typically, they can be withdrawn from up to six times a month without a fee. This makes savings accounts good for holding an emergency fund or for very short-term goals. Contact your bank or credit union if you choose to open a CD with your local financial institution.

Certificate of deposit (CD) definition

The interest rate may be higher or lower than the rate you previously were earning. You don’t get stuck with a low return if interest rates rise after you buy one. You get to keep your existing CD account and switch to the new, higher rate your bank is offering. Liquid CDs may pay lower interest rates than CDs that you’re locked into. This makes sense if you look at it from the bank’s point of view. Still, earning less for a short period might be worth it if you can switch to a higher rate later—and if you’re confident rates will rise soon.

You invest $2,000 apiece in one-, two-, three-, four- and five-year CDs. When the one-year CD matures, you put that money into a new five-year CD. The next year, you reinvest funds from the matured two-year CD in another five-year CD.

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It’s a mistake to just open a CD at the bank where you already have a checking relationship without investigating how its rates compare with those that you can earn elsewhere. You should shop for options available anywhere, with several online tools able to filter these results and aid in your search. Perhaps you have cash that you don’t need now but will want within the next few years—maybe for a special vacation or to buy a new home, car, or boat. For near-term uses like that, the stock market generally isn’t considered a suitable investment, as you could lose money over that period of time.

certificate of deposit account definition