Most American Express Personal Savings CDs offer competitive interest rates. The terms 18-months or longer offer rates that are competitive with other online CDs. These rates are much higher than typical bank rates. The interest rates for American Express CDs are not tiered. Any amount in the account earns the most competitive interest rate.

American Express offers a variety of ways to receive the interest earned off their CDs. You can request a check mailed monthly, each quarter, or once a year. You can transfer the money into another American Express account or a linked account. You can also leave the money in the CD account. American Express gives options to withdraw interest, but it will reduce your earnings. Contact customer service to initiate these options.

There is no set amount required to open American Express CDs. You can open each of the different CD terms with any amount. There is no monthly fee or no required amount to keep in the account to earn interest.

American Express Personal Savings offers a good variety of CD terms. The terms range from 6-months to 60-months. There are seven total CD terms to choose from.

The shortest American Express CD terms have lower interest rates. These term rates are not competitive with other online CDs of the same length. The six-month and 12-month terms do not offer as competitive interest rates as the other American Express CDs.

American Express does not allow partial withdrawals from the CD before maturity. If you need to withdraw money before the maturity date, you must withdraw the entire CD balance. As with all CDs, if you withdraw money before maturity, there is a fee assessed.

The early withdrawal fees for American Express CDs are high. If your CD is less than 12 months, the fee is 90 days of interest. For terms from 12 months to less than 48 months, the fee is 270 days of interest. CD terms from 48 months to less than 60 months, the fee is 365 days of interest. The fee for 60-month terms or longer is 540 days of interest. If you have not earned enough interest to cover the fee, the rest is taken from the CD principal.

American Express Personal Savings does not guarantee to get customers the highest interest rate. The interest rate you receive for the CD term is the rate on the day you fund your account. The interest rate is fixed. It is locked in for the life of the term.

Read the full American Express review.

VirtualBank offers online CD accounts. Each term offers competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CDs. VirtualBank interest rates are much higher than typical bank rates.

Even the shorter-term CDs offer competitive interest rates. These rates are very competitive compared to other short-term CDs.

There are a good variety of CD terms offered through VirtualBank. They offer CD terms from one month to 60-months. There are a total of 11 CD terms. All the CD terms are online accounts. You can apply online or send your application through the mail.

VirtualBank encourages CD laddering. They have a CD laddering calculator on their website. With the calculator, you can see how much interest you would earn by CD laddering. CD laddering is opening different CD terms, so your CDs mature at a variety of times. This allows you to open longer-term CDs to earn higher interest rates, but still, have access to your money.

There are options for how to receive the interest you earn on VirtualBank CDs. When you open the account, you can choose to have the interest credited monthly or quarterly. Credited the money back to the CD or you can transfer the money into another VirtualBank account. You can also choose to have the interest mailed to you in a check.

VirtualBank has a high required amount to open their CDs. Each CD requires $10,000 to open. That amount is high compared to other online CDs. If you have the $10,000 required opening amount, you can open any of VirtualBank CDs.

The CDs offered through VirtualBank are only for personal deposit accounts. At this time, these CDs are not available for business accounts. There are no specific business accounts available through VirtualBank. Only personal deposit accounts are currently offered.

VirtualBank CDs do not offer an interest rate guarantee. The interest rate you earn for the life of your CD term is the rate on the day you open your account. They do not offer an interest rate guarantee. If the interest rates increase shortly after you open your CD, your rate will not increase. VirtualBank CDs offer fixed interest based on the day you open your CD.

Early withdrawal fees for VirtualBank CDs are high. The fees may affect your principal amount. For CDs under one year, the fee is 100 percent of the interest earned on the withdrawn amount. For terms from one year to two years, the fee is one percent of the principal amount withdrawn. For CDs longer than two years, the fee is two percent of the principal amount withdrawn.

Read the full VirtualBank review.