Citizens Access CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Each of the CD terms offers interest rates competitive with other online CDs. The interest rates are not tiered. Any balance above $5,000 earns the most competitive interest rate offered.

Each Citizens Access CD comes with the CD Pledge Rate guarantee. Once you fund your CD, Citizens Access watches interest rates for ten days. The Rate Pledge guarantees you lock in the highest interest rate during that time. Once you lock in the highest interest rate, the rate stays the same for the entire term.

Citizens Access offers a good variety of CD terms. Those terms range from a six-month term to a five-year term. In all, Citizens Access offers seven CD term lengths.

Citizens Access encourages CD laddering. This means dividing up your investment between different term CDs. Dividing up your money can earn more interest. You can invest your money into short-term or long-term CDs. The Citizens Access website offers tools to help you understand CD laddering better.

The Citizens Access CDs have high opening required amounts. Each of the CD terms require $5,000 to open. The savings account also requires $5,000 to open.

There are limited ways to open and fund Citizens Access CDs. You cannot deposit cash or make a wire transfer into the CD. You can link an external bank account or deposit a check to fund the account. Make changes to the account during the 10-day grace period or once the CD reaches maturity.

To set up a maturity plan for your Citizens Access CD you need to call customer service. They can help you figure out what happens to your CD once it reaches maturity. Customer service has set hours they are available. Find the hours listed below.

Citizens Access offers two ways for customers to receive the interest earned on their CDs. You can choose to have the money added to the CD principal or transfer the money to another account. Those are the only two options for how to receive the interest earned.

Read the full Citizens Access review.

The interest rates for Barclays CDs are competitive for most terms. For terms longer than 12-months, the rates are competitive with other online CDs. The interest rates for all CD accounts are much higher than typical bank rates. Barclays CDs interest rates are not tiered. Any balance in the CD earns the competitive interest rate.

Barclays offers a good variety of CD terms. The shortest term offered is a three-month term. The longest term is a 60-month term. Barclays offers a total of nine different CD terms. All the terms are entirely online CDs. Each CD term is available to open online.

There is not a set amount required to open Barclays CDs. Open any of the nine CD terms with any amount. There is not a set amount required to earn the most competitive interest rates. The only balance requirement is that you have enough money in your CD to earn $0.01 in interest.

Barclays encourages CD laddering. This means customers can earn the most competitive interest rates but with more flexibility. CD laddering is investing money in CDs varying in term length. Customers invest in multiple long term CDs. By doing this, one CD will mature each year. This gives customers more access to their money while earning competitive rates. The Barclays website offers a CD ladder calculator. This allows customers to see how to build a successful CD ladder.

The Barclays short term CDs do not offer competitive interest rates. The three, six, and nine-month CDs offer interest rates that are lower than other online banks. These rates are higher than typical bank CD rates of the same term. They are not competitive with other online CDs of the same term length.

Barclays only offers two ways to fund their CDs. Customers can fund the account through an electronic transfer or mailing in a check. If you plan to transfer the money electronically, you must link the CD with an external bank account. Barclays does not accept cash or money orders to deposit into CDs.

The easiest way to make electronic transfers into a Barclays CD is to link it to an external account. You can link up to three external accounts to your Barclays CDs. The linked accounts must be with another bank that is chartered in the United States. You can link accounts when you initially fund your CD or at a later date.

Barclays does not offer an interest rate guarantee. The interest rate you earn on your Barclays CD is the rate on the day you open your account. The interest rates on CDs are competitive with other online accounts. But, if the rates increase shortly after you open your account, Barclays does not increase the interest rate for your CD.

Read the full Barclays review.