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.

Most giantbank.com CDs offer competitive interest rates. The rates for some CDs are competitive with other online accounts. All of the CD rates are higher than typical bank rates. The CD terms that are 12-months and longer offer the most competitive interest rates.

There are a good variety of giantbank.com CD terms available. The terms range from 91-days to 60-month CDs. There are seven different terms offered through giantbank.com. You can apply for any of these CD terms online.

There are two options on how to open a CD with giantbank.com. You can apply for the CD online or fill out an application and send the application back through the mail. If you open the CD online there is a maximum opening amount of $50,000.

The opening required amount for giantbank.com CDs are low. Each of the CD terms requires $2,500 to open. You must keep a balance of at least $2,500 in the giantbank.com CDs to earn interest. Any amount over the required balance earns a competitive interest rate. The interest rates are not tiered.

The short-term CDs do not offer as competitive interest rates as the longer-term CDs. The 91-day, six-month, and nine-month CDs do not offer as competitive rates. These rates are still competitive. The rates are just not as competitive as the other giantbank.com terms.

giantbank.com limits the ways you can initially deposit money into CD accounts. Those ways include mailing in a check or a wire transfer. You can also transfer money from another giantbank.com account. The website does not say you can make the initial transfer from an external bank into a giantbank.com CD.

giantbank.com is an online bank. You can contact customer service through email, mail, phone, or fax. Customer service does have limited hours they are open. They are available Monday through Friday from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. EST.

Customers can transfer the interest earned on giantbank.com CDs to other accounts. But, the money can only be transferred to other giantbank.com accounts. Those accounts include giantbank.com checking or money market accounts.

Read the full Giantbank.com review.