The opening required amount for PenFed CDs is low. Each standard and IRA CD terms only require $1,000 to open. The education CDs only require $500 to open. You can open the CDs online or in a branch location.

There are a good variety of CDs available through PenFed. They offer nine standard CD terms from six months to seven years. Their IRA CDs and educational savings certificates terms range from one to seven years.

Each CD term with PenFed offers competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CDs. The standard, IRA, and education CDs interest rates are competitive. They are higher than the typical bank interest rates.

There is more than one way to choose how to receive interest payments earned from your PenFed CDs. You can have the money added to the CD or another account. You can choose to have the money sent to you in a check. You can receive the interest earned monthly or when the CD matures.

To open a CD with PenFed, you must first become a member of the credit union. If you have or are currently serving in the military, you can become a member. Living in certain areas or being a member of set organizations qualifies you. If you work for the U.S. government or other organizations, you are eligible as well. If you do not meet any of these requirements, you can pay a $5 fee. Once you are a member, you can apply for accounts.

PenFed offers standard CDs, IRA CDs, and educational CDs. Members can only open standard CDs online. To open the other types of CDs, you must visit a branch location or contact customer service. All the standard CD terms are available to open online.

The standard PenFed CDs do not offer an interest rate guarantee. If you open a CD and the interest rates increase shortly after, your interest rates will not increase. The PenFed standard CDs offer competitive interest rates.

The early withdrawal fees for PenFed CDs are high. If you withdraw money early from a six-month CD, you will lose all your interest. For CD terms longer than six-month the fee is all interest earned if withdrawn in the first year. After the first year, the fee is 30 percent of what would have been earned if the CD had reached maturity.

Read the full PenFed Credit Union review.

The set amount required to open Marcus CDs is low. Each CD term only requires $500 to open. Marcus CD offers competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CDs and much higher than typical bank rates. To earn interest on your Marcus CDs, you must keep $500 in the account. You will not earn interest until your CD has a balance over the $500 minimum.

Marcus offers a ten-day interest rate guarantee. Once you fund your account with the minimum deposit, you have ten days to watch the rates. If the rates increase in those ten days, Marcus locks in the highest interest rate.

Interest earned on Marcus CDs is automatically added to the principal amount of your CD. There are other options if you wish to receive interest in another way. You can have the monthly interest transferred to a Marcus online savings account. You can also transfer the money to an external linked account. You can withdraw the earned interest anytime during the CD term without a penalty.

Marcus offers a No-Penalty CD. This CD requires $500 to open. Once the account has been opened for seven days, you can withdraw your money at any time during the CD term. You will not be charged a fee for withdrawing your money before it reaches maturity. You cannot add additional funds to the No-Penalty CD.

You can withdraw money from the No-Penalty CD without a fee, but you cannot make a partial withdrawal. If you want to withdraw the money, you must withdraw the entire balance. This includes all the interest you have earned. You can withdraw the money after the account is open for seven days. You can only make a withdrawal one time during the term life of the CD. Once you withdraw your money, the account will close.

Marcus CDs terms less than 12-months do not offer as competitive of rates as the other CDs. The six-month and nine-month terms still offer competitive rates. Their rates are just not as competitive as the other CD term rates. These rates are still much higher than typical bank rates of the same terms.

The No-Penalty CDs offered through Marcus comes in limited term lengths. There are only three terms offered for the No-Penalty CDs. Those terms are a seven-month term, an 11-month term, and a 13-month term.

To make electronic transfers into your Marcus CDs requires linking another account. You can link a Marcus CD to a Marcus online savings account. You can also link your Marcus CD to an external account. Once you link the accounts you can transfer money electronically to fund the account. You can also have the earned interest transferred into the linked account.

Read the full Marcus by Goldman Sachs review.