Each Popular Direct CD offers competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online accounts. The terms are shorter than 12-months offer competitive interest rates as well. Popular Direct interest rates are much higher than typical bank interest rates.

There are a good variety of CD terms offered through Popular Direct. The terms range in length from three-months to five-years. There are eight CD term lengths in all. You can open any of these CD terms online.

If you have a question and need to contact customer service, they are available anytime. Customers can reach a customer service representative every day, all day. Their customer service phone line is open 24 hours a day, seven days a week. You can also contact customer service through email or mail.

The process of opening Popular Direct CD terms is entirely online. It takes around ten minutes to complete the application for a new CD account. Once you successfully open an account, everything for your account is online. Access your accounts from anywhere, anytime.

Popular Direct CDs have a high set amount required to open their CDs. The requirement is $10,000 to open each CD term. If you do not have at least the $10,000 balance, you cannot open a Popular Direct CD.

The fee for withdrawing money from Popular Direct CDs before the maturity date is high. For terms less than 91 days, the fee is 89 days of interest. For terms greater than 91 days, but shorter than 12-months, the fee is 120 days of interest. The fee for terms longer than 12-months, but shorter than 36-months, is 270 days of interest. For terms from 36-months to 60-months, the fee is 365 days of interest. Terms 60-months or longer has a fee of 730 days of interest.

Some CDs allow you to withdraw interest earned on CDs without paying an early withdrawal fee. Popular Direct does not. They do not allow for withdrawals of the CD principal or the interest earned without paying a fee. You can only make withdrawals without a fee during the grace period.

There is only one way to fund your Popular Direct CDs. Customers must link each CD to an external bank account. When you open a CD, you must make the deposit from a linked external account. This is part of the account opening process. Once the accounts are linked, you can make electronic transfers into your CD. To avoid a fee, only transfer money when you first open the account and during the grace period.

Read the full Popular Direct 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.