The Presidential Bank CDs have low opening required amounts. Each of the CD terms require $1,000 to open. You must keep this balance of $1,000 in the CD to earn interest on the account.

There are a good variety of CD terms available through Presidential Bank. The terms range from 30-days to five years. There are a total of eight CD terms offered. You can apply for the CD terms online or through the mail.

All Presidential Bank CD terms offer competitive interest rates. The rates are competitive with other online CD accounts. Their rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Presidential Bank interest rates are not tiered. Any amount over the required opening balance earns the competitive interest rates. The short-term CDs offer interest rates competitive with other online short-term CDs.

Presidential Bank customers can choose how to receive interest earned from CDs. You can have the interest mailed to you in a check each month. You can deposit the interest into another Presidential account. You can also send the interest to an external bank account.

The early withdrawal fees for Presidential Bank CDs are high. For terms from 30 to 60-days, the fee is 30 days of interests on the withdrawn amount. For CDs from 90-days to 182-days, the fee is three-months of interest on the withdrawn amount. The fee for one-year CDs is six-months of interest on the withdrawn amount. Two-year CDs require 12-months of interest. The five-year CD requires 24-months of interest on the withdrawn amount.

The grace periods for Presidential Bank CDs are shorter than other similar online CD terms. The 30-day CD only has a grace period of one business day. The other CD terms have a grace period of seven days. Each of these grace periods start the day your CD reaches maturity.

Presidential Bank has nine branch locations in Maryland, Virginia, and Washington D.C. If you do not live by a branch location, there are limited ways and times to contact customer service. You can reach a representative through phone, mail, or email. Their hours are Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 10 p.m. ET.

To close your Presidential Bank CD, you must notify customer service in writing of your decision. They must receive the notification of your plans to close the CD before or during the grace period. You can take the document to a branch location or mail it in to customer service. But, notification in writing is required to close the CD.

Read the full Presidential Bank review.

The interest rates for TIAA Bank CDs are competitive. Each of the term interest rates is competitive with other online CD accounts. TIAA rates are much higher than typical bank rates. Their CD rates are not tiered. Any account balance earns competitive rates.

TIAA Bank offers a wide variety of CD terms. Their terms range from three-months to five-years. They offer the basic CD terms between these times, but they offer a nine-month term and a 30-month term as well. TIAA Bank also offers a 42-month Bump Rate term.

TIAA Bank offers on Bump Rate CD. This CD term is a 42-month term. This CD only requires $1,500 to open. If interest rates increase during the CD term, you have the option to bump up to the new interest rate. You can bump up the interest rate once during the CD term. Customers can only have one Bump Rate CD opened at a time.

TIAA guarantees their interest rates earned are in the top five percent of the most competitive accounts. Each week TIAA reviews the rates of competitors. Based on their findings they adjust their rates to make sure they are competitive with the best.

The TIAA Bank high yield CDs have a high opening required amount. Each of these CDs terms require $5,000 to open. TIAA Bank offers the option of CDARS. This is if you want to invest an amount over the FDIC insured limit of $250,000 and still be insured. To open a CDARS CD requires an opening deposit of $10,000.

TIAA Bank offers high yield and regular CDs. The regular CD account interest rates are slightly lower. They are not as competitive as the high yield interest rates. The high yield accounts earn high rates but require a higher opening amount.

The early withdrawal penalty for CDs is high. The Bump Rate CD charges 318 days of interest if you withdraw money before the maturity date. The six-month CDs require 45 days of interest. The 18-month CDs require 136 days of interest. The five-year CDs require 456 days of interest. Other early withdrawal fees vary depending on the CD term.

Once you open a TIAA CD, you cannot make deposits into the CD. The opening deposit is the only deposit allowed until the CD reaches maturity. Contact customer service to decide what happens to your CD once it reaches maturity.

Read the full TIAA Bank review.