Best 18-Month CD Rates Today

Bank CD Rates · 18-Month

APYs from the banks' official rate pages · checked 2026-11-09

National CD Rates Today

FDIC national rates and rate caps · October 19, 2026

How Much Does $10,000 Earn in One Year?

The best 18-month CD rates right now come from two online banks and a brokerage firm. Charles Schwab and Bread Savings pay the same top APY, so the choice between them comes down to the opening deposit and how you would exit early. Schwab’s minimum is $1,000. Bread Savings asks for $1,500 and charges a fixed early withdrawal penalty of six months of interest. Savers with $10,000 or more can also consider Popular Direct, which pays just below the leaders but has a longer penalty. Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers a 12-month CD with a $500 minimum rather than an 18-month one. It suits someone who wants the money back six months sooner, and it is not a like-for-like comparison.

Every APY in the ranking was taken from the bank’s official rate page and checked on November 9, 2026. The FDIC national averages are far below every entry. That gap is the practical reason to shop: the same deposit, locked for the same length of time, can earn several times as much at one institution as the average institution pays.

How the Ranking Is Ordered

The list is sorted by annual percentage yield (APY), highest first. APY is the right sorting key because it puts every CD on the same footing: it converts the interest rate and the compounding schedule into a single yearly figure. Two CDs with the same APY earn the same amount on the same deposit over the same time, assuming the interest stays in the account.

APY leaves out several things that can matter as much as the rate:

• Minimum deposit. A CD you cannot fund is irrelevant, however high it ranks.
• Term. Most ranked CDs are 18-month certificates, but one is 12 months. A shorter term means less total interest at the same APY and an earlier decision about where to put the money next.
• Early withdrawal penalty. This determines what happens if your plans change before maturity. It is not part of the APY at all.
• Account type and issuer. A CD at a bank, a share certificate at a credit union and a brokered CD bought through a brokerage account work differently if you need to exit early.
• When the rate locks. An APY on a rate page is an offer. Some institutions lock it when you open the account, others when the deposit settles.

So the order answers one question: which CD pays the most per dollar per year. It does not answer which CD is right for a given deposit size or time horizon. Those depend on the factors listed above, which the rest of this guide works through.

What the “$10,000 Earns (1 yr)” Column Shows

The earnings column applies each APY to a $10,000 deposit for one year. For an 18-month CD, that is not the full-term figure. Over the whole term, the money earns interest for an extra six months, and that interest compounds on interest already credited.

The full-term earnings on an 18-month CD, assuming interest is left in the account and the APY holds for the whole term, are:

Earnings = Deposit × ((1 + APY)^1.5 − 1)

Hypothetical example: $10,000 in an 18-month CD at 4.50% APY earns $450 in the first year. Over the full 18 months it earns about $682.54, because 1.045 raised to the power 1.5 is about 1.06825. The extra six months add roughly $232.

For the 12-month Marcus CD, the one-year figure in the column is also the full-term figure. For every 18-month CD in the ranking, the full-term total is larger than the column shows. Comparing the 12-month entry’s one-year earnings against an 18-month entry’s one-year earnings therefore understates what the longer CD returns by maturity.

Small APY Gaps in Dollars

A difference of 0.05 percentage point in APY is worth $5 a year per $10,000 deposited, the gap between the leaders and Popular Direct. On $50,000 that becomes $25 a year. A difference that small can easily be outweighed by a smaller penalty, a lower minimum or simply preferring an institution where you already have an account.

How the Entries Differ

Charles Schwab and Bread Savings: Same APY, Different Minimums

The two leaders tie on APY, so on any deposit both can accept, they earn the same amount. The real difference is access. With $1,000 to $1,499 to deposit, only the Schwab entry is open to you. Above $1,500, both are.

There is also a structural difference. Charles Schwab is a brokerage firm, and Bread Savings is a bank: it is the online consumer deposits brand operated by Comenity Capital Bank, part of Bread Financial. A CD bought through a brokerage account can be a brokered CD, issued by a separate bank and held in your brokerage account. If the Schwab offer is a brokered CD, the issuing bank determines your FDIC coverage, and early exit works by selling the CD on the secondary market rather than paying a bank penalty.

Bread Savings’ 18-month CD carries a penalty of six months of interest for early withdrawal. That is a known cost of breaking the certificate, which a brokered CD does not have in the same form.

Popular Direct: The $10,000 Minimum

Popular Direct is the online arm of Popular Bank, the U.S. banking subsidiary of Popular Inc. It requires $10,000 to open, the highest minimum in the ranking, and its APY is a little below the leaders.

For a saver with $10,000 or more, the trade-off is small in dollars, as the example above showed. The penalty matters more. Popular Direct’s 18-month CD carries a penalty of nine months of interest, longer than the six months at Bread Savings. If there is any real chance you will need the money before maturity, that difference outweighs a few dollars of yield.

Marcus by Goldman Sachs: A 12-Month Term

Marcus is the online consumer bank of Goldman Sachs. Its ranked CD is a 12-month term with a $500 minimum, the lowest opening deposit in the ranking. Marcus requires the $500 to be deposited within 10 days of opening to lock the current rate, and it applies maximum balance limits to its CDs.

Because the term is 12 months, the Marcus CD answers a different question: what if you would rather commit for a year instead of a year and a half? You give up some yield and six months of locked rate. In return, the money comes back sooner, which helps if you expect to need it, or if you expect rates to be higher in a year than they are today. If you expect rates to fall, the shorter term means reinvesting sooner at whatever rates exist then.

Several terms should be confirmed with the institution before you open an account. Check whether the Schwab offer is a brokered CD, because that decides both your FDIC coverage and how early exit works. Check the current penalties at Bread Savings (six months of interest) and Popular Direct (nine months). Check Marcus’s 10-day funding window and balance limits. For credit unions, check the membership terms, which change over time.

Odd Terms and CD Variants

The 18-month term sits between the most common round terms of one and two years. Banks and credit unions also run odd-term specials, such as 15-, 16-, 17-, 19- or 20-month certificates, and these sometimes pay more than the institution’s standard terms. Anyone with an 18-month horizon can reasonably compare those odd terms alongside true 18-month CDs by checking each one’s maturity date against when the money is needed.

Other CD Types You May See

• Bump-up CD: allows you to request a rate increase, usually once, if the institution raises its rate for that term during your term. The starting rate is often lower than a standard CD’s.
• No-penalty CD: allows withdrawal after a short initial period without a penalty. The rate is usually lower to compensate.
• Add-on CD: accepts additional deposits after opening.
• Jumbo CD: a CD with a high minimum, often $100,000, sometimes paying a premium for the larger balance.
• Brokered CD: issued by a bank but sold through a brokerage account, covered in its own section below.

Each ranked entry is a standard fixed-rate CD unless the institution’s terms say otherwise.

APY, Interest Rate and Compounding

A CD disclosure usually shows two numbers: the interest rate and the APY. The interest rate is the annual rate before compounding. The APY includes the effect of compounding over a year. U.S. banks must disclose APY under the Truth in Savings Act and its implementing rule, Regulation DD, which is why APY is the standard figure for comparing deposit accounts.

The relationship is:

APY = (1 + r ÷ n)^n − 1

where r is the annual interest rate and n is the number of compounding periods per year.

Hypothetical example: an interest rate of 4.40% compounded daily (n = 365) produces an APY of about 4.50%. The same 4.40% compounded monthly gives about 4.49%. Compounding frequency matters, but only at the margin. Once two CDs are quoted in APY, the compounding is already accounted for.

APY assumes the interest stays in the CD until maturity. Some CDs let you have interest paid out monthly or quarterly to a checking or savings account. If you take that option, your money earns the interest rate, not the APY, because the paid-out interest no longer compounds inside the CD. Income-focused savers sometimes prefer this anyway. Just compare total dollars on the same basis.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

Nearly every standard CD has an early withdrawal penalty, and it is the term that varies most from one institution to the next. Rates on competing 18-month CDs often cluster within a few tenths of a percentage point. Penalties can range from a couple of months of interest to a year or more.

How Penalties Are Defined

Penalty structures in the market include:

• A number of months of interest, such as three, six, nine or 12 months. This is the most widespread form.
• All interest earned, sometimes with a minimum, such as “all interest, minimum three months.”
• All earned interest up to a cap, such as “all earned interest up to six months.”
• A percentage of the amount withdrawn plus a flat fee.

Federal rules set a floor but not a ceiling. Under Regulation D, a time deposit must carry a penalty of at least seven days’ simple interest on amounts withdrawn within the first six days after the deposit. Beyond that, the institution chooses, and the penalty must be disclosed before you open the account.

The agreement also says how a “month of interest” is calculated: on the principal or on the amount withdrawn, and at the interest rate or the APY. It also says whether a partial withdrawal is allowed or the whole CD must be closed.

The Penalty Can Reach Principal

A penalty measured in months of interest is a fixed cost. It does not shrink because you have earned little interest so far. If you break a CD early in its term, the penalty can exceed the interest credited, and where the agreement allows the shortfall to come out of principal, you get back less than you deposited.

Hypothetical example: $10,000 in an 18-month CD at a 4.40% interest rate (about 4.50% APY), with a penalty of six months of simple interest on the principal. Six months of interest is $10,000 × 4.40% × 6 ÷ 12 = $220.

Assumptions: interest compounds daily and is left in the CD, the penalty is calculated on principal at the interest rate, and any shortfall comes from principal.

Change only the penalty to 12 months of interest ($440) and the month-12 withdrawal keeps about $10 of interest. The month-3 withdrawal loses about $329 of principal, against about $109 under the six-month penalty.

Using the Penalty to Choose

If you are confident the money will stay put for the full 18 months, the penalty is a contingency cost. A higher APY with a longer penalty may still be the better deal. If there is a real chance you will need the money, compare CDs by what you would keep if you withdrew at the most likely exit point, not by APY alone.

For example, a 20-month CD with a slightly higher rate and a 12-month penalty can be a worse choice than a 15-month CD with a slightly lower rate and a six-month penalty. That holds if there is any meaningful chance of withdrawing around month 10 or 12. Working through the withdrawal table with each CD’s actual terms shows the difference in dollars.

Apart from the penalty, standard CDs rarely carry other charges. Some institutions charge for services such as outgoing wires or paper statements. Those charges appear in the fee schedule, not in the APY.

National Rate Benchmarks

Three benchmarks put a CD offer in context: the FDIC national rate, the national rate cap and the Treasury yield for a comparable maturity. Each measures something different.

National Rate

The FDIC national rate is an average of the rates paid by insured banks and savings institutions, weighted by each institution’s share of domestic deposits. Large banks hold a big share of deposits and often pay low standard CD rates. They pull the average down, which is a major reason the top online offers sit so far above it. The national rate describes what a typical deposit earns, not what a shopper can get.

The FDIC does not publish an 18-month national rate. Its 12-month and 24-month rates bracket the term and are the closest benchmarks for judging an 18-month offer.

National Rate Cap

The rate cap is not a ceiling on what banks in general may pay. It applies to banks that are less than well capitalized. Under FDIC rules, those banks generally may not pay deposit rates significantly above prevailing rates, and the national rate cap is the benchmark that defines “significantly above.”

The cap for a CD term is the higher of two figures:

• the national rate plus 0.75 percentage point, or
• 120% of the yield on Treasury securities of comparable maturity, plus 0.75 percentage point.

Hypothetical example: if the comparable Treasury yield is 4.00%, 120% of it is 4.80%, and adding 0.75 point gives a cap of 5.55%. When the Treasury-based figure is the higher of the two, the cap moves with Treasury yields rather than with what banks actually pay, which is why it sits well above both the national rate and most retail CD offers. For CD terms, the cap equals the Treasury-based formula.

The cap has no bearing on whether a particular CD is a good deal. A well-capitalized bank can pay above it, and an offer below it is not safer for that reason.

Treasury Yield

The Treasury yield is the yield on government securities of a similar maturity. It is a market rate for lending to the U.S. government, and it is the reference point CD shoppers should compare against most directly. A Treasury bill or note bought at auction or through a brokerage account is a real alternative to a CD, covered under Alternatives below.

Benchmarks Applied to $10,000

Applied to $10,000 for one year, the national average, the Treasury yield and the rate cap show the spread between a typical deposit, a government security and the regulatory ceiling. A Treasury is not a deposit product and is not FDIC insured; it carries the backing of the U.S. government instead.

Pros and Cons of 18-Month CDs

Pros

• Fixed rate for 18 months. The APY you lock cannot be cut during the term, regardless of Federal Reserve decisions.
• Predictable earnings. With a fixed rate and a known term, you can calculate the interest at maturity to the cent using the formula above.
• Federal insurance. CDs at FDIC-insured banks and NCUA-insured credit unions are protected up to $250,000 per depositor, per institution, per ownership category.
• Often higher than variable-rate accounts. A competitive CD typically pays more than the same institution’s savings or money market account, though top high-yield savings accounts can come close at times.
• A barrier to spending. The penalty makes it less tempting to dip into money set aside for a specific goal.

Cons

• Penalty for early access. Breaking the CD costs interest, and early in the term it can cost principal.
• One deposit. You decide the amount once. New savings need a new account.
• Rate risk in both directions. If rates rise, you are locked at the lower rate until maturity. If rates fall, a longer term would have kept the higher rate for longer.
• Interest is taxable every year. You owe tax on CD interest as it accrues or is credited, not only at maturity.
• Inflation can erode the gain. If inflation runs above your APY, the money loses purchasing power even while the balance grows.

How to Choose an 18-Month CD

Work through the decision in this order. Each step narrows the field before the next one matters.

1. Fix the amount. Start with how much you can deposit and leave alone. This removes any CD whose minimum you cannot meet, such as a $10,000 minimum if you have $5,000. It also tells you whether you are near the $250,000 insurance limit at any single institution.
2. Fix the date you need the money. An 18-month CD fits a known expense roughly a year and a half away, such as a planned down payment, tuition bill or vehicle purchase. If the date is uncertain, a shorter term, a lower penalty or a liquid account may serve better.
3. Compare APY among the CDs that fit. Within the CDs you can fund and that mature in time, the higher APY earns more. Translate small gaps into dollars before letting them drive the decision.
4. Compare penalties. Use the method in the penalty section: estimate what you would keep if you had to withdraw at the most likely exit point.
5. Check the account type. Bank CD, credit union certificate or brokered CD each handle early exit, insurance and interest payments differently.
6. Check eligibility. Credit unions require membership, and some banks limit CDs to residents of certain states or to existing customers.
7. Read when the rate locks. If the rate can change between application and funding, fund promptly. Some institutions guarantee the rate for a set number of days after opening.
8. Decide what happens at maturity. Note whether the CD renews automatically and how long the grace period is.

Your credit score plays no part. CD rates are set by the institution for the term and deposit tier, not by the depositor’s credit profile. Opening a deposit account may involve identity verification, and some institutions check banking history through consumer reporting agencies. Neither changes the rate.

Matching the Term to Your Rate Outlook

Banks price CDs partly on where they expect interest rates to go. When markets expect rates to fall, institutions are often willing to pay more for shorter and mid-length terms than for long ones, because they do not want to lock in high costs for years. In that environment, an 18-month CD can pay as much as, or more than, a three- or five-year CD.

The choice between an 18-month CD and a longer one comes down to a forecast you cannot know: whether rates in 18 months will be higher or lower than today. A longer term protects the current rate for longer if rates fall. A shorter term frees the money sooner if rates rise. Splitting the deposit across terms, as in a CD ladder, reduces the cost of guessing wrong.

Bank CDs vs. Brokered CDs

A bank CD is opened directly with the bank that holds the deposit. A brokered CD is issued by a bank but bought through a brokerage account, often alongside many other investors buying the same issue. The two can look similar on a rate page and still behave differently in three ways.

• Early exit. A bank CD is broken by paying the stated penalty. A brokered CD generally cannot be redeemed early with the issuer, except in limited cases such as the owner’s death. To get out before maturity, you sell it on the secondary market at whatever price buyers will pay. If rates have risen since you bought, that price can be below what you paid, so you can lose principal. If rates have fallen, you may sell at a gain.
• Interest. Brokered CDs may pay interest out to the brokerage account on a schedule instead of compounding it inside the CD. Compare total dollars, not just the headline figure.
• Call features. Some brokered CDs are callable, meaning the issuing bank can redeem them before maturity, typically when rates have fallen. That ends your locked rate early.

FDIC insurance on a brokered CD comes from the issuing bank, not the brokerage. It is combined with any other deposits you hold at that same bank. Coverage protects against the issuing bank’s failure. It does not protect against a drop in market value if you sell before maturity.

Brokered CDs have real advantages: you can buy CDs from many banks in one account, and if rates fall, you may be able to sell at a premium. The trade-off is that the exit cost is unknown in advance, while a bank CD’s penalty is fixed in the agreement.

Credit Union Share Certificates

Credit unions offer the same product under the name share certificate, insured by the National Credit Union Administration through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund. Coverage limits match FDIC limits: $250,000 per member, per credit union, per ownership category.

The difference is membership. A credit union serves a defined field of membership, but many offer a route for anyone to join, usually by joining an affiliated nonprofit and keeping a small balance in a savings account. Examples from credit unions that have offered competitive mid-term certificates:

• USAlliance Financial: join the nonprofit American Consumer Council at no cost and keep at least $1 in savings.
• NASA Federal Credit Union: take a free membership in the National Space Society and hold at least $5 in savings.
• Connexus Credit Union: donate $5 to the Connexus Association and hold at least $5 in savings.
• Summit Credit Union: a Madison, Wisconsin, credit union; keep at least $5 in a member savings account.
• Elements Financial: join the nonprofit Tru Direction for $5 and hold at least $5 in savings.

Joining usually adds a step to opening: you open the membership savings account first and the certificate second, sometimes in the same application.

Credit unions are a common source of odd-term specials, such as 15-, 16- or 17-month certificates. Their penalties can be shorter or longer than a bank’s for a similar term, so the penalty comparison applies to them as much as to banks.

Deposit Insurance and Online Banks

FDIC insurance covers deposits at insured banks up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each account ownership category, such as single accounts, joint accounts and certain retirement accounts. NCUA insurance covers credit unions on the same basis. Coverage includes principal and accrued interest up to the limit. In the history of federal deposit insurance, no depositor has lost insured funds.

Online banks and online brands of traditional banks are covered the same way as branch banks, provided the institution is insured. Two points need attention:

• Shared charters. If an online brand is a division of a parent bank rather than a separately chartered bank, deposits at the brand and at the parent count toward a single limit. Popular Direct, for instance, is the online arm of Popular Bank. Anyone holding large balances at both should confirm how the FDIC treats the two.
• Brokered CDs. As noted above, coverage depends on the issuing bank, and it aggregates with your other deposits at that bank.

The FDIC’s BankFind tool and the NCUA’s credit union locator confirm an institution’s insured status and charter.

What Happens When an 18-Month CD Matures

At maturity, you can withdraw the money, move it to another account or let the CD renew. Many CDs renew automatically into a new CD of the same or a similar term at the rate in effect on the renewal date, which may be well below the rate you originally locked. Promotional rates in particular are often not available on renewal.

For automatically renewing CDs, the Truth in Savings Act requires the institution to send a notice ahead of maturity. A grace period follows, during which you can withdraw or change terms without a penalty; its length is set by the institution. Once the grace period passes, the renewed CD is locked and the penalty applies again.

Put the maturity date in a calendar with the grace period end date, and compare current offers before the grace period ends. The renewal rate is the institution’s current rate for that term, with no bonus for staying.

Taxes on CD Interest

Interest from a CD is taxable as ordinary income at your federal rate, and in most states at the state rate as well. You owe tax on interest as it is credited or made available to you, even if you leave it in the CD. For CDs with terms longer than one year, interest generally must be reported as it accrues each year rather than all at maturity. The institution reports interest of $10 or more on Form 1099-INT.

An 18-month CD opened partway through a year can therefore produce taxable interest across two or three tax years.

If you pay an early withdrawal penalty, the forfeited amount appears on Form 1099-INT. It is deductible as an adjustment to income on your federal return, whether or not you itemize. A CD held in an IRA follows the IRA’s tax rules instead.

The tax treatment matters most when comparing a CD with Treasuries: Treasury interest is exempt from state and local income tax, and CD interest is not.

Alternatives to an 18-Month CD

Other CD Terms

A shorter CD, such as six or 12 months, limits how long the money is tied up and lets you reinvest sooner. Depending on the rate environment, its APY may be higher or lower than an 18-month CD’s. A longer CD of two to five years locks a rate for longer, which helps if rates fall and hurts if they rise. Our overview of CD rates across all terms shows how the top offers compare by term.

CD Ladder

A ladder splits a deposit across several CDs with staggered maturities, so part of the money comes due at regular intervals. A classic yearly ladder puts one-fifth of the money into each of a one-, two-, three-, four- and five-year CD. As each matures, it is reinvested in a new five-year CD, so a rung matures every year.

Hypothetical example: $25,000 split into five $5,000 CDs with those terms. After the first year, you hold five-year CDs maturing annually.

An 18-month CD fits into a shorter ladder. For example, you could split money across 6-, 12- and 18-month CDs and reinvest each at 18 months as it matures, so that part of the balance comes due every six months.

High-Yield Savings and Money Market Accounts

A high-yield savings account or money market account lets you withdraw at any time without a penalty. The rate is variable, so it can fall the day after you open the account. For an emergency fund or money with an uncertain timeline, that flexibility is often worth more than a CD’s rate premium. The best high-yield savings accounts are the direct comparison. If a top savings rate is close to the 18-month CD rate, the CD’s main advantage is that its rate is guaranteed for the full term.

Brokerage cash sweeps and money market funds work similarly: they pay variable yields, and the yield varies widely by firm and fund. Money market funds are not FDIC insured.

Treasury Bills and Notes

The U.S. Treasury sells bills with maturities of four weeks to one year and notes with maturities of two to 10 years. They are backed by the federal government, can be bought at auction through TreasuryDirect or through a brokerage account, and their interest is exempt from state and local income tax. That exemption can make a Treasury yield worth more after tax than a CD with a slightly higher APY, especially in high-tax states.

There is no 18-month Treasury at issue, but an existing note with about 18 months left can be bought on the secondary market through a brokerage account. Selling a Treasury before maturity happens at the market price, which can be above or below what you paid. That is the same trade-off as with a brokered CD.

U.S. Savings Bonds

Series EE bonds pay a fixed rate. Series I bonds combine a fixed rate with an inflation rate that resets every six months, so the yield can rise or fall. Neither can be cashed in the first 12 months. If cashed before five years, you forfeit the last three months of interest. Savings bonds are bought through TreasuryDirect and have annual purchase limits. They suit long-term savers more than someone with an 18-month goal, because of the first-year lock and the five-year penalty window.

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