Not every bank offers 18-month certificates of deposit, and there’s nothing special about the returns from those that do.

The best 18-month CD rates are about half-way between what you can earn on 12-month and 24-month CDs.
But if you need a CD that will mature in summer 2011, these will work.
They could also hit the sweet [...]

The best 36-month CD rates plunged back below 3% last month — and stayed there.

We don’t expect another rebound like the one that followed a similar drop in August.
You probably won’t be able to earn 3% on even the top-paying 3-year certificates of deposit again until the Federal Reserve stops driving interest rates to record [...]

Most of the top CD rates are unchanged this week, with the exception of 12-month CDs, which dropped to 1.90% APY from 2.00% APY.
Here’s a rundown of the best, nationally available certificates of deposit based on our current rankings.

3-month CDs: 1.25% APY from Fortune Bank with a $1,000 minimum deposit.
6-month CDs: 1.60% APY from Country [...]

With interest rates this low, you need to make the most of every opportunity to boost the return on your savings.
That means taking advantage of your bank’s “relationship” rates.
In most instances, that’s where checking account customers are offered higher interest rates on savings accounts or certificates of deposits.
Here are some examples of the kind of [...]

A small bank in suburban St. Louis now has the best 3-month CD rates.
Fortune Bank, which has a single branch in Arnold, is paying 1.25% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000.
That’s less than half of the 2.55% APY TotalBank in Miami was paying when it jumped to the top of our rankings of 3-month [...]

The last bank offering 2.00% APY on a 12-month CD, Franklin Synergy Bank, dropped its yield to 1.90% APY today.
This is the first time we can recall that savers can’t earn a measly 2% on a nationally available 12-month certificate of deposit.
Two other banks offering 1.90% APY are:
The Palladian Private Bank, based in Chicago [...]

Here’s our mid-week rundown of the best, nationally available CD rates based on our current rankings.

3-month CDs: 1.25% APY from Fortune Bank with a $1,000 minimum deposit.
6-month CDs: 1.60% APY from Country Bank with a $500 minimum deposit.
12-month: 2.00% APY from Franklin Synergy Bank with a $1,000 minimum deposit.
24-month CDs: 2.30% APY from Atlantic Coast [...]

At the end of last year, six banks were paying 2.00% APY on 12-month CDs.
Now there’s one. (And it isn’t one of the half-dozen banks that topped our December rankings.)

Franklin Synergy Bank, with two branches in Franklin, Tenn., and a $1,000 minimum deposit, is the new leader.
Other top rates for nationally available 12-month CDs are:
1.90% [...]

Hey, E*Trade baby, here’s something worthy of your best “shocked face.”
Last April we called E*Trade out for offering ridiculously low rates on its 12-month to 24-month CDs.
Little did we know that the discount brokerage had just begun to slash its returns.
Here are the waaayyy below average rates E*Trade is now offering on what it [...]