Darby’s Step-Up CD Rates Tough To Beat

Darby Direct is promoting a “36-Month Step-Up CD” that starts at 3.00% APY, climbs to 4.00% next August and 5.00% the August after that.

A couple of readers, Julio and Tinda, started talking about this deal when we wrote about the better-than-average CD rates available from banks in the Pacific Northwest.

Unfortunately these certificates of deposit are only available to Georgia residents (or out-of-state customers who already have a Darby Direct savings account).

Bummer for the rest of us.

The average return for a 36-month CD is only 1.75% right now and even the best nationally-available deals don’t pay 3.0% APY.

Darby even allows investors to take out some, or all, of their money without penalty.

There’s a 10-day window on each anniversary of the purchase date in which free withdrawals are allowed. (You won’t find this perk on the Darby web site, but the bank confirmed it for us over the phone.)

Darby Direct is the online division of 80-year-old Darby Bank & Trust Co., which has nine branches in southern Georgia.

Click here to compare Darby’s deal with the best CD rates from dozens of other banks in our extensive database.