On 24-Month CD Rates, Look Local

If you want great 24-month CD rates these days, you’re going to want to look locally.

Because you’re not going to find them on the CD Rates Leaderboard.

The 24-month leader there, Goldwater Bank (www.goldwaterbank.com), has a single location in Scottsdale, Ariz. With a $5,000 minimum deposit, it’s offering just 1.32% APY.

Sure, that’s well above the 0.55% average annual yield that large banks and thrifts are currently paying for this term.

But we found a higher 28-month CD rate in Washington state — one of the toughest local markets we’ve found for certificates of deposit.

A slew of banks are paying 1.30% APY:

AloStar Bank of Commerce (www.alostarbank.com), the online bank based in Birmingham, Ala., which requires a $1,000 minimum deposit.

American Express Bank (www.americanexpress.com), an online bank owned by the credit card company, which requires no minimum opening deposit.

CIT Bank (www.bankoncit.com), the online consumer bank of CIT Group, Inc., which offers financing to small businesses and middle market companies, with a $1,000 minimum deposit.

Discover Bank (www.discoverbank.com), an online bank owned by the credit card company, which requires a $2,500 minimum deposit.

USAA (www.usaa.com), a diversified financial company based in San Antonio, which requires a $1,000 minimum deposit.

These banks qualify for our rankings by imposing no restrictions on who can buy their certificates of deposit, either online or through the mail.

As we mentioned above, there are numerous local CD rates deals out there that beat the best on our Leaderboard.

Here are the best we’ve found:

• American Plus Bank near Los Angeles pays 1.46% APY for 24-month CDs.
• Ent Federal Credit Union in Denver pays 1.46% APY for 24-month CDs.
• Montauk Credit Union in New York City pays 1.50% APY for 24-month CDs.
• United Republic Bank in Omaha pays 1.45% APY for 21-month CDs.

Compare these returns with the best CD rates from scores of banks in our extensive database.