Charles Schwab CD rates are similar to some of the best CD rates at online banks and credit unions — just keep in mind that brokered CDs aren’t the same as traditional CDs, though.
You may like Charles Schwab Bank CDs if you are comfortable opening a brokered CD, and you’re interested in investing. You must have another eligible account with Charles Schwab to open a CD.
If you’d rather stick to a bank when opening a CD, the best online banks and credit unions offer the strongest CDs.
Here’s what to know about Charles Schwab CD rates, terms, and other details before you open one.
Current Charles Schwab CD Rates
Overview of Charles Schwab CDs
Charles Schwab is a financial services company that’s primarily known for investment products. But it also offers a variety of banking products.
It has one of the best checking accounts for avoiding ATM fees. It also offers a savings account, but the savings account interest rate is not as high as the best high-yield savings accounts.
Charles Schwab Bank CDs are slightly different than those at many other institutions, as they’re brokered CDs — not traditional CDs. This means you can open CDs from several institutions through Charles Schwab. If you need money before the term ends, rather than pay an early withdrawal penalty, you’ll sell your CD on the secondary market.
Brokered CDs typically offer flexible terms and higher interest rates than traditional CDs, but they do not compound interest. With Schwab CDs, your earned interest is automatically deposited into your Charles Schwab brokerage account.
Charles Schwab CD Pros and Cons
Charles Schwab CD Pros
Charles Schwab CD Cons
- Could lose money if you sell your CD before it reaches maturity
- Some are callable CDs, meaning the issuer can redeem them before maturity
- Interest does not compound
- You must have an existing Charles Schwab brokerage account, Roth IRA, Traditional IRA, or Rollover IRA to open a CD
Charles Schwab CD Alternatives
Charles Schwab CDs vs. Synchrony Bank CDs
Synchrony Bank CD rates are lower than those offered by Charles Schwab. At Synchrony, rates range from 0.25% to 4.35% APY, depending on the type of CD and its term length.
To be clear, we’re not exactly comparing apples to apples. Synchrony Bank offers traditional CDs, which means you’re only able to purchase CDs from Synchrony — not several CDs from different institutions at once. Still, Synchrony’s CDs do compound interest daily, while Schwab’s don’t compound interest at all. This could make a big difference in your account’s long-term earning potential.
Synchrony offers more variety than Schwab. There are no-penalty CDs, bump-up CDs, and terms range from three months up to five years. There is also a $0 minimum deposit, so you can get started with whatever cash you have on hand.
Charles Schwab CDs vs. Discover Bank CDs
Discover® Bank (FDIC Insured) CD rates are lower than Charles Schwab’s, with rates ranging from 2.00% to 4.10% APY. They charge early withdrawal penalties that range from three months of interest on shorter-term CDs to up to 24 months of interest on longer terms. Discover also has a lower deposit ($0 versus Schwab’s $1,000).
That said, Discover has traditional CDs, not brokered ones. As a result, it compounds interest daily — as opposed to Schwab, which does not compound interest.
Charles Schwab CDs: Understanding the Process
Callable CDs at Charles Schwab
Charles Schwab has callable and non-callable CDs. If a CD is callable, a financial institution can ask for the CD back before the term ends. Callable CDs have a call protection period, so a financial institution usually specifies when the CD cannot be called back. After that time, they could potentially call it back.
Charles Schwab CD Standard Minimum Opening Deposits
Charles Schwab CDs require a minimum of $1,000 to open. This is a standard amount — traditional CDs at banks also usually require a $1,000 minimum opening deposit.
If you don’t have that much money to deposit upfront, the best online banks may have CDs that are a better fit. Some online banks have CDs with $0 minimum opening deposits.
What Influences Charles Schwab CD Earnings
Brokered CDs have benefits and disadvantages that could affect how much interest you’ll earn on an account. Below, we provide an in-depth overview of what influences Charles Schwab CD earnings.
Call Risk in CD Earnings
One of the disadvantages of opening a callable CD is you might not get all the potential interest earnings if your CD doesn’t reach maturity. If your CD gets called back by a financial institution before your term ends, you’ll only earn the interest you’ve received up until that point.
Charles Schwab Partner Banks
Since Charles Schwab offers CDs from various financial institutions, you can access more term lengths and potentially more competitive rate offerings than traditional banks. This is an advantage, especially if you’re interested in different offerings from other banks.
Market Conditions and Fed Actions
Market conditions and the Federal Reserve‘s actions can impact bank CD rates.
Overall, banks will usually raise CD rates when the Fed decides on rate hikes and decrease CD rates if the Fed is making rate cuts.
Market conditions can also impact the selling of CDs on the secondary market. For instance, you could potentially lose money if you sell your CD at a lower value than when you first opened the account.
One strategy that used to mitigate fluctuating CD rates is building a CD ladder. Creating a CD ladder also provides more liquidity since some of your money will be accessible at different CD maturity points. Since Charles Schwab offers a variety of terms from different banks, it could be a good option for CD laddering.
Should You Invest in CDs through Charles Schwab?
Charles Schwab CD rates are much higher than the national average. They’re brokered CDs, which means you can open accounts with different institutions and sell them if you need access to your money early. In some cases, CD rates through Charles Schwab are even higher than the best CD rates at traditional banks and credit unions — but unlike traditional CDs, brokered CDs don’t compound interest. This could limit your earning potential.
Why You Should Trust Us: How We Reviewed Charles Schwab CDs
To review Charles Schwab CDs, we used Business Insider’s certificate of deposit methodology, which considers interest rates, minimum deposit requirements, CD term variety, miscellaneous features, and early withdrawal penalties. We also looked at the institution’s overall ethics, security, quality of its mobile app, and customer service. Then we gave the CD a rating between 0 and 5.
We use a weighted average to get our star rating, which means we weigh certain features, like interest rates and fees, at a higher weight percentage than others. We understand that these areas can more heavily impact a person’s overall banking experience.
Charles Schwab FAQs
Charles Schwab offers competitive CD rates compared to online and brick-and-mortar banks. However, these CDs are brokered CDs, which are not the same as traditional ones. Brokered CDs require opening a brokerage account and an understanding of how brokered CDs work.
Charles Schwab CD rates can fluctuate at any time. The CD rates will vary depending on Charles Schwab’s partner banks. Market conditions and the Fed’s actions also influence CD rate trends.
Charles Schwab CDs are FDIC-insured. Up to $250,000 per depositor, per bank is secure.
You must have a Charles Schwab brokerage account to invest in CDs.
There aren’t commission fees for buying Schwab CDs.
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Editorial Note: Any opinions, analyses, reviews, or recommendations expressed in this article are the author’s alone, and have not been reviewed, approved, or otherwise endorsed by any card issuer. Read our editorial standards.
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