In my internet research I found a wide range of interest rates available for CD’s. The amount of money you could make from a CD depended for the most part on how long you were willing to leave the money in the CD. A longer term of investment earned the investor a higher return. Of course, if you have more money to start with, you could get a better rate of return for investing more money to start. There was also some difference in the rate of return between different sources of CD’s. Here is a list of some of the typical rates I found (for an investment of $1000):
Banks 3 Month CD (APY) 6 Month CD (APY) 1 Year CD (APY)
IndyMac Bank 5.25% 5.50% 5.15%
Wells Fargo Bank 2.00% 2.75% 3.25%
Washington Mutual 1.10% 2.55% 3.30%
World Savings 3.52% 4.61% 4.82%
Bank Of America 2.15% 2.40% 3.15%
Allstate Bank 2.15% 2.30% 4.50%
Digital Federal Credit Union 3.80% 4.25% 4.55%
In all cases, IndyMac Bank was my best option. With $1000 invested in a one-year CD, my return would be $51.50 with IndyMac. In the worst case, I could have invested with Bank of America and received a 3.15% interest rate. At the end of one year, that would have gotten me $31.50. With the yield on IndyMac’s 3 month CD at 5.25%, I am making a better interest rate, but the actual yield is smaller than the APY, so my return after 3 months would be a little less than $13.12.
