One year certificates of deposit are one of the best options for a risk free financial investment with a high rate of return. The one year or 12 month bank CD is one of the most popular term CDs and is offered at thousands of banks with a wide range of available interest rates. Before placing your money in the nearest bank CD, be sure you know how to find the highest 12 month CD rates to ensure you are obtaining best bank rates offered.
Prior to purchasing a CD, it is important to understand the particulars of your savings needs. By knowing your needs it is easier to compare bank CD features and bank services along with the CD interest rates.
Some of the most important factors to consider when evaluating CD investments are the term or date to maturity of the CD, the minimum deposit requirement and most importantly, the interest rate. Since you are shopping for a 12 month CD, the term is already determined. That leaves the CD rates and minimum deposit requirement to consider.
The minimum deposit requirement is dependent on the CD investor’s choice or limits. It is certainly not a good use of time to compare bank CD rates on CDs that have deposit requirement above your needs or ability. Therefore, to compare the highest 12 month CD rates you have to start with any CD that has minimum deposit requirement that is below your threshold.
Searching online for the best CD is definitely good option. Using an online bank rate comparison site is an efficient way to compare a number of top one year CD rates quickly and easily. These sites are setup where that data has already been compiled and presented for you. These sites can also tabulate the best CD rates data from financial institutions within your state or region as well as the best 12 month CD rates available nationwide.
Doing the math to compare the best 12 month CD rates is made easier by Federal Reserve regulations. Bank CD rates are quoted based on the APY of the CD. The Truth in Savings Act requires banks to disclose interest rates and fees based on the APY.
The APY is the return you would earn in an investment over a period of a year based on the interest rate with compounding. APY takes into account the effect of compounding; therefore, in order to receive the quoted APY, funds must remain on deposit for a full 365-day year.
Since you are searching for a 12 month CD this makes comparing all CDs with same 12 month term easy. Unless you are in need of additional bank services or features with the CD such as the rollover provisions at maturity, simply select the 12 month CD with the highest APY.
With all of the bank rate information already at your fingertips from a bank comparison web site, the next step is to determine which rates are the best offers. But it will be better if you call the financial institutions for the details and any up to date rate changes. The data obtained online can also be used to compare bank rates in your local market.
Learning how to find the highest 12 month CD rate before running to the nearest bank branch will save you from serious financial regrets.
For more information on the best CD rates by term refer to the following pages; 3 month CD rates, 6 month CD rates, 1 year CD rates, 2 year CD rates and 5 year CD rates.
To see a list of the best rates on CDs please refer to Best Rates on CDs.
Additional state specific CD rates can be found at California CD Rates, New York CD rates, Florida CD Rates, Illinois CD Rates, Pennsylvania CD Rates, Ohio CD Rates, Michigan CD Rates, Texas CD Rates.
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