Capital One Raises Long-Term CD Rates to Competitive Levels

It has been a long time since Capital One has offered a competitive CD rate. On Friday, Capital One increased the rates of five of its 360 CDs with maturity lengths from 24 months to 60 months. All of the five 360 CDs are now competitive when compared to similar CDs at other online banks, but the 60-month CD (1.00% APY) is now the best deal. Such a long term may seem unwise in today’s environment when high inflation may force the Fed to hike rates in 2022, but Capital One has a major advantage on its long-term CDs. They have an early withdrawal penalty of only six months of interest. Later in this post, I demonstrate why this feature makes this 60-month CD the most attractive of all the 360 CDs, but first is a review of the rate details and the important 360 CD features.

Capital One 360 CDs don’t have a history of consistently competitive rates. In fact, this can be seen in today’s rate of the 12-month 360 CD (0.20% APY), which is less than half of the average rate for online 1-year CDs (0.48% APY). Before Friday, the 24-month 360 CD also wasn’t competitive with a low 0.25% APY.

Important Capital One 360 CD Features

Capital One used to offer IRA 360 CDs, but they are no longer available.

Capital One 360 CDs have no minimum opening deposit requirement, “however, your Certificate of Deposit account may not exceed $1,000,000.”

At the bottom of Capital One’s Online CDs page, there’s the section “Certificates of Deposit: 101” which includes several useful FAQs. Three of the most useful ones include:

Do CDs pay monthly?

Capital One 360 CD interest is accrued daily and is compounded and credited to your CD account monthly. Choose to receive CD interest disbursements on a monthly or yearly basis (on the anniversary date of the account opening) based on the schedule that works best for you. You can also choose to receive interest payments by transfer to another Capital One account or by transfer to an external linked account. You can change the account that receives the disbursement at any time.

Can I withdraw my money before the CD term is over?

You can always decide to withdraw your money early. However, like with any CD account, there is a penalty for withdrawal prior to the end of your CD term. For 12 month CD accounts (or less), the penalty for withdrawing early is 3 months of interest. For CD accounts longer than 12 months, the penalty for withdrawing early is 6 months of interest. You also cannot make a partial withdrawal during your CD term.

Can I add beneficiaries to a 360 CD savings account?

Yes. You can assign up to 10 individuals as Payable on Death beneficiaries, which means that while you’re alive, the beneficiaries won’t have access to anything in the certificate of deposit account. The only exception is that you cannot assign beneficiaries for a Trust account, where the trustee controls funds for another party. Assigning beneficiaries can give you peace of mind and can result in increased FDIC coverage for your CD accounts up to allowable limits. There are 2 ways that you can manage beneficiaries for your CD accounts.

Capital One 360 CD’s Mild Early Withdrawals Penalties

The early withdrawal penalty (EWP) of a long-term CD is especially important these days with the possibility that high inflation will force the Fed to hike rates in 2022. If interest rates shoot up in the next year or two, no one will want to be stuck in a low-rate CD. With a mild EWP, closing a CD early won’t be too costly. Once the CD is closed, you can choose to move those funds into new accounts with higher rates.

With an EWP of only six months of interest, the 60-month 360 CD is actually a better deal than any of shorter-term 360 CDs. By using our CD EWP Calculator, you can view the effective yields of the 360 60-month CD when it’s closed early. As you can see, the effective yields when the 60-month CD is closed early is higher than any of the shorter-term 360 CDs with maturity lengths of at least nine months. For example, if you close the 360 60-month CD after one year, you’ll lose half of the interest. The effective yield after the penalty is 0.50%, which is more than twice the current rate of the 360 12-month CD when held to maturity.

Below is a list of effective yields of the 360 60-month CD with a 1.00% APY when the CD is closed early after the following years:

• 0.88% APY - closed at 4 years
• 0.84% APY - closed at 3 years
• 0.75% APY - closed at 2 years
• 0.50% APY - closed at 1 year

Please be aware that there are some risks in planning for an early withdrawal of a CD.

Process of Closing a 360 CD Early

Five years ago, I wrote about Capital One 360’s online CD management system. You used to be able to close a CD early using the online system. You didn’t need to call a customer service representative. The online system used to provide you with the early redemption value and allow you to close the CD early and move the funds immediately to your Capital One liquid account. That’s no longer the case.

I’m not sure when it changed, but Capital One’s online account management system no longer allows you to close a CD early. Instead, it instructs you to call.

The current online CD management system does allow you to do a few things without contacting a customer service representative. You can change your maturity options so that when a CD matures, the CD can either automatically renew or it can be closed with the funds transferred to a linked external account or one of your liquid Capital One accounts. You can also choose how interest will be paid, but this can be done only within 20 days after the account has been opened or renewed. You can change the account that receives the interest at any time.

POD Beneficiary Designations Are Now Possible

After many years of customer complaints, Capital One changed its beneficiary policy for 360 deposit accounts in the summer of 2018, although not without some issues. My July 2018 blog post describes the initial changes (and problems), while the subsequent December 2018 blog post discusses the addition of an online system for adding and managing beneficiaries. You can still add, edit and remove beneficiaries using the online system.

Up to 10 beneficiaries per account can now be designated, with Social Security numbers required for all beneficiaries. (There is one exception: beneficiaries cannot be assigned to a Trust account.) Once beneficiaries are named, the bank account will be referred to as a "Payable on Death" (POD) account.

Customer Service

As I was preparing this post, I tried to contact Capital One customer service in several ways. In summary, I was disappointed. Capital One offers an automated online chat service called Eno. I asked if IRA CDs were available, and it responded by saying “Hmm, I didn't quite understand. Can you try asking a different way? That helps me learn!” I re-phrased the question in a few other ways, but it didn’t help.

When I called Capital One, you first had to go through their messaging system. It wasn’t easy to connect to a human. Once I was finally connected, the customer service representative didn’t seem to have much experience. He struggled to answer questions like the existence of IRA CDs. When I asked about opening a 360 CD at a branch, he just referred me to a branch phone number. When I called that number, I wasn’t able to connect with anyone at the branch.

Availability

Headquartered in McLean, Virginia, Capital One offers its 360 savings products online or at one of its branch locations. Any U.S. citizen or lawful permanent resident, 18 years or older, with a U.S. physical address or a military address (APO or FPO) and a valid Social Security number, can open an account at Capital One.

In the past, 360 savings products were only available online, but that is no longer the case. According to an FAQ on opening CDs, “you can open a Capital One 360 CD online or at one of our locations.”

Capital One’s 360 CD Disclosure describes how your CD can be funded when opened online:

You "link" your Capital One account to a personal (non-business) checking or savings account at another U.S. chartered bank ("Linked Account") to fund your CD account. Or you can transfer money from an eligible Capital One checking or savings account to fund your CD.

In the online application, Capital One provides this instruction regarding opening a joint account:

First, you'll need to open an individual account. Then, you can add the other person as a joint account holder online.

Bank Overview

Capital One has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.76% (excellent), based on June 30, 2021 data. In the past year, Capital One has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $6.87 billion, an above average annual growth rate of 2.36%. Please refer to our financial overview of Capital One (FDIC Certificate # 4297) for more details.

Capital One acquired the internet bank, ING Direct, in 2012 and shortly afterward, ING Direct was transformed into Capital One 360. Operating as a subsidiary of Capital One Financial Corporation for about four years, Capital One 360 was absorbed in Capital One in 2017. Although Capital One 360 no longer exists as a separate entity, all of the Capital One 360 products are still available from Capital One.

Capital One Financial Corporation is a financial holding company whose subsidiaries include Capital One, N.A., and Capital One Bank (USA), N.A. The combined total assets of both subsidiaries are in excess of $476 billion, with more than 300 branches operating primarily in the District of Columbia, Louisiana, Maryland, New Jersey, New York, Texas, and Virginia.

How the 360 CD Compares

When compared to 182 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are available nationwide, Capital One's 60-month 360 CD yield ranks 23rd, with 19 credit unions and three banks offering higher yields. The APYs of the top two credit unions and the top two banks are listed in the table below.

The above rates are accurate as of 11/08/2021.

To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table.