CIT Bank Raises 11-Month No-Penalty CD Rate to 2.05% APY

CIT Bank increased the rate of its 11-month No-Penalty CD by 20 bps to 2.05% APY on Wednesday. Before this rate increase, the APY had remained at 1.85% since March 2nd. The March rate hike of the No-Penalty CD was more impressive since the rate exceeded the top savings account rates. Currently, top savings account APYs are as high as 2.25%. Nevertheless, this rate increase does put pressure on Ally Bank, the only other internet bank that offers a no-penalty CD.

CIT Bank’s 11-Month No-Penalty CD has a minimum deposit is $1,000, with no stated balance cap. The no-penalty feature allows the customer to withdraw the total balance and interest earned without penalty seven days or later after funds have been received. Partial withdrawals of principal are not permitted.

An important consideration for No-Penalty CDs is the procedure and the time it takes to close a CD. According to a CIT Bank’s FAQ:

I have a No-Penalty CD. How do I access my funds?

You can make a request to access the total balance and interest earned on your No-Penalty CD as long as it is 7 days after the funds have been received. Call our Contact Center at 855-462-2652 or log in to CIT Bank and send us a secure message and one of our Bankers will assist you.

I was told by a CIT Bank CSR that it will take 1 or 2 business days to process a withdrawal request. If the money is to be transferred to your CIT Bank savings account, no additional time should be required. However, if you specify that the money be transferred to an external account via ACH, I was told that could take an additional 3 to 5 business days. A wire transfer is also an option, and that can be done on the same day if the wire transfer form is submitted before 10:30am Pacific Time.

For any of CIT Bank’s CDs, interest is compounded daily and paid monthly. In addition to having the interest paid back into the CD, you can choose to deposit interest to an existing CIT Bank Savings Account or you can set up electronic funds transfers to deposit to an external checking or savings account. Another option to transfer money is with wire transfers. According to CIT Bank’s fee schedule, customers with accounts that have an average daily balance of at least $25,000 are provided with free outgoing wire transfers.

Thanks to DA reader, solarado, for posting in the DA Forum about the rate increase.

CIT Bank Money Market and Savings Account

In March, CIT Bank introduced its Money Market Account, and since that time, this account has had a big rate advantage over its savings account, the Premier High Yield Savings. In May the Money Market Account rate was raised to 1.85% APY, which at that time was the same APY as the No-Penalty CD. In May, this 1.85% APY was very competitive, but now several online banks are offering this rate or higher on their savings and money market accounts.

For a review of CIT Bank’s Money Market Account, please refer to my May blog post.

Other CIT Bank CDs

Unfortunately, there was one CD that had a rate cut. CIT Bank’s 1-year Term CD rate fell 30 bps to 2.20% APY. The 18-month Term CD (2.50% APY) is currently CIT Bank’s most competitive standard CD. All of the longer-term CDs (both Term and Jumbo) have rates below 2%.

To view all of CIT Bank’s CD rates, please refer to our CIT Bank CD rate table.

CIT Bank’s RampUp and RampUp Plus CDs Are No Longer Available

I called and confirmed that CIT Bank is no longer offering RampUp and RampUp Plus CDs. I was told that they just recently made this change. This is an issue for CIT Bank customers who have existing RampUp CDs who had never used the ramp-up option. These CDs gave the customer the option to increase their rate once during the term of their CD if the rate of the corresponding RampUp CD goes up. Most existing RampUp CD customers probably haven’t used their ramp-up option since these RampUp CDs have lacked significant rate gains in the last year. I was told by the CSR that existing RampUp CD customers should call CIT Bank to discuss options. It sounds like CIT Bank may offer some type of ramp-up option for these customers on a case-by-case basis. In my opinion, it would be fair to request a ramp-up to the current 18-month CD rate (2.50% APY). They may only offer to ramp-up to the rate of a corresponding Term or Jumbo CDs. However, all of these rates are uncompetitive compared to what other internet banks are offering. Many customers sacrificed a higher rate for the ramp-up option. With rising interest rates, a bump-up option can seem useful. However, rising interest rates doesn’t mean the bank will maintain competitive rates on their bump-up CDs.

Availability

Headquartered in Pasadena, California, CIT Bank is a "pure" internet bank, having no brick-and-mortar branches. Accounts can be opened by U.S. citizens or resident aliens, 18 years or older.

Applying for a CD or Savings Account can be done using CIT Bank’s online application. Funding can be done with an electronic funds transfer from an outside bank account. As is typical with setting up an ACH transfer, you provide CIT Bank with the routing and account number of your outside account. Other options include mailing a check or performing a wire transfer.

Bank Overview

In 2015, CIT Bank merged with OneWest Bank. The resulting institution is a national bank (National Association) and was re-named CIT Bank, N.A. The OneWest Bank brand remains intact, but now operates as a division of CIT Bank, N.A. Deposits at CIT Bank and OneWest will be counted together for purposes of determining FDIC insurance coverage limits. As of June 30 2018, the Bank now has combined assets of more than $41.7 billion and deposits just under $32 billion.

The new bank (CIT Bank, N.A.) took the financial history and FDIC Certificate number of OneWest Bank (FDIC Certificate # 58978). Based on June 30, 2018 data, CIT Bank, N.A. has an overall health grade at DepositAccounts.com of “A”, with a Texas Ratio of 10.63% (excellent) and is currently financially strong. Please refer to our financial overview of CIT Bank for more details.

Don’t confuse CIT Bank with Citigroup Inc., which is the bank holding company of Citibank. CIT Bank is one of the businesses that makes up CIT Group Inc., a bank holding company best known for providing commercial financing and other services to small and middle market businesses.

OneWest Bank used to be IndyMac Bank. Following the FDIC brokered sale of IndyMac in March 2009, the Bank was re-branded as OneWest Bank. A portion of OneWest Bank’s growth came from the acquisitions of failed banks: in December 2009, First Federal Bank of California was acquired, followed by the acquisition of La Jolla Bank in February 2010.

How the CIT Bank 11-Month No-Penalty CD Compares

CIT Bank’s CD is very similar to Ally Bank’s No Penalty CD. Ally’s 11-month No Penalty CD currently earns 2.00% APY, but this requires a minimum deposit of at least $25k. A deposit of $5k to under $25k earns 1.90% APY and a deposit under $5k earns 1.50% APY. One advantage of Ally’s CD is that it can be closed immediately rather than up to two business days. Please refer to my Ally Bank No Penalty CD review for more details.

Every now and then a credit union will offer a no-penalty CD. These are often special CDs that don’t last long. One exceptional no-penalty CD that was recently offered was a 30-month no-penalty CD with a 2.40% APY at AgFed Credit Union. Unfortunately, this special ended in July. For no-penalty CDs that offer a full withdrawal option with no penalty, longer terms are better.

One easy-membership credit union is still offering a no-penalty CD. It’s Chartway Federal Credit Union, and its 12-month No Penalty CD earns 2.00% APY with only a $500 minimum.

The other alternative to these no-penalty CDs is a savings or money market account. The highest rate is 2.25% APY at MySavingsDirect, Northfield Bank and Customers Bank. Unlike CDs, savings and money market account rates usually aren’t guaranteed to last. However, in a rising interest rate environment, a rate guarantee isn’t a major benefit.

The above rates are accurate as of 9/13/2018.

To review the top Savings Account rates and the best 1-year CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our Savings Account rates table and our 1-Year CD rates table.