Rate Hike Milestones for CIT Bank’s Savings Connect and 18-Month CD

CIT Bank is the first major online bank to increase the APY of its online savings account, Savings Connect, to 3.00%. It’s also the first to increase the APY of a CD to 4.00%. Other smaller online banks have reached these milestones, but the major online banks have been lagging.

CIT Bank’s Savings Connect now earns 3.00% APY (up from 2.70%). Minimum initial deposit is only $100, and all balances qualify for the 3.00% APY. There are no monthly service fees.

CIT Bank’s 18-month Term CD now earns 4.00% APY (up from 0.30%). Minimum deposit is $1k.

CIT Bank also increased yields on a few other of its CDs: 11-month No-Penalty CD (2.75% → 3.05% APY), 13-month Term CD (3.50% → 3.75% APY), and 6-month Term CD (0.30% → 2.75%).

Many thanks to DA reader solarado for posting the news of these rate hikes in the DA Forum!

CIT Bank Savings Connect

CIT Bank Savings Connect is the latest of a long line of CIT Bank savings and money market accounts. If you have any of these older accounts, you are probably earning a much lower rate. The two that are still available for new accounts are the Savings Builder and the Money Market. Both have yields that are now uncompetitive.

This highlights an issue with CIT Bank. It has long played the “new account” game in which the new accounts earn the competitive rate while the old accounts are left behind. One nice thing about CIT Bank is that its online account management platform makes it easy for existing customers to open new accounts and move funds from an old account into the new one.

For now, the Savings Connect is CIT Bank’s flagship savings account with a competitive rate. One recent improvement is that there’s no longer a checking account requirement. Previously, the Savings Connect had to be opened with the CIT Bank eChecking account.

The Savings Connect is now a pretty standard online savings account with only a $100 minimum opening deposit requirement. After opening, there is no minimum to earn the APY or to avoid fees. According to the FAQs, “interest is compounded daily at the interest rate in effect for your end-of-day balance, using the daily balance method. Interest earnings are credited to the account monthly.”

Bank-to-Bank Transfers

To learn about CIT Bank’s ACH electronic funds transfer system, I called CIT Bank’s customer service yesterday. According to CSR, you can set up 10 links to external accounts. Each link must be set up using the trial deposit system. The ACH transfer limits have been reduced since I last reviewed CIT Bank several years ago. The outbound ACH transfer limit is now $250k per day and the inbound limit is $500k per day. Not much is specified in CIT Bank’s online documentation on transfer limits. In the FAQ regarding ACH transaction limitations of the savings, checking and money market accounts, CIT Bank’s answer reads as follows:

For security reasons, your ability to transfer funds using Online and Mobile Banking services may be subject to limitations on the frequency or dollar amount of permitted transfers, and CIT Bank reserves the right to modify these limits from time to time.

Wire transfers are another option to transfer funds. CIT Bank offers free outgoing wire transfers for accounts with balances of at least $25k. There is a $10 fee per outgoing wire transfer fee for accounts with balances under $25k. Incoming wire transfers are fee free. There’s an outbound wire transfer form that must be completed and delivered to CIT Bank either by fax or via Online Banking. The form and instructions are provided in the CIT Bank Form and Document page.

CIT Bank CDs

CIT Bank occasionally offers competitive CD rates, and that’s now the case with its 18-month Term CD which now earns 4.00% APY. However, the competitiveness varies substantially. Before this 4.00% APY, the APY was very low at 0.30%. The CD rates of several other terms remain at similar low levels. With these variations, it’s especially important not to let your CIT Bank CDs automatically renew. Your new CD rate may be surprisingly low.

In addition to the 18-month Term CD, CIT Bank’s 13-month CD (3.75% APY) and 11-month No-Penalty CD (3.05% APY) are also very competitive. CIT Bank’s No-Penalty CD rate is now at its highest level since it was introduced in 2017.

If you have a CIT Bank No-Penalty CD, it makes sense to move it to a new No-Penalty CD with the higher rate. Fortunately, this can be done via CIT Bank’s Online Banking, which can allow you to avoid waiting on the phone to reach customer service. To move the funds, first go through the open account process for the new No-Penalty CD. Look for your existing CIT Bank No-Penalty CD in the list of your existing accounts as options for the source of the funds for the new No-Penalty CD. This will fund the new No-Penalty CD with the entire balance of your existing No-Penalty CD. If you want a different amount, you’ll have to call customer service.

The CD early withdrawal penalties (EWP) are detailed in the CIT Bank FAQs. For the terms of interest, the EWP reads as follows:

CD Term - Terms of more than 1 year up to 3 years

Penalty

The penalty we may impose will equal 6 months’ simple interest on the amount withdrawn.

According to the CIT Bank Agreement for Personal Accounts, “withdrawals of available interest are permitted at any time during the term of any CD product.”

When CDs mature, there’s a 10-day grace period when you can close the CD without an early withdrawal penalty. You can request a withdrawal by sending a secure message while logged into Online Banking or by calling customer service. If you don’t contact CIT Bank before the end of the grace period, CIT Bank will automatically renew your CD at the original term and current rate.

Funds from a CD can be received by requesting a transfer of funds to an existing CIT Bank account or to an account at another financial institution. Wire transfer and mailed check are also options.

CIT Bank Customer Service

If you call CIT Bank customer service, you might have to wait. I called twice yesterday to ask questions to customer service. In my first attempt at reaching a CSR I spent 15 minutes waiting, but then I gave up. In my second attempt, I waited 39 minutes and was finally connected to a CSR who was knowledgeable and able to answer my questions.

Several reviews mention this long wait for customer service. One review claims that the long wait for customer service hasn’t always been the case:

have been a customer for several years, in the past I would be put on hold for 5 to 10 minutes, recently every time I called there has been a 45 to 53 minute wait.

CIT Bank customer service for new or existing accounts is available from 9:00am to 9:00pm ET, Monday through Friday, and from 10:00am to 6:00pm ET on Saturday. Within the US, the CIT Bank customer service number is 855-462-2652.

Beneficiaries

According to CSR, beneficiaries can be designated in the online application. As many beneficiaries as you want can be added. Social security numbers, mailing address and names are required for each beneficiary.

Availability

CIT Bank is a "pure" internet bank, having no brick-and-mortar branches. Accounts can be opened by U.S. citizens and resident aliens, 18 years or older, with a valid Social Security number.

According to the CSR, the application process only does a soft credit pull, with no hard pull that would ding your credit score.

Joint accounts and custodial accounts can be opened. Accounts cannot be titled in a trust, and business accounts are not available.

Opening an account must be done using CIT Bank’s online application. Funding can be done through an electronic funds transfer from an outside bank account, wire transfer, or by mailing a check. As is typical with setting up an ACH transfer, you need to provide CIT Bank with the routing and account number of your outside account.

Bank Overview

In January 2022, First-Citizens Bank & Trust Company (First Citizens Bank) acquired CIT Bank. Before this acquisition, CIT Bank had operated for several years as an online bank. In 2015, CIT Bank merged with OneWest Bank, resulting in a national bank that re-branded as CIT Bank, N.A.

CIT Bank/First Citizens Bank has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 5.46% (excellent), based on June 30, 2022 data. In the past year, the Bank has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $39.7 billion, an excellent annual growth rate of 81.79%. Please refer to our financial overview of CIT Bank/First Citizens Bank (FDIC Certificate # 11063) for more details.

CIT Bank/First Citizens Bank is currently the 36^th largest bank in the country, with combined assets in excess of $107 billion and deposits in excess of $89 billion. It’s important not to confuse CIT Bank with Citigroup Inc., which is the bank holding company of Citibank. The CIT Bank name came from CIT Group Inc., a bank holding company best known for providing commercial financing and other services to small and middle market businesses.

How the Savings Connect Compares

When compared to the Money Market Accounts and Savings Accounts tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide and do not require large balances, have activity requirements or have small balance caps, the CIT Bank Savings Connect ranks close to the top accounts. The following is a sampling of the accounts with the best rates:

How the 18-Month Term CD Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are nationally available and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, no banks or credit unions currently have higher rates than offered on the CIT Bank 18-month Term CD. The following table compares the CIT Bank 18-month Term CD to the two highest-rate CDs from other banks and the two highest-rate CDs from credit unions.

The above information and rates are accurate as of 10/19/2022.

To look for the best rates on liquid bank accounts, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our Money Market Accounts Table and Savings Accounts Table.

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