New Competitive 5-Year CDs at CIT Bank

CIT Bank has recently added a 5-year CD with competitive rates. The new Jumbo 5-year CD has a 1.90% APY. Minimum deposit is $100,000. The 5-year Term CD has a 1.85% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000. These rates are accurate as of 7/9/2012.

One downside to this 5-year CD is an early withdrawal penalty that's a little large. As specified in CIT Bank's FAQs, the penalty is equal to "12 months’ interest for the amount withdrawn".

It should be noted that this 5-year CD is not CIT Bank's Achiever CD which only have terms of 1 and 2 years. The Achiever CDs allow you to make one additional deposit of any size during the term. Also, they allow for one rate bump. If you prefer a CD with terms of 1 or 2 years, these Achiever CDs are good deals. The rates continue to be competitive with a 1.10% APY for the 1-year term and 1.25% APY for the 2-year term (as of 7/9/2012). The one downside with these is a fairly large minimum deposit of $25,000. I reviewed these Achiever CDs in this post.

I have more details on the CIT Bank CDs and the application process in my CIT Bank CD review.

CIT Bank Savings Account

CIT Bank also offers an online savings account with a 1.05% APY for balances of at least $25K, and 0.90% APY for lower balances (as of 7/9/2012). Last month they added an ACH transfer service, but it initially had low transfer limits. Soon after I reported on this, they bumped up the transfer limit to something much more reasonable. They now allow transfers of up to $75,000 per day.

CIT Bank Overview

CIT Bank started offering internet CDs in 2011. Don't confuse CIT Bank with Citigroup Inc. which is the bank holding company of Citibank. CIT Bank is one of the businesses that make up CIT Group Inc., a bank holding company best known for providing commercial financing and other services to small and middle market businesses. CIT Group had some difficulties in 2009. However, the FDIC-insured CIT Bank is financially strong. That's the most important factor for depositors. The bank's overall health score at DepositAccounts.com is 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 0.07% (excellent) based on March 2012 data. Please refer to our financial overview of CIT Bank for more details. The bank has been a FDIC member since 2000 (FDIC Certificate # 35575).

How These 5-Year CD Rates Compare

CIT Bank's 5-year Jumbo CD rate is just a little under the highest 5-year CD rate that's available nationwide from a bank. That's 1.91% APY from The National Republic Bank of Chicago and from State Bank of India, New York.

Higher rates are available from all-access credit unions. The highest are 2.25% APY for a 59-month term at Fort Knox Federal Credit Union and 2.17% APY for a 5-year CD at Melrose Credit Union.

These rates are accurate as of 7/9/2012.

Searching for the Best CD Rates

To search for the best nationwide CD rates and the best CD rates in your state, please refer to the CD rates section of DepositAccounts.com.