Crescent Bank is based out of New Orleans and was founded in 1991. While their primary focus is on auto loans in which they serve customers in 32 states, they also provide local personal and business banking services to individuals and businesses in the greater New Orleans area.

In 2022, Crescent Bank began offering consumers FDIC-insured CDs (certificates of deposit) throughout the country via their online application.

Today, Crescent Bank offers some of the most competitive yields on CDs anywhere in the country and accounts can be opened online by anyone 18 years or older in just 10 minutes.

To see if Crescent Bank’s CD accounts are right for you, continue reading our review below.

Crescent Bank CD Rates + Account Details

All of Crescent Bank CDs require a minimum deposit of $1,000 of new money only. This means the CD you open has to be funded entirely from an external institution and can’t come from any funds already held in a Crescent Bank account.

CD Rates

The competitive yields really kick-in at the 12 month mark. To put these yields into perspective, the current national average for a 12 month and a 60 month CD sit at just 1.49% and 1.35% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, there are only a handful of FDIC-insured online banks and nationally available credit unions paying over 5.00% APY on a CD with a 1 year term and Crescent Bank is one of them.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Interest on all Crescent Bank CDs are compounded quarterly (rather than daily, weekly or monthly) and can be either deposited back into the CD (default method) for further compounding or sent to you via check or ACH transfer.

There is conflicting information online and in some forums regarding Crescent Bank and how they handle your interest payments so we called them to confirm the details. They confirmed that you may have interest payments sent to you via check or ACH transfer, however the default is for the interest to return to the CD. So if you would like these interest payments automatically transferred to you, they said you’ll need to call the bank and request this AFTER the CD is opened. At this time they will send you a form to fill out and return with a voided check for your external interest payments moving forward.

Grace Period and Early Withdrawal Fees

Crescent Bank will send out notices prior to your CD’s maturity to let you know it’s almost up. Upon the day your CD matures, you will be given a 10 calendar day grace period in which you may withdraw/add funds to your CD, change terms or close it out. If nothing is done during this 10 day window, your CD will automatically renew with the same term and the going APY at that time.

If you need funds prior to your CD’s maturity, you will incur an early withdrawal fee. The fee structure is as follows:

• For CDs with terms of 12 months or less, you’ll pay 90 days’ interest on the amount withdrawn
• For CDs with terms of 18 months to 5 years, you’ll pay 180 days’ interest on the amount withdrawn

CD Specials

When we spoke to the representative at Crescent Bank about any promotional CDs available, she mentioned that they do 1-2 day specials where they will offer an enticingly high yield but only for 1-2 days. Then the rate returns to a lesser but still competitive yield.

So you may want to check in on Crescent Bank’s CD rates periodically to make sure you’re locking in the best rate.

Langley Federal Credit Union was founded in 1936 and is headquartered in Newport News, Virginia.

They are one of the top 100 credit unions in the US with over $3.2 billion in assets and just over 270,000 members.

Although they have just 20 branches scattered throughout the Hampton Roads area of Virginia, they accept new members nationwide and many of their accounts can be opened online.

Langley Federal Credit Union is federally insured by the NCUA (FDIC equivalent for credit unions) and currently offers some competitive yields on their certificates of deposit.

They offer 9 standard term CDs with durations ranging from 3 months to 5 years. They also have 1 promotional CD currently that comes with a 22 month term and a phenomenal APY (annual percentage yield) of 5.35%.

To see all of Langley Federal Credit Union’s CD rates and account details, continue reading our review below.

Langley Federal Credit Union CD Rates + Account Details

Most of Langley Federal Credit Union’s CDs require a minimum deposit of $500, however, their 3 month and 6 month CDs require a minimum deposit of just $100 to open.

Promotional CD Rates

Langley FCU offers just one promotional CD per the time of this writing – down from 2 promotional CDs last year.

This account must be opened with new money to Langley FCU and comes with a minimum deposit requirement of $500.

Standard CD Rates

To give these yields some context, the current national average for a 12 month CD and a 60 month CD sit at just 1.54% and 1.37% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, the top APYs (annual percentage yields) on 12 and 60 month CDs offered by online banks and nationally available credit unions are now inching above 5.00% and 4.50%, respectively, with this promotional 22 month CD offer by Langley FCU among the rate leaders.

📌 Please note: Langley Federal Credit Union gives you the option to open their CDs as either standard CD accounts or IRA (individual retirement account) CDs. The interest rate and APY are the same for both, however, with IRA CDs Langley allows for additional deposits to the CD during the term, whereas with their standard CDs they only allow for additional deposits on CDs with terms of 12 months or less. You can learn more by reading their Truth-in-Savings disclosure.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Interest is compounded monthly and credited to your certificate monthly. You may choose to have your interest dividends paid to another account, but then compounding won’t apply.

Grace Period and Early Withdrawal Fees

Langley Federal Credit Union has a 7 day grace period for their CDs. This means that upon your certificate of deposit’s maturity you have 7 calendar days where you can add or withdraw any and all funds penalty free. If nothing is done during this 7 day period, the CD will automatically renew with the same terms and whatever the going APY is at that time.

If you need access to your funds prior to your CD’s maturity date, you will have to pay an early withdrawal penalty fee.

The early withdrawal fees are as follows:

For all IRA CDs, early withdrawal fees are 180 days interest.

For standard CDs, early withdrawal fees are based on the term.

For terms 3 – 6 months, you’ll pay 90 days’ interest.

For terms 12 months or greater, you’ll pay 180 days interest.

How to Join Langley Federal Credit Union

As with many credit unions, Langley Federal Credit Union used to have limited eligibility access.

Today, however, their deposit accounts can be opened online and they offer membership to nearly every US citizen or legal resident 18 years or older with a valid social security card.

You will have to deposit $5.00 into a share savings account which functions as your ownership in the credit union to go along with any other accounts you may open.

M&T Bank, based out of Buffalo, New York, offers a handful of promotional CDs (certificates of deposit) with mediocre yields.

They don’t have any standard CDs at the moment making these promotional deposits the only CDs available from M&T Bank.

They come with short terms of either 12 months or 18 months and must be opened in an M&T Bank branch. There are no online CDs offered at this time.

To see if M&T Bank and their certificates of deposit are right for you, continue reading our review below.

M&T Bank CD Rates + Account Details

M&T Bank CDs are federally insured by the FDIC up to $250,000 per depositor or $500,000 on joint accounts. The minimum deposit required to open one of their CDs is $1,000.

If you open (or already have) a checking account with M&T Bank, you’re likely eligible for higher rates via their “Select CDs” which come with the same terms, just better yields.

CD Rates

* To be eligible for Select CDs at M&T Bank, you must have one of the following accounts:

• MyChoice Premium Checking,
• M&T Select,
• M&T Select With Interest,
• Employee M&T Select With Interest or
• Power Checking ​​

To give these yields some context, the average yield on a 12 month CD and a 60 month CD sit at just 1.49% and 1.35% APY, respectively, according to recent FDIC data.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Interest is compounded daily on all M&T Bank CDs and credited to your account at the end of the day before the maturity date. You may also request to have your interest credited to you at a different frequency if you’d like. Since you must open an M&T Bank CD in a local branch, you can discuss interest payment options with a representative in-person.

Grace Period

M&T Bank CDs come with a standard 10 calendar day grace period in which you may add funds, withdraw funds or close out the CD without incurring an early withdrawal fee.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

Early withdrawal penalties are steeper at M&T Bank than most banks and credit unions. Fees are assessed based on the term of your CD. See fees below:

How to Open a M&T Bank CD?

Use the M&T Bank branch locator to find a branch near you. You may also call this number – 1-800-724-3222 to set up an appointment with a Relationship Banker. This is the only way to open a CD with M&T Bank currently.

At a minimum, you’ll want to have the following information handy:

• Full legal name
• Current address
• telephone number
• social security number
• date of birth

If transferring funds from another institution to fund your CD, please have your bank or credit union’s routing number as well as your account number readily available as well.

M&T Bank Reviews and Customer Sentiment

M&T Bank receives relatively low ratings and reviews from 3rd party review sites. For instance their BBB (Better Business Bureau) rating sits at just 1.08 stars out of 5 based on 167 consumer reviews.

If you plan on opening a checking account for a higher CD rate, then you’ll likely use one of the mobile apps which receive mixed reviews based on whether you’ll download the IOS or Android version.

Their IOS app enjoys a 4.9 star rating out of 5 based on over 167,000 ratings and their Android app has a rating of just 2.6 stars out of 5 based on over 14,000 consumer reviews.

Final Thoughts

While M&T Bank’s CD rates beat the national average by a heavy margin, they are still behind the top yields offered by FDIC-insured online banks and NCUA-insured credit unions with national availability.

The best CD rates for 12 and 18 month terms are now topping 5.00% APY and don’t require other accounts to be opened with the institution to earn the top rate.