Amerant Bank is a community bank headquartered in Coral Gables, Florida with 17 locations throughout the state of Florida and 6 locations in Texas.

Despite being a small bank with locations in just 2 states they do offer CDs (certificates of deposit) to consumers online throughout the country. That said, their most competitive rates are only available to residents of Florida and Texas.

📌 Please Note: All of Amerant Bank’s CD rates shown below only apply to new funds deposited into Amerant Bank.

To see if Amerant Bank’s CDs might be right for you, continue reading our review below.

Amerant Bank CD Rates + Account Details

Amerant Bank segments their CD rates into two groups. CD rates for residents of Florida and Texas and CD rates available to residents in all other states.

All CDs, regardless of where you live, require a steep minimum deposit requirement of $10,000 to open and a maximum deposit limit of $500,000 per customer.

Amerant Bank is member FDIC and all deposit accounts are federally insured up to the applicable limits.

 CD Rates (Florida and Texas Residents Only)

To put these rates into perspective, the current national average for a 12 month and a 60 month CD sit at 1.76% and 1.41% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data, with top yields from online banks hovering around 5.50% and 4.50% APY for the same respective terms.

CD Rates (All Other States)

How Do Amerant Bank’s CD Rates Compare?

To get a better idea of how Amerant Bank’s CD rates stack up against the competition, take a look at the table below. It compares Amerant Bank’s most competitive CD rate with other competitive CD rates offered by various FDIC-insured institutions.

📌 Related: See how Amerant Bank’s CD rates compare to the best CD rates in Texas and Florida to get a better idea of how competitive they are for those regions.

How Much Can You Earn with an Amerant Bank CD?

How much money you can earn with a CD from Amerant Bank is going to depend on if you live in Texas or Florida vs any other state, along with the term you choose, the going APY (annual percentage yield) and your deposit size. Below is a table showing an example of how much money you’d earn with some of Amerant Bank’s CDs assuming a one-time deposit of $10,000 and a Florida or Texas residency.

Grace Period and Early Withdrawal Fees

Upon the maturity of your Amerant Bank CD, you will be provided a 10-day grace period in which you may modify your CD (either by term or deposit size) or close it out entirely without facing any early withdrawal fees.

If nothing is done during this grace period, your Amerant Bank CD will automatically renew with the same term and the going APY at that time.

If you need access to your funds prior to your CD’s maturity you will face an early withdrawal fee. Their fees are on par with most banks around the country. See below.

Early Withdrawal Fees

• For early withdrawal from a CD with a term of less than three months, you will pay a penalty fee equal to the total interest earned at the time of withdrawal.
• For early withdrawal from a CD with a term of between three and 12 months, you will pay a penalty fee equal to 90 days’ interest.
• For early withdrawal from a CD with a term of between 12 and 60 months, you will pay a penalty fee equal to 180 days’ interest.
• For early withdrawal from a CD with a term of longer than 60 months, you will pay a penalty fee equal to 365 days’ interest.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

The interest on all Amerant Bank CDs is compounded monthly and credited back to the CD monthly. You may not elect to have interest payments directed to another account at this time.

How to Open and Fund Your CD

Opening a CD with Amerant Bank can be done online regardless of location. To get started, navigate here and select your residency. Once the application process begins, you’ll want to be prepared with the following:

Personal Information – Name, Verifiable Email address, Phone Number, and Home Address.

Identity Verification – Social Security Card (number), Date of Birth and Employment Status.

To fund your Amerant Bank CD, you’ll need:

• Routing number of current bank
• Bank account number where funds will be withdrawn from

OR

• Debit Card (number, expiration, CSC)
• Credit Card (number, expiration, CSC)

Amerant Bank Reviews and Customer Sentiment

From a consumer perspective, Amerant Bank seems to fall a bit short. They have a D- rating with the Better Business Bureau with 8 customer complaints in the past 3 years. This kind of rating can mean a number of things but generally indicates that a company falls short of the Bureau’s expectations for ethical, honest, and reasonable communication and/or treatment of customers.

We should note that there is only 1 unanswered complaint filed this year and, in general, it’s still always possible for great banks to have poor BBB ratings and vice versa.

Merrick Bank was founded in 1997 and has just one location in South Jordan, Utah – which also serves as their headquarters.

Their primary business focus is on credit cards and helping consumer’s rebuild their credit. They have been recognized as a top 20 credit card issuer in the United States and claim almost 3 million cardholders with a total of ~$6 billion in credit issued.

Although not their main business, Merrick Bank also offers several CDs (certificates of deposit) to consumers that currently feature some very competitive APYs (annual percentage yields).

Merrick Bank is federally insured by the FDIC and all consumer deposits are insured up to $250,000 per depositor or $500,000 for joint accounts.

They currently offer seven CDs with terms from 6 to 60 months. To see if these deposit accounts are right for you, continue reading our review below.

Merrick Bank CD Rates + Account Details

Merrick Bank’s CDs come with a steep minimum deposit requirement of $25,000 to open. This is significantly higher than most online banks which tend to keep their minimums to $1,000 or less.

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 1.76% APY and 1.41% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, some of the top CD rates offered by online banks are now above the 5.50% and 4.50% APY mark for the same respective terms.

How Do Merrick’s CD Rates Compare?

To get a better idea of how Merrick Bank’s CD rates stack up against the competition, take a look at the table below. It compares the most competitive CD rate at Merrick Bank with other FDIC-insured institutions and their most competitive offer.

How Much Can You Earn with a Merrick Bank CD?

How much money you can earn with a CD from Merrick Bank is going to depend on the term you choose, the going APY (annual percentage yield) and your deposit size. Below is a table showing an example of how much money you’d earn with a few of Merrick Bank’s CDs assuming a one-time deposit of $50,000.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Merrick Bank CDs feature daily compounding interest. They credit this interest to your account monthly on roughly the same day you opened the CD.

If you would like to have this interest paid out to an external bank account, you may contact them to set up a monthly ACH transfer at 1-866-638-6851.

Grace Period and Early Withdrawal Fees

You’ll have 10 calendar days upon your CDs maturity ‘the grace period’ in which you may add or withdraw any or all funds without incurring a penalty. If the 10th day falls on a non-business day, then the grace period will be extended to the next business day.

If you need any of your funds prior to your certificate’s maturity, then you will incur a penalty fee.

Early Withdrawal Fees

Opening and Funding your CD

Applying, opening and then funding your Merrick Bank CD can be done online and in a few short steps.

Here’s what you’ll need to start and finish the process:

• Email Address
• Social Security Number,
• Date of Birth (Account Owners must be at least 18 years old),
• valid U.S. street address. No P.O. Box addresses allowed.

Funding:

• Current bank account number where funds will be coming from
• Your bank or credit union’s routing number

Banking Experience and Consumer Sentiment

Although Merrick Bank’s CDs come with highly competitive rates, they do have low review ratings on the BBB (Better Business Bureau).

That said, nearly all the reviews have to deal with their credit card products and not with their certificates of deposit.

Regardless, they have just a 1.08 star rating out of 5 with over 289 reviews as of the time of this writing.

In terms of their mobile apps, Merrick Bank receives much higher marks.

Their IOS app has a 4.6 star rating out of 5 with over 6,300 consumer ratings and their Android app has a 4.6 star rating out of 5 with over 12,900 consumer reviews.

The only type of deposit accounts Merrick Bank offers are its CDs. They don’t currently offer checking accounts, savings accounts or money market accounts.

There are also no ATMs nor is Merrick Bank a member of any ATM network.

Valley National Bank, based out of Wayne, New Jersey, is a regional bank with over 200 locations in New York, New Jersey, Florida and Alabama. The bank claims that it has never had a losing quarter since their founding in 1927 despite many challenging economic periods in the last ~100 years or so.

Today, the bank offers a number of FDIC-insured deposit accounts that come with respectable yields for savers.

They offer 7 CDs (certificates of deposit) with terms ranging from 91 days to 36 months that can be opened online by consumers in all 50 states.

If you’d like a longer term CD, you’ll have to stop by a local branch to see those rates and/or open that account. They offer CDs with terms up to 5 years for local residents, but not online.

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

Valley Bank CD Rates + Account Details

All of Valley Bank’s CDs come with a minimum deposit requirement of $500 and are federally insured by the FDIC up to the applicable limits.

They also impose a maximum deposit allowance of $500,000 if opening the CD online. They allow deposits up to $1m if opened in a branch.

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 1.76% and 1.41% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, there are a number of online banks and credit unions offering yields near the 5.50% and 4.50% APY mark for the same respective terms following the Fed’s most recent rate hike of 0.25% earlier in the summer.

The 36 month variable rate CD comes with a rate that can change at any time without notice to the account holder. Generally speaking however, variable rate deposit accounts (whether it be CDs, money market accounts or online savings accounts) tend to rise and fall with the interest rate environment as a whole.

📌 Please Note: Variable rate CDs can be deceiving. For example, earlier this year Citibank offered an 18 month variable rate IRA CD that had an incredible APY of 5.97% only to drop the yield to a negligible 0.05% APY shortly thereafter (likely after signing up many new accounts). We should note, however, that Valley Bank has consistently lifted the rate on their 36 month variable rate CD this year to keep up with the rising interest rate environment, but they could still lower it at any time if they so choose.

How Do Valley Bank’s CD Rates Compare?

To get a better idea of how Valley’s CD rates stack up against the competition, take a look at the table below. It compares Valley Bank’s most competitive CD rate with other competitive CD rates offered by various FDIC-insured institutions.

How Much Can You Earn with a Valley Bank CD?

How much money you can earn with a CD from Valley Bank is going to depend on the term you choose, the going APY (annual percentage yield) and your deposit size. Below is a table showing an example of how much money you’d earn with each of Valley’s CDs assuming a one-time deposit of $50,000.

Compounding and Crediting Interest

Unlike many CD rates offered from online banks who compound interest daily, Valley Bank only compounds interest on a quarterly basis. Interest payments are also credited to the account quarterly.

Grace Period and Early Withdrawal Fees

Prior to your CD’s maturity, Valley Bank will send you a notification to let you know.

Upon the maturity of your Valley Bank CD, you will be given a 10 calendar-day grace period in which you may modify your CD or close it out without incurring any early withdrawal fee.

If nothing is done during this grace period, your Valley Bank CD will automatically renew with the same term and the going APY at that time.

If you need funds from your CD prior to its maturity you will face an early withdrawal fee.

Valley Bank does not post the fees on their website, so you’ll need to give them a call at 800-522-4100 to get this information.

Open and Fund the CD

As mentioned, the 7 CDs with oddball maturities listed here can all be opened online by consumers in 50 states with up to $500,000. If you’d like to deposit more than that, you will have to stop by a local branch (find locations here) in Alabama, Florida, New Jersey or New York.

Here’s what you’ll need to apply for an online CD:

• Social Security Number
• Valid state ID, driver’s license or passport
• Physical residential address within the United States

The application process is fairly straightforward and should be able to be completed in minutes if you have the appropriate information handy. We should note that once you start the application you will only have 20 minutes to complete it or your session will timeout due to inactivity. The application will automatically save though, so you can pick up where you left off if you need more time.

Here’s what you’ll need to fund your online CD:

• Current bank or credit union’s routing number
• Account number in which the funds will be drawn from to fund your Valley Bank CD