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 0.46% and 0.64% APY, respectively, according to FDIC data.

That said, there are only a handful of FDIC-insured online banks and nationally available credit unions paying 2.90% 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. She noted they haven’t done these in a few months, but when they do, bank employees are only notified the night before they launch the special.