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TIAA Bank CD review
Offers a wide variety of CDs, but watch out for high minimum deposit requirements.
finder.com’s rating: 4.0 / 5.0
★★★★★
TIAA Bank, previously named EverBank, is a full-service community and online bank that offers basic and bump rate CDs. You can earn up to 0.75% APY, but you’ll need to open a five-year CD to get the highest rate.
0.45%
1-year APY
0.65%
3-year APY
0.75%
5-year APY
Details
| Star rate | 4 |
|---|---|
| 3-month APY | 0.25% |
| 6-month APY | 0.35% |
| 9-month APY | 0.4% |
| 1-year APY | 0.45% |
| 18-month APY | 0.5% |
| 2-year APY | 0.55% |
| 30-month APY | 0.6% |
| 3-year APY | 0.65% |
| 4-year APY | 0.7% |
| 5-year APY | 0.75% |
| Early withdrawal penalty | 22 days interest for terms of 1 to 3 months 45 days interest for terms of 4 to 6 months 68 days interest for terms of 7 to 9 months 91 days interest for terms of 10 to 12 months |
| Minimum deposit to open | $1,000 |
| Interest compounding | Daily |
Review by
Heather Petty
heather.petty@finder.comHeather Petty is a personal finance writer at Finder specializing in home loans, banking and insurance. After falling victim to a disreputable mortgage broker when buying her first home, she’s on a mission to help readers avoid similar experiences when managing their own finances. A self-proclaimed word nerd, her writing has been featured on MSN, Credit.com and MediaFeed.org, among others. Heather previously worked as a technical writer and editor for the casino systems industry and is an internationally published young adult mystery author. She holds a bachelor’s degree in English with a minor in journalism from the University of Nevada, Reno.
Expert review
Whether TIAA Bank CDs are a good choice for you depends heavily on how much you can invest. The bank offers a basic CD with a reasonable minimum deposit, but the rates aren’t much better than what you’d get at a brick-and-mortar community bank. The best rates are reserved for those willing to open a CD for two years or longer.
But with high early withdrawal penalties on the longer investments, a financial emergency could mean you end up walking away with less money than you invested.
How do I open a TIAA Bank CD?
Open a TIAA CD in seven steps:
- Go to the provider’s site and follow the steps to apply.
- Click Open an account from the TIAA website.
- Select the type of account you want to open and click Start application.
- Enter the account details, such as the amount you want to invest and the CD term. Click Continue.
- Enter your personal information and create a personal security code. Click Continue.
- Review your information and click Continue to verify.
- Read and accept the bank disclosures and click Continue.
- Enter your funding details and submit your application.
Eligibility
You must meet the following requirements to apply for a CD:
- At least 18 years old
- US citizen or resident
- $1,000 or $1,500 minimum deposit, depending on the CD
Required information
Have the following information ready before you apply to open your CD:
- Social Security number
- Date of birth
- Home address
- Employment information
Funding options
Fund your CD using one of the following methods:
- Mail in a check
- Make an internal transfer from your TIAA account
- Initiate a wire transfer
- ACH bank transfer
Benefits of a TIAA Bank CD
Your TIAA Bank CD account comes with the following perks:
- Member of CDARS. If you want to invest more than $250,000 in CDs, the Certificate of Deposit Account Registry Service breaks your funds up among several banks in the network, so that none of your CDs goes over the $250,000 FDIC insurance limit.
- Multiple options. TIAA offers two types of CD to choose from and 11 term options ranging from three months to five years on high-yield CDs.
- IRA eligible. Bump Rate CDs are eligible to be funded as IRA CDs.
- Withdraw interest. As your interest accrues, you can keep it in your CD or transfer it to your TIAA checking or money market account.
What to watch out for
Keep the following in mind before you commit to a TIAA CD:
- Competitive rates on longer terms. To earn a higher rate on your CD, you’ll need to open a CD with a term of two years or more.
- No Yield Pledge CDs. TIAA Bank’s Yield Pledge CD, which offered high rates, no longer exists. But it’s current CDs are still competitive.
If you want a CD with high yields and a lower minimum deposit, you’ll want to keep looking. As always, compare your CD options.
Compare with other CDs
How do I cash in a CD?
When your CD matures you have a 10-day grace period to choose from one of the following options:
- Do nothing. If you don’t touch your CD, it will automatically renew for the same term but with an updated interest rate.
- Rollover request. If you’re part of the CDARS network, your CD won’t automatically renew. Call 877-790-8967 on weekdays from 8 a.m. to 9 p.m. ET for a rollover request.
- Partial withdrawal. As long as you leave the appropriate minimum balance in your account, you can withdraw as much of the remaining funds as you’d like within the 10-day grace period with no penalty.
- Close your account. If you withdraw all of the funds from your account, your CD will close.
What other savings products does TIAA Bank offer?
Choose from the following additional savings options:
- Basic savings. With a $25 minimum deposit, you can open a basic savings account that earns 0.65% APY with no monthly fees as long as you maintain at least a $25 minimum balance in the account.
- Money Market. This account promises a 0.75% APY, but that rate is a one-year intro rate that could drop as low as 0.50%, depending on how much you have invested.
- Business savings. On the business side, TIAA offers a money market account, CDs and provides its CDARS service for business investing.
Frequently asked questions
CDs ratings
★★★★★ — Excellent
★★★★★ — Good
★★★★★ — Average
★★★★★ — Subpar
★★★★★ — Poor
We rate CDs and share certificates on a scale ranging from one to five stars based on what matters most to you. We consider two factors equally when rating CDs: minimum deposits and annual percentage yields (APYs) relative to term length. If a bank requires a different minimum opening deposit depending on the chosen term, we rate the CD based on the average minimum deposit across all terms. And although some institutions offer CDs with terms ranging from one week to 20 years, we only consider term lengths the FDIC uses in its monthly updates on national rates.
Read the full methodology of how we rate CDs.