American Express Bank CD Rates September, 2011

American Express CD Rates have often been some of the highest CD rates available nationwide.  The bank may not have always had the best CD rates however; they were usually among the top 25 best bank rates.  All that changed in the end of September as bank CD rates moved lower across the nation and so did those promoted by American Express.

As the economy has stalled low interest rates have swept across all fixed income securities.  Lower bank CD rates are becoming common from the biggest banks to the most competitive online banks.  American Express CDs had held on with quite generous CD yields up until this month.

American Express Bank offers a variety of terms and CD interest rates.  The bank CDs promoted are all fixed interest rate accounts.  As with most bank CDs, the longer the investment terms the more money that can be made from higher interest rates.  The certificate of deposit accounts offered by American Express Bank are insured by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) up to the maximum applicable limit.

CD account holders can receive the credited interest from the American Express Bank CDs account on a monthly, quarterly or annual basis by either having the interest remain in the certificate account, sent to the account holder by check or  transferred electronically to another linked account or the American Express High Yield Savings Account.  New account holders can open, fund and managed a new bank CD from American Express 24 hours a day either online or by phone.

There is no minimum deposit requirement needed to open an American Express CD and there are no fees to maintain a CD from American Express.  Early withdrawal penalties may apply to accountholders that withdraw some or all of the CD principal prior to maturity.

Current American Express Bank CD rates include the following rates and terms:

6 month CD rate at American Express is 0.40%
1 year American Express CD rate is 0.55%
18 month CD interest rate is 0.60%
2 year bank CD rate is 1.30%
3 year CD rate is 1.40%
4 year CD rate is 1.50%
5 year Am Ex CD rate is 1.60%

While these CD interest rates are significantly lower than they were just a few months ago, they are still well above the national average rates.  Based on the weekly national rates and caps posted by the FDIC, for the last week of September the national average CD rate for a 1 year CD was 0.37% which puts American Express Bank’s CD rate for that term well above the national average.  The average rate posted by the FDIC for a two year CD rate is 0.59% putting American Express Bank’s CD rate on a two year term 71 basis points higher.

The best American Express Bank CD rates listed are current as of Oct 1, 2011 but are subject to change at any time by the bank.  Although we strive to provide the most accurate bank rate data possible, we cannot guarantee its accuracy.

For more information on American Express CDs and other bank products, the bank can reached directly at 1-800-446-6307.

This entry was posted on Monday, October 10th, 2011 at 6:38 pm and is filed under American Express CD. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.