The best 10 year CD rate available right now is 4.25% APY, offered by First National Bank of America. Locking money into a 10 year certificate of deposit means you secure that yield for a full decade, a useful hedge if the Federal Reserve keeps cutting rates in the years ahead.
Key Takeaways
- First National Bank of America leads with a 4.25% APY on a 120 month CD, requiring a $1,000 minimum deposit.
- Credit Human follows at 3.90% APY, with terms ranging from 84 to 120 months and a $500 minimum.
- Vio Bank, EmigrantDirect.com, and MySavingsDirect round out the top five, paying between 2.00% and 2.75% APY.
- The Federal Reserve held its benchmark rate steady at 3.50% to 3.75% at its April 29 meeting, the third straight meeting without a change.
- Rates were verified as of June 16, 2026, and are available to open nationwide.
What a 10 Year CD Actually Locks In
A certificate of deposit is a savings product that pays a fixed interest rate in exchange for keeping your money untouched for a set term. With a 10 year CD, that term stretches to 120 months, which is long by CD standards. Most savers gravitate toward shorter terms of one to five years, but a 10 year CD makes sense for anyone who wants to guarantee today's yield well into the next decade, particularly if they expect rates to fall from here.
Consider the math on the top offer. Depositing $1,000 with First National Bank of America at 4.25% APY for 120 months would grow to roughly $1,500 by maturity, an increase of more than $500 in interest alone, assuming the money sits untouched the entire term. That kind of certainty is the main selling point of a long term CD: you know exactly what you'll earn, regardless of what the broader rate environment does in the meantime.
Comparing the Top 10 Year CD Rates
Only a handful of banks and credit unions currently offer competitive yields on terms this long. Below is how the top five stack up on rate, minimum deposit, and the cost of pulling your money out early.
| Institution | APY | Term | Minimum Deposit | Early Withdrawal Penalty |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| First National Bank of America | 4.25% | 120 months | $1,000 | 18 months of interest |
| Credit Human | 3.90% | 84 to 120 months | $500 | Greater of $50 or 1,095 days of interest |
| Vio Bank | 2.75% | 84 or 120 months | $500 | 3% of the amount withdrawn plus a $25 fee |
| EmigrantDirect.com | 2.00% | 60 to 120 months | $1,000 | 6 months of interest |
| MySavingsDirect | 2.00% | 60 to 120 months | $1,000 | 6 months of interest |
First National Bank of America, founded in 1955 and headquartered in East Lansing, Michigan, operates just three physical branches but reaches customers nationwide through its online banking platform. Credit Human, based in San Antonio, Texas and tracing its roots to 1935, requires anyone outside its normal membership base to join the nonprofit American Consumer Council and keep at least $5 in a member savings account, a common workaround credit unions use to open membership to the public.
Vio Bank is the online arm of MidFirst Bank, an Oklahoma institution dating back to 1911. EmigrantDirect.com and MySavingsDirect are both online divisions of Emigrant Bank, a New York institution founded in 1850, so those two offers are essentially siblings under the same parent bank with matching rates and terms.
Eligibility Rules and What Gets a CD Disqualified
Not every high yielding CD makes it into a nationwide ranking like this one. To qualify, a certificate of deposit needs a term between 84 and 120 months, and the issuing bank or credit union must carry federal deposit insurance through the FDIC or NCUA. Minimum deposits can't exceed $25,000, and the maximum allowed deposit can't be set below $5,000, which keeps the list focused on products accessible to typical savers rather than institutional accounts.
Banks must also be available in at least 40 states to count as a nationwide offer. Credit unions get some latitude on membership, since many require joining an affiliated association or nonprofit, but any credit union charging $40 or more just to join gets excluded. When two institutions post the same APY, the tiebreaker favors the shorter term first, then the smaller minimum deposit, and finally alphabetical order by institution name.
Where Rates Sit as the Fed Holds Steady
The Federal Reserve left its key rate unchanged at its April 29 meeting, keeping the federal funds rate in a range of 3.50% to 3.75%. That marked the third consecutive meeting without a move, following six separate rate cuts that began in September 2024. CD rates tend to track the federal funds rate closely, so if the Fed resumes cutting later this year, banks are likely to trim their CD offers in response, particularly on shorter terms that reprice faster.
That dynamic is exactly why longer term CDs appeal to some savers right now. Locking in 4.25% for 120 months protects that rate even if the broader rate environment slides over the next several years. The tradeoff is opportunity cost: your money is tied up, and if rates were to rise instead of fall, you'd be stuck earning less than what new CDs might pay. Early withdrawal penalties compound that risk. Pulling money out of the First National Bank of America CD early costs 18 months of interest, while Credit Human charges the greater of $50 or 1,095 days of interest, a penalty steep enough to erase much of the benefit of locking in a high rate in the first place.
A survey of readers in March found that when asked where they'd put an extra $10,000, 10% chose CDs, ranking behind individual stocks, ETFs, and money market funds but ahead of high yield savings accounts and paying down debt. That suggests CDs remain a secondary tool for most savers rather than a primary destination for extra cash, likely because of the liquidity tradeoff involved.
Is Locking In a 10 Year Rate the Right Call Now?
Whether a 10 year CD makes sense depends heavily on how confident you are that rates will keep falling and how certain you are that you won't need the money for a decade. Shorter term CDs, including 6 month and 1 year products, currently pay comparable or even higher yields in some cases, so a 10 year commitment only pays off if you're specifically trying to protect against future rate declines rather than chasing the highest yield available today. Anyone weighing this decision should compare the early withdrawal penalties carefully, since those costs vary widely between institutions and can matter more than the headline APY if plans change.
