Synchrony Bank publishes its CD rates on its Rates and Terms page, whose disclosure warns that "APYs are subject to change at any time without notice." On 14 October 2026 the table carried standard CDs from 3 to 60 months, an 11-month No-Penalty CD and a 24-month Bump-Up CD, and the bank's CD and comparison pages show no minimum deposit for standard and Bump-Up CDs. The rate is fixed for the term once your deposit is processed, interest compounds daily and is credited monthly, and breaking a standard CD early costs 90, 180 or 365 days of simple interest on the amount withdrawn, by term.
This page prints none of the rates: they move at the bank's discretion, and a printed figure goes stale without notice. It sets out what Synchrony's documents say, chiefly the Consumer Deposit Account Agreement effective 1 July 2025, the CD and rates pages and the banking FAQ, all read on 14 October 2026. IRA CDs have their own page, Synchrony Bank IRA CD rates.
Synchrony's CDs at a glance
| Feature | What Synchrony's documents say |
|---|---|
| Types | Standard, No-Penalty and Bump-Up |
| Terms | Standard 3 to 60 months; No-Penalty 11 months and Bump-Up 24 months on the 14 October 2026 table |
| Minimum deposit | None shown for standard and Bump-Up CDs; the FAQ says no minimum balance on any account |
| Rate | Fixed for the term; one increase per term on the Bump-Up |
| Interest | Compounded daily, credited monthly |
| Early withdrawal | 90, 180 or 365 days' simple interest on the amount withdrawn, by term; none on the No-Penalty CD after its first six days |
| Maturity | Automatic renewal; 10-day grace period from the day after maturity |
| Fees | No monthly fees |
| Opening | Online or in the app; no branches |
| Insurance | FDIC, $250,000 per ownership category |
Where the rates are published, and when yours is locked
The rate table is where Synchrony publishes its current CD rates, and its offers "apply to personal non-IRA accounts only". The bank's pages disagree on the full term list: the product-comparison page shows nine standard terms from 3 to 60 months, while the rate table on 14 October 2026 also had several odd lengths between one and two years. Take the term from the rate table on the day.
The agreement says the interest rate "is fixed for the term of the CD", with the APY and the interest rate both given to you at opening. The FAQ settles which rate that is:
- A 15-day window. You get the rate in effect on the opening day if Synchrony receives and processes your deposit within 15 calendar days (postmarks do not count), and the higher rate if your term's rate has risen by the day it is processed.
- The clock starts at funding. The maturity date counts from the day the bank receives the funding deposit, which may differ from the opening day; interest accrues from the business day the deposit is credited.
- Funding. A transfer from another bank or from a Synchrony account, a mobile cheque deposit in the app (up to $2,000 a day per account), a cheque by post, or a wire, which your own bank may charge for. Money orders and traveller's cheques are not accepted.
To judge a rate once you have it, the FDIC's national CD rates give a dated national average by term, and the CD rates calculator turns an APY, a deposit and a term into a maturity value and a rough cost of leaving early.
How the interest is paid
Interest "is compounded on a daily basis and credited to the CD on a monthly basis," the agreement says, and it stays in the CD unless you ask for it. Interest credited in the current term can come out without penalty, to a Synchrony savings or money market account or to another bank; the CD page gives 1-866-226-5638 for help with the withdrawal. The agreement's APY "assumes interest remains on deposit until maturity", so interest drawn as income earns less than the APY. Apart from credited interest, nothing can be added during a term; new money waits for the grace period at maturity.
Three kinds of CD
The standard CD
A fixed rate for a fixed term, under the penalty schedule below. It cannot become a Bump-Up CD mid-term, but the FAQ says that from 30 days before maturity, or in the grace period, you can set it to renew into one under Update Renewal Options online or in the app.
The No-Penalty CD
No early-withdrawal penalty applies, with two conditions in the agreement. Nothing can come out in the first six calendar days after funding, a lock the FAQ attributes to federal regulations. After that, an early withdrawal must take the full balance with accrued interest; the FAQ says to call Synchrony's bankers on 1-866-226-5638, and the CD is then closed. There is no partial exit.
The exit is paid for in the rate, so compare the No-Penalty rate with a standard CD of the nearest term on the same table on the same day; against the 11-month No-Penalty CD on the 14 October 2026 table, that is the 12-month CD, which sits in the 90-day penalty band. The no-penalty CD page prices that trade: on its illustrative figures, the full-term discount comes out close to one early-withdrawal penalty.
The Bump-Up CD
The 24-month Bump-Up CD carries a free rate increase option, once in its first term and once in each renewal term, to the rate Synchrony is then offering on Bump-Up CDs of the same term length. Under the agreement:
- The new rate runs from the day you ask to maturity, is not backdated and leaves the maturity date unchanged.
- An unused option expires with its term; a renewal brings a new one.
- You ask online, in the app or by phone, not by post, email, chat or secure message.
- Synchrony "will not notify you of any changes to the interest rates and APYs for our Bump Up CDs", and the option does not guarantee a rise.
The FAQ adds that the option is hidden for the first 15 days of a new or renewed Bump-Up CD, when the rate is adjusted automatically under what Synchrony calls its Best Rate Guarantee, and whenever the current Bump-Up rate is no higher than yours.
Timing decides what one bump is worth. On $10,000 opened at an illustrative 4.00% and bumped once to an illustrative 5.00%, neither of them Synchrony's rate:
| Bump requested with | Extra interest by maturity |
|---|---|
| About 18 months left | $163.85 |
| 12 months left | $108.86 |
| About 6 months left | $54.14 |
The figures assume daily compounding over a 730-day term. Because the option is used once a term, a small rise taken early cannot be taken again when a bigger one comes. If the Bump-Up starts below the standard 24-month rate on the day, that gap is what the option costs; both CDs fall in the 180-day penalty band.
The early-withdrawal penalty
The agreement imposes a penalty "if you withdraw any funds in a CD before the maturity date": simple interest on the amount withdrawn at the CD's current interest rate, which is the interest rate, not the APY. The CD page's FAQ gives the same tiers.
| Term | Penalty | On $10,000 at an illustrative 4.00% interest rate | Share of a year's interest |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months or less | 90 days' simple interest | $98.63 | About a quarter |
| More than 12 but less than 48 months | 180 days' simple interest | $197.26 | About half |
| 48 months or more | 365 days' simple interest | $400.00 | All of it |
The 4.00% is illustrative, and the figures assume a 365-day year, since the agreement states no day count. This is the third shape on the early-withdrawal penalty page, days of simple interest on the amount withdrawn, with the bands broken at 12 and 48 months, and the breaks matter: a 12-month CD costs 90 days to break but the next terms up, including the odd lengths just over a year, cost 180; a 36-month CD still costs 180 days and a 48-month one a full year.
When the penalty reaches principal
The agreement warns that the penalty "may be greater than the interest earned on the CD and may result in a reduction of principal." On the same illustrative numbers, a $10,000 CD in each band closed after 182 days, about six months:
| Term band | Interest earned by day 182 | Penalty | Paid back |
|---|---|---|---|
| 12 months or less | $201.44 | $98.63 | $10,102.81 |
| More than 12 but less than 48 months | $201.44 | $197.26 | $10,004.18 |
| 48 months or more | $201.44 | $400.00 | $9,801.44 |
Interest compounds daily and is treated as credited, so the penalty falls on the $10,000 principal only, because credited interest comes out penalty-free. The interest first covers a 90-day penalty at about three months, a 180-day one at about six and a 365-day one at about twelve; leave earlier and the penalty takes part of the deposit.
Three more rules sit around the schedule. A new CD closed within six calendar days of funding (a No-Penalty CD cannot be touched then) costs at least seven days' simple interest, the federal floor that the penalty page traces to Regulation D; the FAQ says to call for the exact figure. The agreement charges the penalty on "the amount withdrawn" but has no separate sentence on partial withdrawals, so ask before counting on one. And a Synchrony CD "is non-negotiable and not transferable": it cannot be sold, so leaving a standard or Bump-Up CD early means the penalty unless a waiver applies.
When the penalty may be waived
The agreement says an early withdrawal without penalty "may also generally be permitted" on the death or adjudicated incompetence of an owner and within the grace period after maturity; its two other cases are for IRA CDs only. The list names no waiver for disability or for reaching 59½, so ask rather than assume.
Maturity, renewal and the 10-day grace period
Synchrony sends a maturity notice 30 days before maturity. If you do nothing, the CD renews on the same terms except the rate: it takes "the APY and interest rate we set at the beginning of that renewal period", and the FAQ says a renewal letter follows in three to four weeks once the grace period ends.
The grace period is 10 days, beginning the day after maturity, and it is the only routine window in which a standard CD's principal can leave, or new money arrive, without a penalty. In it you can withdraw (a CD redeemed then earns no interest for those days), add money, change the term or amount, or renew a standard CD into a Bump-Up. The bank can decline to renew if it mails notice at least 30 days before maturity, and a renewed Bump-Up CD gets a fresh rate increase option.
Opening, funding and fees
Synchrony describes itself as "a Digital Bank, with no physical branch locations". CDs are opened on its website or in the app; IRA and trust accounts are opened with a paper application or by phone with a banker. The agreement requires a US person for federal tax purposes, aged 18 or over (custodial and guardianship accounts aside), with a valid Social Security number and a US phone number and street address, or an APO, DPO or FPO address. Ownership can be individual, joint, payable-on-death, trust, custodial, IRA or estate, though the bank may limit which types apply to which accounts.
There is no paper certificate, only an account number and periodic statements. The FAQ says Synchrony "does not require a minimum balance or charge monthly fees for any of our accounts", and the agreement's service charges, effective 3 March 2023, are three of $25 each, for an outgoing wire, a stop payment and an overnight cheque, none specific to CDs.
Insurance and the $3 million cap
"Synchrony Bank is a member of the FDIC," its CD page says, with deposits insured up to $250,000 per ownership category; the footer gives the full rule, per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category. All your deposits there in one category share that limit: on illustrative balances, a $200,000 CD and $75,000 in savings in your sole name come to $275,000, $25,000 of it uninsured. Are CDs FDIC insured sets out the categories and how to check a bank's charter on the FDIC's BankFind.
Separately, the agreement caps the combined balance of all your Synchrony accounts, individual, joint or in a revocable trust you can revoke, at $3,000,000, and lets the bank return money above it or refuse a deposit that would breach it: a bank limit, not an insurance one.
IRA CDs
Synchrony also sells CDs inside a Traditional or Roth IRA, and the Synchrony IRA CD page covers them in full. In brief: an IRA cannot be opened online, and the IRA CD page gives 1-866-226-5638 to call; the same penalty schedule applies, with two extra waivers, for IRS required minimum distributions and for money paid out within seven days of setting up the IRA, though the bank then charges a penalty equal to the simple interest earned on the amount withdrawn; and Synchrony publishes IRA rates on a separate IRA rates page, whose footnotes cover Bump-Up and No-Penalty CDs.
What to confirm before opening
- The rate table on the day: your term, its APY and interest rate, and the as-of date.
- Which penalty band the term falls in, especially just over 12 months or just under 48.
- Whether a standard CD allows a partial early withdrawal, and how the penalty would apply.
- For a Bump-Up CD, the gap to the standard 24-month rate and how you will watch Bump-Up rates.
- For a No-Penalty CD, its rate against a standard CD of the nearest term and the bank's savings rate that day.
- The maturity date in online banking, counted from funding, and the 10-day grace period after it.
- Your deposits at Synchrony per ownership category against $250,000, and in total against $3,000,000.
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