American Express sells certificates of deposit through American Express National Bank, Member FDIC, opened and held directly with the bank online. It publishes the current rates in a term table on its CD page and the terms behind them in its Savings Schedules: no minimum deposit, a rate fixed until the first maturity, interest compounded daily and credited monthly, an early-withdrawal penalty of 90, 270, 365 or 540 days' interest depending on the initial term, and automatic renewal followed by a 10-calendar-day grace period.
This page prints none of the rates, because a figure copied from that table would go stale unnoticed. It sets out what American Express's documents said on 14 October 2026: the CD page, its FAQs and the savings home page, the Savings Schedules dated 5 January 2026 and their revision in force from 18 October 2026, whose CD terms are the same apart from a new cap on the number of accounts, and the Consumer Deposit Account Agreement dated 5 January 2026. Where a detail could not be found, the text says so.
American Express CDs at a glance
| Feature | What the documents say |
|---|---|
| Issuer | American Express National Bank, Member FDIC; a bank CD opened and held with the bank |
| Terms | The savings home page says "up to five years"; the full list sits in a table on the CD page that loads only in a browser |
| Minimum deposit | None; the maximum account balance is $5 million |
| Monthly fees | None |
| Rate | Fixed to the first maturity, at the higher of the rate when you applied and the rate when the CD is funded |
| Interest | Compounded daily, credited monthly; credited interest can be paid out without penalty |
| Early withdrawal | 90, 270, 365 or 540 days' interest by initial term; can reach principal; whole balance only |
| Maturity | Automatic renewal for the same term at the rate then offered, with a 10-calendar-day grace period |
| Ownership | Individual or joint, with a payable-on-death option; not in the name of a trust or business |
| IRA CDs | Not offered on any American Express page checked; ask the bank |
| Account limit | From 18 October 2026, no more than 20 high-yield savings and CD accounts combined |
Where the rates are published, and how one is fixed
The CD page's term table is filled in by the browser, so neither the rates nor the term list appeared when the page was fetched for this check. Its footnote says the advertised APY is "accurate as of" a date, but the page's code fills that date in from the current day: fetched twice on 14 October 2026, it read 13 October and then 14 October. It records when the page was generated, not when a rate last changed. To judge a rate on the day, the FDIC's national CD rates are the dated baseline, and the CD rates calculator turns an APY, a term and a deposit into money.
Once you choose a term, the schedule fixes the rate in four steps:
- The higher of two rates. The rate and APY "will either be (i) the rate reflected at application submission or (ii) the rate being offered when your CD is funded, whichever is higher". The rate and APY that result are disclosed in the account-opening documents, which arrive after funding.
- Funded within 60 days. Every CD must be funded within 60 calendar days of approval "or will be subject to closure".
- Opened when the deposit posts. The CD counts as opened, and its term begins, on the day the bank posts the opening deposit, subject to the agreement's cut-off times.
- Fixed to the first maturity. Interest is paid at that rate "up to and including the first maturity", or until an early closure. A renewal takes the rate then offered, as set out below.
A CD takes one deposit. Nothing more can go in before maturity; money can be added only in the grace period after a renewal.
Interest: compounded daily, credited monthly
The schedule uses the daily balance method, applying a daily periodic rate to the balance each day from the day a deposit posts. Interest compounds daily and is credited on the monthly statement cycle date, and the schedule notes that statement periods "may or may not align to a calendar month".
Credited interest can be taken out at any time before or at maturity without penalty. The schedule offers a one-off payment by cheque or by transfer to an American Express high-yield savings account or a linked external account, or recurring transfers to either; the CD FAQ describes a monthly transfer, or a cheque monthly, quarterly or annually. The bank also reserves the right to keep crediting interest to the CD "at our discretion". The APY in the opening documents assumes interest stays on deposit until maturity, so taking it out "will reduce your earnings".
The early-withdrawal penalty, by initial term
A penalty applies if you withdraw principal before maturity, "or if your CD is closed for any other reason before maturity". It is a number of days' interest on the withdrawn amount, at the interest rate in your account-opening documents, and the band depends on the CD's initial term:
| Initial term | Penalty | On $10,000 at an illustrative 4.00% | Interest earned covers it after about |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than 12 months | 90 days' interest | $98.63 | 3 months |
| 12 months, less than 48 | 270 days' interest | $295.89 | 9 months |
| 48 months, less than 60 | 365 days' interest | $400.00 | 12 months |
| 60 months or more | 540 days' interest | $591.78 | 17 months |
The 4.00% is an illustrative interest rate, not an American Express rate. The penalties are simple interest on the $10,000 deposit over a 365-day year, an assumption because the schedule states neither a day count nor the word simple; the last column assumes daily compounding at the same rate. The first three rows match the month-by-month table on the early-withdrawal penalty page, which also sets out the other shapes penalty schedules take and what a forfeited penalty means at tax time.
One caution: American Express's stand-alone early-withdrawal FAQ lists only the first three bands. The CD page and the CD Schedule, which supplements the deposit agreement, both include the fourth.
Three features of the wording carry most of the cost.
The penalty can take principal. "If the amount of the penalty is greater than the available interest earned or credited on your CD, we will deduct the difference from your principal." On the illustrative numbers, a 60-month CD closed after a full year has earned about $408.08 against a $591.78 penalty, and pays back about $9,816.30: $183.70 less than went in. A CD in the 270-day band closed after 91 days has earned about $100.22 and pays back about $9,804.33. The CD page's footnote warns of penalties "which could cause you to lose some of your principal".
The band is set by the term you chose, not the time left. Each band is tied to the initial term, so a 60-month CD broken in its final month still costs 540 days' interest. The steps at the band edges are steep: on the schedule's wording, an initial term just under 12 months costs 90 days' interest and a 12-month term 270, three times as much. Whether the term table offers terms either side of an edge is something to check on the day.
Whole balance or nothing. "You may not make a partial withdrawal of some of the principal from your CD before maturity." A withdrawal means taking the full balance, and the account closes; the documents describe no other way out, such as a sale or transfer. Splitting a large deposit across several CDs turns that into a partial exit, the same logic as a CD ladder, but both run into the account limit set out below.
The penalty may be waived, at the bank's discretion: "In certain circumstances, such as the death or incompetence of an Account holder, we may agree to waive the early withdrawal penalty." The grace period after a renewal is the other penalty-free exit. American Express describes its CD accounts as ones whose funds "cannot be withdrawn from the account prior to the maturity date without a penalty"; a structure that prices the exit into the rate instead is explained on the no-penalty CD page.
Maturity, automatic renewal and the 10-day grace period
A CD renews automatically at maturity unless American Express no longer offers the same term, or you asked during the term for it not to renew; the bank may decline such a request if it arrives on the maturity date. Each renewal is for the same term as the initial term, starting on the maturity date, at "the currently offered rate on the initial term", and the schedule says to contact the bank to find out what that rate will be.
After an automatic renewal comes a 10-calendar-day grace period, in which you can add money, or withdraw everything without penalty provided the bank receives your notice within the period. An instruction to add or withdraw ends the grace period that day. Money withdrawn in it earns interest up to the day of withdrawal, at the rate in effect for a new CD of the same term at maturity, so those days are not lost.
Two instructions given before maturity work differently:
- Not renewing. If you asked before maturity for the CD not to renew, or the term is no longer offered, no interest accrues after the maturity date, and the bank sends the money on the first business day after it, as you instructed or to the address on file.
- Withdrawing at maturity. If you instruct the bank before maturity to withdraw funds at maturity, the schedule says the CD "will be renewed on the maturity date and there will not be a Grace Period".
To stop a renewal, the CD page lists three routes: change the maturity option online, call before the maturity date, or send written notice that arrives before it.
Automatic renewal has one more consequence. The schedule says renewal "does not constitute a record of activity": with no other activity for two years or more, the bank may consider the account inactive. Separately, the deposit agreement says an account that becomes inactive under state abandoned-property laws may have to be reported, and its balance sent to a state, as unclaimed property. A long CD left to renew on its own is the case those sentences point at; neither document says what does count as other activity.
Opening and funding a CD
The application is online. American Express verifies your identity and sends a confirmation email; you then register for online access, sign in and fund the CD by linking an account at another bank, which it says can take up to two days, or by posting a cheque. The 60-day funding window runs from approval.
To open and keep an account you must be at least 18 and a US citizen or resident alien with a valid Social Security number or other taxpayer identification number, with a home address in the United States, Puerto Rico, the US Virgin Islands, Guam, American Samoa, the Northern Mariana Islands or at an APO, FPO or DPO address. The agreement adds that the home address must be a street or physical address, not a PO box.
Accounts are individual or joint, and a joint account carries a right of survivorship. They are for personal, family or household use and "may not be opened in the name of a trust or business". An individual or joint account can be made payable on death to one or more individual beneficiaries, using the bank's Beneficiary Designation Form; a trust cannot be named.
From 18 October 2026, the revised schedule adds a cap: "You may not maintain more than twenty (20) Accounts with us at any given time", counting every high-yield savings and CD account you own, joint ones included. A ladder of CDs beside a savings account, or a deposit split to get round the no-partial-withdrawal rule, has 20 accounts to work with in all.
Customer service is by phone around the clock; the CD Schedule gives 1-800-446-6307.
IRA CDs: not found
None of the American Express pages checked for this article offers an IRA CD. On 14 October 2026 the addresses of its former IRA pages led to the savings home page, whose text does not mention IRAs, and the deposit agreement provides for individual and joint accounts. Yet the rate data that the savings home page loads still listed IRA CDs of 6 to 60 months, and IRA savings, with rates effective 30 September 2026. Whether that means a new customer can open one, or only that existing IRA CDs still renew, the public pages do not say, so ask before assuming either way. What an IRA CD is explains how the IRA wrapper and the certificate inside it follow separate rules.
Insurance and the $5 million cap
American Express's pages say the accounts are offered by American Express National Bank, Member FDIC, and that each depositor "is insured to at least $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, per ownership category". The FDIC's BankFind data lists American Express National Bank as an active, FDIC-insured bank in Sandy, Utah, certificate 27471.
The limit is per bank and per category, not per CD. The FDIC says all of your deposits in the same ownership category at the same insured bank "are added together". So, illustratively, a $200,000 CD and a $100,000 high-yield savings account in one person's sole name at the bank come to $300,000 in the single category, $50,000 of it above $250,000. Joint accounts are insured in a category of their own; are CDs FDIC insured sets out the categories, including how payable-on-death accounts are counted, and the one-minute BankFind check.
The schedule's $5 million maximum account balance is a bank limit, not an insurance one.
What to confirm before opening
- The term table on the CD page on the day: the terms offered and the APY advertised for each.
- Which penalty band your term falls in, especially near 12, 48 and 60 months.
- Whether you want interest paid out, knowing the APY assumes it stays in.
- Your maturity instruction (renew, stop renewal or withdraw at maturity), and the maturity date in your own calendar.
- On a CD that has renewed, which rate the penalty would use: the schedule refers to the rate in the account-opening documents.
- Your balances at American Express National Bank in each ownership category against $250,000, and your number of accounts against 20.
- If you want an IRA CD, whether the bank will open one, since its public pages do not offer it.
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