Charles Schwab sells certificates of deposit in brokered form. Through Schwab CD OneSource, its CD marketplace, you buy CDs issued by FDIC-insured banks and hold them in a Schwab brokerage account or IRA; they are offered through Charles Schwab & Co., Inc., a broker-dealer that is not an FDIC-insured bank. Schwab's April 2026 Pricing Guide lists a new-issue CD at $0, though a selling concession can be included in the offering price; on the secondary market Schwab lists $1 per CD online, with a $10 minimum and a $250 maximum, plus $25 per trade through a Schwab broker. Interest is paid out, nothing renews unless you opt into Auto-Rollover, and the usual way out early is a sale at whatever bid there is.
This page prints no Schwab rate: the CD page shows a short "Rates up to" table, and current offerings are researched after logging in. The terms below are from Schwab's own pages, including its Pricing Guide and rollover page, read on 14 October 2026. The product in general is covered in what a brokered CD is, and the contrast with a bank's own certificate in brokered CD vs bank CD.
What Schwab sells
Schwab's glossary defines a brokered CD as "A certificate of deposit (CD) issued by a bank but available for sale by a broker such as Schwab"; each has a CUSIP number and can be transferred between financial institutions. CD OneSource offers CDs "from FDIC-insured banks across the country", and your CDs "are held in your Schwab brokerage account, not at the issuing institution".
- Size: a $1,000 minimum, in $1,000 increments, though the minimum "may vary by offering". The full price must be in the account as cash before you order.
- Terms: one month to 20 years.
- Rate: typically fixed; a variable rate "may change after the CD is purchased".
- New issue or secondary: a new-issue CD is, in the glossary's words, "A newly issued certificate of deposit"; a secondary CD has already been issued and is bought at a market price.
A "Traditional CD" on Schwab.com is, in the glossary's words, "a brokered, noncallable, new-issue, and fixed-rate" CD.
What about Schwab Bank? Charles Schwab Bank, SSB is a separate, affiliated company. Its offerings page lists Investor Checking, home lending and the Pledged Asset Line, and its January 2026 deposit account agreement covers Investor Checking, Investor Savings and Interest Checking Plus. None of the Schwab pages read for this article offers a CD opened directly with Schwab Bank; the CDs those pages describe are brokered CDs bought through CD OneSource.
How Schwab shows its CD rates
The public CD page shows one row of "Rates up to" annual percentage yields, for terms from 3 months to 2 years. Its footnotes warn that "there may be a delay in reflecting the latest rates" and that the yields "could include callable and non-callable CDs", so check each CD's call periods on the order screen and the trade confirmation. Logged in, Schwab's how-to video says the list sorts by coupon payment, maturity date or annual percentage yield, and a bank's name opens the CD's maturity date, first coupon payment, settlement date and "how often you will receive interest".
A footnote on Schwab's fixed income FAQ reads: "Interest cannot remain on deposit and that payout of interest is mandatory." That is Regulation DD's wording. The Truth in Savings rule requires it in advertising for a non-compounding certificate of more than a year that must pay interest out at least annually and discloses its yield under the provision letting the annual percentage yield equal the interest rate. The CD rates calculator has a payout option for interest taken out rather than compounded, and how to read a CD rate table covers the FDIC's national averages and why some lists mix bank and brokered CDs.
What it costs
From the April 2026 Pricing Guide and Schwab's fixed income pricing page:
| Trade | Online | Through a Schwab broker |
|---|---|---|
| Buy a new-issue CD | $0; a selling concession can be included in the offering price | $0; the same note |
| Trade on the secondary market | $1 per CD, $10 minimum, $250 maximum | The online charge plus $25 per trade |
The guide's row says "$1 per bond", the pricing page "$1 per CD online". On new issues the guide says a selling concession "can be included" in the offering price; the pricing page's footnote says one "is included". Neither secondary row says buy or sell: this page reads a sale before maturity as falling on that row, and none of Schwab's answers on selling a CD puts a figure on the charge.
The issuing bank pays Schwab on new issues. "There is no additional charge when you buy a new issue CD through Schwab CD OneSource as the deposit institution itself pays Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. a fee for distributing its CDs," Schwab's FAQ says, and a Schwab article adds that Schwab "will usually receive a placement fee from the issuing institution". No page read gives the fee's size or says whether it shows in the rate.
The $1 is the listed charge, not always the whole cost. Schwab may act as principal on any fixed income transaction; when it does on a secondary trade, the CD page says, the price "includes our transaction fee" and may include a markup reflecting the bid-ask spread that "is not subject to a minimum or maximum". As agent, Schwab charges a commission. The guide adds that orders of more than 250 bonds can be eligible for special handling or pricing. How another large brokerage prices the same kind of CD is on a separate page.
Ten CDs on the secondary market (illustrative)
Counting each $1,000 of face value as one CD (this page's reading: Schwab's FAQ says bonds are generally issued with a $1,000 par value, and CDs are bought in $1,000 increments), ten CDs is $10,000 of face value: $1 × 10 = $10 online, which is also the minimum, or $10 + $25 = $35 through a broker. The table runs the schedule at other illustrative sizes; it shows Schwab's listed charge only, not the price, any markup or accrued interest.
| Illustrative secondary purchase | Online | Through a broker | Per CD, online | Per CD, through a broker |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 CDs ($3,000 of face value) | $10.00 (the minimum) | $35.00 | $3.33 | $11.67 |
| 10 CDs ($10,000) | $10.00 | $35.00 | $1.00 | $3.50 |
| 50 CDs ($50,000) | $50.00 | $75.00 | $1.00 | $1.50 |
| 250 CDs ($250,000) | $250.00 (the maximum) | $275.00 | $1.00 | $1.10 |
Below ten CDs the $10 minimum sets the charge; the $250 maximum arrives at 250 CDs, the size above which large-block handling can apply. On the ten CDs, at an illustrative 4.00% coupon with a year left, a year's interest is $400: the online charge is 2.5% of it, the broker-assisted charge 8.75%. Read the same way, selling them before maturity would be a second trade on that row: $20 across the two online or $70 through a broker. A new issue of the same size is listed at $0, with any selling concession inside the offering price.
Interest: paid out, on the CD's own schedule
Schwab's glossary is direct: "Unlike CDs held at the issuing bank, brokered CDs do not allow reinvestment of interest payments". With payout mandatory, nothing compounds inside the CD; to earn on the interest, you invest it elsewhere.
Timing depends on the CD: "most CDs tend to pay interest monthly, semiannually, or at maturity", and each CD's details show its schedule. Interest also starts later than at a bank. Schwab's article on the two says a bank CD earns from deposit, while "With the brokered CD, you don't start earning interest until the settlement date."
Callable CDs
Some CDs on CD OneSource are callable: the issuing bank can redeem the CD "for the full amount before it matures", and Schwab names the risk, a call "at an unfavorable time for the holder, such as when interest rates decline." A call returns your principal and the interest earned to the call date, Schwab's article says, and the proceeds then have to be reinvested at a lower rate, its FAQ warns.
Because the rate table can mix callable and non-callable CDs, check the call periods before ordering; the Traditional CD label and Auto-Rollover purchases are both non-callable. The SEC adds that "one-year non-callable" means the bank cannot call the CD in its first year and has nothing to do with the maturity date.
At maturity: a reminder, unless you choose Auto-Rollover
By default nothing renews: Schwab "will send you a reminder when your CD reaches maturity, asking how you would like us to handle your CD funds."
Auto-Rollover, part of Schwab's CD and Treasury Rollover service, is opt-in: select Yes next to Auto-Rollover on the order, or mark a CD you hold from the Positions page, agreeing to the service's terms the first time. For CDs:
- Eligible: "All new-issue and secondary market CDs", rolling into new-issue 3-, 6-, 9-, 12-, 18-, 24- or 60-month CDs at the term you choose.
- What it buys: the same face value in a new-issue, fixed-coupon, non-callable CD available in your state, with "The highest APY available at Schwab at the time". If nothing qualifies, the money stays in cash and you are notified.
- Principal only: "Interest earned will not be reinvested", and the replacement yield is likely to differ.
- Limits: the CD rollover limit is $250,000, and "you're responsible for monitoring FDIC limits". None of the listed criteria concerns the issuing bank, so, on this page's reading, a replacement could come from a bank where you already hold deposits.
- Cost: no additional fee; the purchases it places follow Schwab's standard schedule.
- Timing: emails roughly two weeks before and when the new order is placed. The rollover page's FAQ says CD instructions can be changed or cancelled "up until two days before maturity", and that a rollover order already placed can be cancelled before market close on the business day after it.
Schwab may change these criteria at any time. Its own ladder example sets 3-, 6-, 9- and 12-month CDs each to roll into a one-year CD, so one rolls every three months; the CD ladder guide covers the mechanics, and how Schwab handles Treasury bills covers the same service's Treasury rules.
Selling a CD before maturity
Schwab's CD page: "While we can't guarantee there will be a market for it, we'll help you sell the CD at the current market rate by requesting bids on your CD and contacting you with the highest one." Online, Schwab's FAQ says most fixed income securities can be sold on Schwab.com when there are sufficient existing bids, and you can ask Schwab to look for more.
- You receive the bid price plus accrued interest, and the price may differ from what you paid, for a gain or a loss.
- No early redemption fee does not mean no cost. The CD page says "there are no early redemption fees" but "you may receive less than your original purchase price"; other Schwab pages mention "costs associated with early redemption" and "transaction costs and market losses". On this page's reading of the schedule, the sale falls on the secondary row of the fee table.
- The statement price is an estimate, a "matrix or evaluated price". Held to maturity, Schwab's FAQ tells a holder who paid par, you receive your initial investment amount plus the fixed-rate interest on your original trade confirmation.
Brokered CD vs bank CD prices a rate rise against a bank's penalty, and selling a brokered CD before maturity covers how rates set the price, accrued interest, a missing buyer and the tax on a sale.
If the owner dies. Schwab's glossary says brokered CDs "generally have a survivor's option": the estate's right "to redeem the bond or CD at par" if the investor dies before maturity. Generally is not always, and Schwab's CD Disclosure Statement could not be read for this page, so confirm a CD's terms with Schwab before relying on it.
FDIC insurance at the bank, SIPC at Schwab
Schwab's FAQ says every CD on CD OneSource comes from an FDIC-insured bank, insured to $250,000 per depositor per insured bank, in aggregate by ownership type at each bank; two $250,000 CDs at two banks, with no other deposits at either, are covered for $500,000. The catch: CDs you buy from a bank "are aggregated with any other deposits you may have with the issuing bank", and Schwab points to the FDIC's EDIE estimator. "Certain conditions must be satisfied for FDIC insurance coverage to apply", and deposit insurance "covers the failure of an insured bank", not of Charles Schwab & Co., Inc.; are CDs FDIC insured sets out those pass-through conditions and the BankFind check.
A failure of the brokerage is SIPC's territory. Charles Schwab & Co., Inc. is a SIPC member; Schwab states that "The limit of SIPC protection is $500,000, which includes a $250,000 limit for cash", and that its "Excess SIPC program has a $600 million aggregate". SIPC treats CDs at a member firm as securities and protects custody, not market value; FDIC insurance does not cover a broker's failure.
CDs in a Schwab IRA
Schwab's IRA page lists CDs, through CD OneSource, among the investments a Schwab IRA can hold, with $0 opening and maintenance fees and a $0 minimum deposit. The FDIC adds together one person's IRA and other certain retirement account deposits at the same bank, up to $250,000; Schwab's FAQ says only that coverage limits depend on the type of account. SIPC treats an IRA and a Roth IRA at one firm as separate capacities. What an IRA CD is covers the wrapper, and IRA CD rules covers required distributions from certificates bought through a brokerage.
Placing an order
Schwab's how-to video, dated 2024: log in, choose Trade > CDs, pick the account, browse and click Buy. The amount box is "already in the thousands" (enter 50 for $50,000), the ticket offers the rollover choice, and the order is fill-or-kill, "cancelled if not filled immediately in its entirety." Orders can be placed 22 hours a day, seven days a week, except 2:00 to 4:00 a.m. EST; one placed outside market hours executes the next market day if the offering is still available.
What to confirm before ordering
- The issuing bank, and what you already hold there in the same ownership category.
- New issue or secondary, online or through a broker: a $0 listed charge, or $1 a CD within a $10 minimum and a $250 maximum, plus $25 a trade through a broker.
- Callable or not, and the call periods.
- The interest schedule and settlement date.
- The survivor's option terms for that CD.
- Auto-Rollover, yes or no, and the term.
- The maturity against the date you need the money: leaving early means a sale at a price nobody can promise.
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