Marcus by Goldman Sachs offers three kinds of certificate of deposit: a High-Yield CD with terms from 6 months to 6 years, a No-Penalty CD with terms from 7 to 13 months, and a Rate Bump CD, which on 14 October 2026 came in a single 20-month term. Each needs $500 and pays a rate fixed for the term (a Rate Bump CD's can be raised once), and leaving a High-Yield or Rate Bump CD early costs 90, 180 or 270 days' simple interest on the principal, by term. The current rates are on Marcus's CD rates page, under an as-of date.
Marcus by Goldman Sachs is a brand of Goldman Sachs Bank USA, and the footer of each Marcus page read for this article adds that all deposit products are provided or issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Salt Lake City Branch, Member FDIC. This page prints no rate. It sets out the terms from Marcus's own pages and its Deposit Account Agreement, effective 27 June 2025, as read on 14 October 2026, and says which document says what where they differ.
Marcus CDs at a glance
| High-Yield CD | No-Penalty CD | Rate Bump CD | |
|---|---|---|---|
| Terms | 6 months to 6 years | 7 to 13 months | 20 months on the 14 October table |
| Minimum | $500 | $500 | $500 |
| Adding money | Until 30 days after opening | Nothing once $500 is in | Until 30 days after opening, and for 10 days after a rate bump |
| Rate | Fixed for the term | Fixed for the term | Fixed, but can be raised once in the 20-month term |
| Leaving early | 90, 180 or 270 days' simple interest on the principal | No penalty from seven days after funding | 180 days' simple interest on the principal |
| Partial withdrawal of principal | No | No | No |
All three carry the 10-Day CD Rate Guarantee, credit interest monthly and renew automatically at maturity.
Where the rates are published, and how a CD gets one
The CD rates page lists each term with its APY, its $500 minimum and whether a penalty applies, under the date the rates are "as of"; on 14 October 2026 that date was the day before. Its footnotes say the APY may change at any time before a CD is opened and funded. What happens after opening is set out in the agreement and the How Our CDs Work guide:
- The 10-Day CD Rate Guarantee. If the CD reaches $500 within 10 days of opening, which the agreement defines as opening day plus ten days, it gets the highest published rate and APY Marcus offered for that term during the period. If the $500 arrives later, it gets the rate available that day.
- When the rate locks. For High-Yield and Rate Bump CDs, on the day the $500 minimum is reached; later deposits in the funding window do not change it. A No-Penalty CD's rate locks the day it is funded with $500 or more.
- Fixed for the term, unless a rate bump is granted on a Rate Bump CD. Marcus's FAQ adds that its CDs are not callable.
- Interest accrues from the calendar day the CD reaches $500. The agreement's CD section says interest is credited to the CD monthly, in whole cents, and states no compounding frequency for CDs; Marcus's general FAQ answer on how it pays interest says interest "is compounded daily and credited monthly".
- Left in, or paid out. Interest stays in the CD unless you have it paid monthly, without penalty, to a Marcus Online Savings Account or a linked external account; the stated APY assumes it stays in.
For a yardstick, the FDIC's national CD rate table, which the FDIC publishes monthly, gives the official average by term.
Funding: $500, three clocks and the maturity date
A CD must be funded with at least $500 within 30 days of opening, or the bank may close it. High-Yield and Rate Bump CDs then take more deposits until 30 days after opening, and the term begins on the calendar day of the last deposit: the CD guide's example is a 1-year CD opened on 5 January 2023, topped up on 12 January 2023 and maturing on 12 January 2024. A No-Penalty CD takes nothing more once it reaches $500.
So three clocks start at opening. On illustrative dates, a 12-month High-Yield CD opened on 2 March 2026 that reaches $500 on 4 March starts earning interest and locks its rate that day, although the guarantee still gives it the highest published rate for the term through 12 March. If the rest of the money arrives on 20 March, inside the 30-day funding window, the rate does not change, the term begins on 20 March and the CD matures on 20 March 2027.
Money can come in by transfer from another bank or a Marcus Online Savings Account, by wire, or by cheque, which must be received and processed within the 30 days. Each owner is limited to $3,000,000 across all Marcus deposit accounts, with a joint balance split equally among its owners.
The early-withdrawal penalty, priced
No Marcus CD allows a partial withdrawal of principal. Leaving a High-Yield or Rate Bump CD early means withdrawing the entire principal, and the agreement then charges days of simple interest on the principal at the CD's rate:
| Term (agreement wording) | Penalty | Terms in the band on the 14 October table | On $10,000 at an illustrative 4.00% interest rate |
|---|---|---|---|
| Less than or equal to 1 year | 90 days' simple interest | 6, 9 and 12 months | $98.63 |
| More than 1 year to 5 years | 180 days' simple interest | 18 months to 5 years; the 20-month Rate Bump | $197.26 |
| More than 5 years | 270 days' simple interest | 6 years | $295.89 |
The 4.00% is an illustrative interest rate, not one taken from Marcus's table. The FAQ's formula is Interest Rate ÷ 365 (or 366) × Penalty Days × Original Principal Balance; the agreement adds that the penalty is calculated on the day the account is closed and "could result in the reduction of the principal". The formula uses the interest rate, a little below the APY, which includes compounding; APR vs APY explains the gap.
It is figured on the original principal. Credited interest can be withdrawn at any time without penalty, and taking it out does not change the penalty.
It can reach principal. Counting simple interest, a CD has earned exactly its penalty after 90, 180 or 270 days, about three, six or nine months. On the illustrative numbers, a 6-year CD closed after 120 days has earned about $131.51 against a $295.89 penalty, so about $9,835.62 comes back, $164.38 less than went in. If interest compounds daily, as Marcus's general FAQ answer says, it would add about 86 cents.
The bands jump. A 12-month CD costs 90 days to break and an 18-month one 180; a 5-year CD costs 180 days and a 6-year one 270. On the illustrative numbers, each step adds $98.63.
There is one waiver. No penalty is assessed if funds are withdrawn because the owner has died or is legally incompetent; the agreement names no other case. The grace period at maturity, below, is the other penalty-free exit.
On the early-withdrawal penalty page, this is the days-of-simple-interest shape, banded at one and five years and always on the whole principal. The CD rates calculator models a days-of-interest penalty on the whole deposit, working from the APY, and account holders get Marcus's own penalty calculator on the Account Details page.
The No-Penalty CD
Terms run from 7 to 13 months; the 14 October table listed 7, 11 and 13. The agreement bars withdrawals of principal for the first six calendar days after the $500 minimum is reached. From seven days after funding, the whole balance, interest included, can come out without a penalty, and the CD closes. Partial withdrawals are not permitted, and nothing can be added once the CD holds $500.
The exit is paid for in the rate rather than at the door. The no-penalty CD page prices that trade on illustrative numbers and explains where the six-day rule comes from; on Marcus's own table, the gap between a No-Penalty CD's APY and a High-Yield CD of a similar term on the same day is what the free exit costs there.
The Rate Bump CD
The CD guide describes Rate Bump terms from 20 to 30 months, but the Rate Bump page and the rate table on 14 October 2026 offered only 20 months, and the page says that for the 20-month term you may switch to a higher rate, if available, one time. The agreement and FAQ set out the rest:
- When. After the $500 minimum is reached and before maturity, but not while the CD is still eligible for the 10-Day Guarantee, which does not apply to bumps.
- To what. The highest rate and APY Marcus offers for the same Rate Bump term that day, and only if it is above yours.
- How. Online or by phone. Requests received by 6:00pm ET are processed no later than the next calendar day; later ones can take up to two calendar days.
- What does not change. The maturity date. The number of bumps depends on the term and is disclosed at opening; unused bumps do not carry over to a renewal.
- A second funding window. For up to 10 calendar days after a bump is executed, the agreement says, you may add money by ACH, cheque or internal transfer.
What a bump is worth depends on when it comes. On $10,000, an illustrative rise of half a percentage point is worth about $50 with 12 months of the term left and about $8.33 with two, before compounding, so a single bump trades the first rise against a larger one that may not come.
Maturity, renewal and the 10-day grace period
Marcus sends a maturity notice at least 30 days before the maturity date, and the date is on every monthly statement. Then:
- By default, the CD renews for the same term. The renewed principal includes interest left in the CD, and the renewal gets the highest rate and APY Marcus offers for that term during the grace period. If the term is no longer offered, it renews into the next shortest term on offer, unless Marcus specifies otherwise in a communication to you.
- The grace period. The agreement gives ten days beginning on the day the CD matures to withdraw all or part of the principal without penalty. Money withdrawn earns interest at the rate Marcus offers for the same term as of the maturity date, up to the day before it leaves.
- Early Instructions. Up to 12 months before maturity, in the CD Maturity Center online or by phone or chat, you can tell Marcus not to renew, or to renew with a different term or amount, and change that until the day before maturity. If the Early Instruction stands, there is no grace period.
A CD cannot be converted into another Marcus CD type; you close it at maturity and open the new one. And the bank may decline to renew with written notice at least 30 days before maturity; without a reply by the end of the grace period, the money may go to an existing Online Savings Account.
Who can open one, and how
The agreement requires an owner aged at least 18 with a Social Security Number or Individual Taxpayer Identification Number and a US street address, including addresses in the territories it names and military or diplomatic post addresses. Accounts are for natural persons and personal, family or household use, and cannot be opened in the name of a trust or other legal entity, or by a fiduciary. A joint CD can have up to four owners, all added at opening, and up to six payable-on-death beneficiaries can be named.
The High-Yield CD page says a CD opens in minutes and is managed online, with the Contact Center available 24 hours a day, 7 days a week; the agreement requires every owner to complete a Signature Card. No paper certificate is issued; a confirmation follows 10 days after the opening deposit arrives, and statements are monthly. Closing a CD with over $125,000 in it takes a phone call.
No Marcus page read on 14 October 2026 offered an IRA CD, and the agreement names only the three types above.
Insurance and the deposit limits
Goldman Sachs Bank USA is an FDIC member, and the FDIC's BankFind database lists it as an active insured bank, certificate 33124, the number Marcus's FAQ gives. The agreement states the cover in the FDIC's terms, per depositor, per FDIC-insured bank, per ownership category; the FAQ currently puts it at $250,000 for your individually owned accounts combined, $250,000 per owner on joint accounts and $250,000 per beneficiary on payable-on-death accounts, up to $1,250,000 per owner.
Insurance counts the bank, not the brand, and the agreement tells you to consider any other accounts you hold with the bank. So, illustratively, a $180,000 CD and $90,000 in Online Savings, both in one name with no beneficiary named, come to $270,000 in one category, $20,000 of it above the insured amount. Are CDs FDIC insured sets out the categories and the BankFind check. The general $1,000,000 limit per CD and the $3,000,000 per owner are the bank's own caps, not insurance limits.
What to confirm before opening
- The rates page on the day: the APY for your term and the date it is "as of".
- That $500 will arrive within 10 days if you want the guarantee, and the rest within 30 days, since the last deposit sets the maturity date.
- The penalty band for the term, and that you will not need part of the money early, since no Marcus CD allows a partial withdrawal of principal.
- Whether interest stays in or is paid out; payment instructions do not carry over to a renewed CD.
- Your maturity plan, since an Early Instruction removes the grace period.
- Everything you hold at Goldman Sachs Bank USA against the FDIC limit.
- The agreement's arbitration clause, which can be rejected by phone or mail within 90 days of opening.
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