Doral Bank Leading the Pack on 1 Year CD Rates

Doral Bank Direct has received a decent amount of attention on BankVibe over the years. Like many online banks, they snag new customers by offering highly competitive interest rates on their savings accounts and CDs. Today, they are offering the best annual percentage yield on 1 year CDs with an APY of 1.15%. Keep in mind, you’ll need to make a minimum deposit of $1000 to take advantage of their deposit products.

Additional Terms and Conditions Regarding Doral Bank Direct’s CD Rates:

- The interest you accrue is compounded daily.

- While interest rates are currently meager across the board, Doral Bank will allow you to withdrawal your interest, if need be, without imposing any penalty.

- If you need to withdrawal a portion of the principal before your deposit’s maturity, you will incur a penalty fee.

Related: Read our full review of Doral Bank Direct here.

Another slightly weird thing to note is that Doral Bank will require you to send back the original certificate of deposit that they’ll be sending you upon opening this account. You’ll need to send this back upon maturity and give them fair warning that you’re looking to cash out of the CD before it matures. If you forget to do this they’ll likely roll it over into another CD with the same terms.

If you haven’t read our review, you’ll also want to note that Doral Bank is now based out of Puerto Rico with 34 branches in that country, however, they still have a presence in New York, Florida and Oregon and control roughly $10 billion in assets. Early this year they were featured in our coverage of the highest CD rates available in Florida but they now offer their deposits online to consumers throughout the country. Doral Bank Direct is federally insured by the FDIC up to $250,000.

Florida Credit Unions: Who offers the Best CD Rates?

When surveying all the banking institutions’ rates whom open their doors to Floridians, we found that (surprisingly) the best CD rates are offered through banks rather than credit unions. This is slightly odd and out of line with many other states whose regional credit unions tend to offer the best bank rates for both savings accounts and loans. Because credit unions are not-for-profit banking institutions whose profits are typically entitled to it’s staff and members (rather than shareholders), they usually offer better CD rates. Deposits and other savings vehicles offered through credit unions are insured by the NCUA (FDIC equivalent) and your funds qualify for the same sort of protection.

Related: Read our full write-up of Credit Union CD Rates in 2011 OR compare the featured rates below with some of the best online savings rates in 2011.

Best CD Rates from Florida Credit Unions:

The best CD rates we found offered through Florida Credit Unions were a 12 month CD by American Airlines Federal Credit Union (1.26% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required) and a 36 month CD offered through Community South Credit Union (2.00% APY with a minimum deposit of $500 required).

Compare the above with the best CD rates from Florida banks – which currently boasts a 12 month CD yielding 1.40% APY and a 36 month CD yielding 2.12% APY, from Doral Bank and Broward Bank of Commerce, respectively.

To put the offers above in perspective, the average APY for 1 year CDs and 3 year CDs sits at roughly 0.90% and 1.40% respectively.

More Noteworthy CD Rates from Credit Unions in Florida:

(Rates accurate as of May 2011. Visit our CD rates center for all updated rates and information.)

- 6 month CD from FOCUS Credit Union offering an APY of 1.01% and a minimum deposit of $500.

- 24 month CD from America Airlines Federal Credit Union offering an APY of 1.76% and a minimum deposit of $10,000.

- 48 month CD from Pen Air Federal Credit Union offering an APY of 2.25% and a minimum deposit of $500.

Doral Bank Direct’s CD Rates – One Exceptional APY

Every once in a while a reader will forward us a promotional CD rate from Doral Bank (based out of Puerto Rico) featuring a sensational interest rate and APY. This time around BankVibe.com reader Joshua sent us their latest offer – a 12 month CD yielding 1.40% APY. This online CD comes with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000 and can be opened by mail as well. To put this offer in perspective, the current national average for 12 month CD rates sits at just 0.90% APY.

For those who are unfamiliar with Doral Bank Direct, they are the online channel of Doral Bank, the main subsidiary of Doral Financial Corporation (NYSE:DRL), a $10 billion diversified financial services company with operations in Puerto Rico, New York, Florida and Oregon. While many savers get sketched out by investing large sums of money in a bank headquartered in Puerto Rico we should note that they are federally insured by the FDIC and funds up to $250,000 are protected under this insurance.

In recent posts covering Doral Bank and Doral Bank Direct, we’ve seen a number of comments complaining about their lack of responsiveness and overall discontent with the customer service department. So if you are going after their high yield 12 month CD, we’d suggest doing some due diligence beforehand. Also, make sure to let them know ahead of time if you wish to cash out after the 1 year period is over as your funds may automatically lock into another 12 month CD.

Complete List of Doral Bank CD Rates:

(As you can see Doral Bank offers quite modest returns on pretty much every CD besides their 12 month offer – with 6 month and 18 month CD’s providing the same interest rates as well as 3 year CDs through 5 year CDs.)

- 6 month CD yielding 0.75% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 9 month CD yielding 0.75% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 12 month CD yielding 1.40% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 18 month CD yielding 0.75% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 24 month CD yielding 1.00% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 36 month CD yielding 1.25% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 48 month CD yielding 1.25% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

- 60 month CD yielding 1.25% APY with a minimum deposit requirement of $1,000.

If you have experience in banking with Doral Bank or Doral Bank Direct, please share by leaving a comment.

Doral Bank Direct: CD rates and Review

Doral Bank, based out of New York, regularly offers competitive CD rates through their online banking division – Doral Bank Direct.

Doral Bank Direct is a wholly owned subsidiary of Doral Financial Corporation. (NYSE: DRL), a diversified financial services company headquartered in Puerto Rico with 35 years in the banking industry. However, although they are headquartered in Puerto Rico, they are still member FDIC and your deposits are federally insured up to $250,000. Doral Bank has offices in 3 states including Florida, New York and Oregon and offer a wide range of financial services with over $10 billion in total assets.

Doral is well known for community involvement. According to their website, their community programs have earned them local and international awards for “health, art education, environment, human trafficking, financial education, and economic development.”

Doral Bank Direct Current CD Rates

(Rates no longer accurate. Visit out CD rates center for updated rates, terms and conditions from the leading banks and credit unions around the country.)

- 6 month CD yielding 1.25% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 9 month CD yielding 1.40% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 12 month CD yielding 1.90% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 18 month CD yielding 1.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 24 month CD yielding 1.75% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 36 month CD yielding 2.00% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 48 month CD yielding 2.25% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

- 60 month CD yielding 2.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $1,000 required.

Although some of the above products are not offering higher rates than the national averages, most of the rates associated with the short-duration products (ie: 6 months through 2 years) are signifantly higher than national average rates. To put the above offers in perspective, the national average for 6 month CDs, 12 month CDs, and 3 year CDs are 0.92% APY, 1.34% APY, and 2.07% APY respectively.

Features, Terms and Conditions:

	$1,000 minimum opening deposit.
	Maintain a minimum daily balance of $1,000 to earn the effective APY*.
	Six (6) month to sixty (60) month terms.
	Interest compounded daily and credited quarterly.
	Withdraw your credited interest earnings without penalty.
	Guaranteed rate for the entire CD term.
	Early withdrawal penalties apply.