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CD Rate Interest Calculator
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When you look at the best CD rates, you will see that many of them are for periods other than 12 months. Some have 6, some have 18, and the bottom line is that you want to figure out how much money you’ll get for the money you deposit. Enter in the CD rate interest calculator. Here’s the information you’ll need:
- Interest rate APY (if you have APR, convert it with this APR APY Calculator)
- CD term (number of months)
- Amount deposited (no commas or dollar signs please)
- Compounding frequency (times per year) – 1 for annually, 12 for monthly, etc.
If you don’t have compounding frequency, don’t worry about it because changing that will only affect the interest earned value by a small amount. When in doubt, pick monthly compounding frequency.
(If you have the APY and the term is 12 months, the interest you’ll earn is simply the APY times the amount deposited)
CD Rate Interest Calculator
Here’s a handy calculator to help you calculate the amount you’ll earn:
For example, let’s say you wanted to know how much you’ll put in your pocket with a deposit of $10,000 into a 18-month 2.05% APY CD from Ally Bank. You would enter the following values into the calculator:
- CD Interest rate: 2.05
- CD term: 18
- Amount deposited: 10000
- Compounding frequency: 365
Click “Calculate CD Interest” and you’ll see that you’ll have earned $309.07 after 18 months. This is only a rough estimate (it’ll be off a little because of how the numbers are rounded) but should give you a good idea of what to expect. And don’t forget about taxes. 
Enjoy!
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Doesn’t APY already account for the compounding frequency? That would explain why, when I change the frequency, I still get the same answer.
Yes, which makes calculating for 12 months a not any different than straight multiplication.
Right, but even for longer terms, the frequency field is extraneous. If you asked for APR, then it would make sense to include the frequency field, but APY already accounts for that.
The APY accounts for that for 12 months, but for 18 you don’t just cut the APY in half and apply it to the extra 6 months. The period still matters because you have to bring it down to APR and then calculate it across the number of months the CD is valid for.
Ah, good point.
This is nice and all, but can you add some lines to the equation to factor in taxes and inflation so we get a net-net return.
4% apy CD, 12 months-taxes-inflation= negative what?
$605.96-20% for federal taxes-3% for state taxes-4% simple inflation= what number. A negative number?
Taxes and inflation are outside the scope and purpose of this calculator. Inflation is also something that’s constantly changing, I don’t think most users of the calculator will be concerned with looking up inflation rates before making their decisions. CDs are just part of one’s investment strategy, the safe part.
Jim I still can’t get it to give me the interest erned.Message “Please enter a valid APY period value”
I put in the interest 2.00% for 11 Mo 25,000.& 365 (I also added days along w/the 365.)& still get same message what am I doing wrong?
Thanks
Don’t put anything in the fields besides numbers, otherwise it gets confused.
So the “caculate interest.. Is this yearly or monthly? I put 12 in the compound frequency. Thanks in advance.
The calculator returns earned interest for the entire life of the cd, which is an input variable.
Okay, I put 11,100 in a cd in a bank that will earn 1.99% APY for the term of 9 months. Yet after 3.5 full months, now it has only earned 13.95.
what is with that? Also I put 10,000 in a cd in another bank for 1.59% for 2 year term and after 3 months it earned 30.00. That calculates to 1.21%. What is going on please? thanks.
If my APY is 0.3505% , is that what i put in the AYP ? or would i put 35?? This stuff barely makes sense to me :0
Corrie,
you enter .3505 in to the AYP
why is everyone so confused on how to use this? it is the most straight-foward thing i have ever seen
I totally agree with Mike. Thanks again Jim.
The confusion lies in the fact that people don’t understand decimals. My bank reports 0.45% APY (Annual Percentage Yield on a 12 month cd. This means the cd is based on a compounding period of 1 year/12 months. 0.45% literally means just .05% shy of being a whopping 1/2 of 1% of earned interest. Sadly due to inflation currently resting at approximately 3.8% thanks to the people calling the shots in this country, my 1 year cd of $3000 will be worth $2,901 when it mattures. This tells me that I need to find an alternative investment option that can produce greater than 5.5% ROI unless I’m ok with donating money to the bank and government. (Which I’m not.) Federal reserve… eat your heart out. The people will learn of your secret and understand…. THIS. IS. AMERICA!!!