Bank APYs Hold Steady as a New 4.50% CD Enters the Market

Executive summary. Deposit pricing was stable among products with verified prior observations: all 36 exact-comparable rates checked today were unchanged. The expanded OnlineBankRates universe nevertheless uncovered a new 4.50% five-year credit-union certificate. Treasury yields remain substantially higher than most bank deposits, while the latest mortgage benchmark remains above 7%.

Today's Numbers

Benchmark or index	Latest	Observation date
Effective federal funds	3.88%	Sept. 28
SOFR	3.88%	Sept. 29
Bank prime	7.00%	Sept. 28
2-year Treasury	4.89%	Sept. 29
5-year Treasury	5.06%	Sept. 29
10-year Treasury	5.26%	Sept. 29
30-year fixed mortgage	7.03%	Sept. 24
OBR Savings Index	3.79% APY	Sept. 30
OBR 12-Month CD Index	3.90% APY	Sept. 30
Best Cash Yield	4.25% APY	Current verified panel
Best money-market rate	4.05% APY	Current verified panel
Best CD/certificate rate	4.50% APY	Current verified panel

Rate Environment

Deposit rates are broadly stable, while borrowing benchmarks are mixed but elevated. Today's exact-comparable deposit panel recorded 0 increases, 0 cuts and 36 unchanged rates. SOFR eased two basis points, the two-year Treasury declined three basis points, and the 10-year Treasury increased two basis points.

Biggest Moves

No institution-level increase or cut qualifies for publication today. Daily verified breadth was 0 increases / 36 unchanged / 0 cuts, or 0% rising / 100% unchanged / 0% falling. Newly captured rates from Coastal Credit Union, Flagstar Bank and mph.bank establish baselines and are not treated as rate changes. For the seven days through September 30, the verified change ledger contains no qualifying increase or cut since September 23. The last recorded move remains CFG Bank's 25-basis-point money-market increase observed September 22, now outside the seven-day window.

Where Savers Are Winning

Morgan Stanley Private Bank leads the current liquid-savings panel at 4.25% APY, subject to promotional and relationship conditions. Axos and Happen Bank follow at 4.21% and 4.20%; Newtek's 4.20% is the strongest captured nonrelationship savings rate. CFG Bank leads money markets at 4.05%. Coastal Credit Union enters the database with a 4.50% five-year certificate, subject to membership eligibility. CIBC Bank USA leads the current 12-month panel at 4.35% APY.

See today's best CD rates and best savings rates.

Borrower Watch

Freddie Mac's latest 30-year mortgage average is 7.03%, up eight basis points from 6.95% one week earlier. Against the September 29 10-year Treasury yield of 5.26%, the mortgage-Treasury spread is approximately 177 basis points. Prime-linked borrowing remains expensive at 7.00%, while SOFR's two-basis-point daily decline represents only modest easing in overnight secured funding.

Yield Curve / CD Strategy

Treasuries currently outyield the strongest comparable bank deposits in the captured panel. At roughly one year, the Treasury yield is 4.58% versus a 4.35% leading CD; at two years, 4.89% versus 4.40%; at five years, 5.06% versus 4.50%. Liquid savings tops out at 4.25%, below the one-year Treasury yield but without a fixed maturity. Liquidity, early-withdrawal penalties, eligibility, deposit insurance and tax treatment remain important differences.

Maturity	Treasury	Best captured deposit	Treasury advantage
~1 year	4.58%	4.35%	23 bps
~2 years	4.89%	4.40%	49 bps
~5 years	5.06%	4.50%	56 bps

Bank Behavior

The refreshed exact-comparable panel consisted primarily of online-oriented institutions, and all 36 observations were unchanged. Newly added credit-union and bank products were excluded from breadth because they lack prior comparable observations. A statistically balanced comparison among online banks, credit unions and large traditional banks is not yet available, so the Online-vs-National Bank Premium and fastest-moving institution category remain unpublished rather than inferred from an uneven sample.

OnlineBankRates Takeaway

Bank deposit rates did not move today among products with valid prior comparisons, even though the broader rate environment remains elevated. The best verified liquid-savings offers are around 4.20% to 4.25%, while the strongest newly captured certificate reaches 4.50%. Treasury yields, however, remain higher at one-, two- and five-year maturities, so a CD does not automatically deliver the market's highest nominal return. Borrowers continue to face a tougher backdrop: prime is 7% and the latest 30-year mortgage benchmark is above 7%. The key signal is stability rather than repricing — banks in today's comparable panel held their rates, while the apparent changes in OnlineBankRates indexes came from adding institutions, not from existing banks changing APYs.

Proprietary Metrics

OnlineBankRates metric	Sept. 30 reading	Daily interpretation
Savings Index	3.79%	Down ~2 bps from panel expansion
12-Month CD Index	3.90%	Up ~2 bps from panel expansion
Bank Rate Breadth	0% / 100% / 0%	36 exact comparisons
Fed Pass-Through Score	1.3% provisional	Little verified deposit response
Online-vs-National Premium	Pending	Group sample remains unbalanced
Best Cash Yield	4.25%	Highest fresh liquid-savings APY; promotional

Data Coverage

Coverage measure	Sept. 30 result
Institutions before refresh	38
Newly verified institutions	3
Institutions after refresh	41
Bank Verified observations appended	64
Exact-comparable observations	36
New baseline observations	28
Historical Bank Verified observations	520
Third Party Verified observations	0
Stale observations appended today	2
Hard scrape failures	0
Remaining discovery queue	8

Methodology. The Savings Index averages each institution's highest captured savings APY once per institution. The CD Index uses each institution's best comparable 12-month CD or certificate. Bank Rate Breadth counts only exact product, term, tier, relationship and geography matches. Best Cash Yield excludes checking accounts and stale observations. Fed Pass-Through compares average verified deposit-rate movement with the cumulative change in effective federal funds. Rates may change without notice, and balance, membership, activity or geographic conditions may apply.