We have all heard stories about hidden bank fees from ATMs and overdrafts, but there is another fee that savers need to worry about and that is the early withdrawal penalty of a certificate of deposit (CD). This penalty usually varies depending on the length of cd and what bank the cd is with. Usually for a long term CD the typical penalty is six months of interest. However, the early withdrawal penalty at Chase Bank is much more severe.
Last year if you had a CD at 5% with WaMu and that CD is now maturing as a Chase CD, it is very important to NOT allow it to automatically renew. You have a choice to not allow your CD to renew automatically, while some banks do not practice auto renewed cds, there are still those banks who like to keep your money as long as they can. This story comes from the site Bank Deals who reported about Chase’s early withdrawal penalty.
“A friend of mine had a Chase/WaMu CD flip over. It used to be at WaMu. To Cancel this Chase $100k CD, Chase wants $3k + $25. At the new interest rate of 0.20 for 12 months, that is a 15 YEAR interest penalty for canceling the CD. I know of no other bank in the world that charges this.”
Let’s say if you are on vacation and your $100k CD or even a $10k CD is coming up to maturity date. If you forget to close the CD during the grace period or the CD automatically renews, you will be liable for the early withdrawal penalty if you decide to try to get out of a second CD term. As Bank Deals’ reader found out, the penalty is much more than the usual six months of interest. Here is Chase’s disclosure (page 11), of the early withdrawal penalty for a 12 month CD:
‘For terms of one year or more, the early withdrawal penalty is equal to $25 plus 3% of the amount withdrawn.’
Plus your penalty may eat into the principal:
‘Early withdrawal penalties may require a reduction in the principle amount if the amount of accrued and unpaid interest on the deposit is less than the penalty.’
So by missing the grace period and doing an early withdrawal of the full amount, you will have to pay a large penalty to get your money out of the CD. An example is a $10k CD for more than 1 year you will have to pay a fee of $325.
Currently the Chase CD rates are not competitive, you can easily find better deals, higher interest and less penalties by going with a different bank.
Chase’s standard 12 month CD rate for Texas is only 0.25%, which you can find better rates just by searching for them. One positive note about Chase is they are a very financially sound bank and your money will be safe.
