Need your CD money early — or tempted by a better rate elsewhere? Enter your CD's terms and this calculator shows the penalty in dollars, what you'd walk away with, and whether breaking the CD beats riding it out.
Penalty cost
$200.00
6 months of interest on $10,000
Interest earned so far
$264.92
after 8 months
You'd walk away with
$10,064.92
net proceeds after the penalty
✗ Keeping the CD comes out ahead
Ride out the current CD to maturity: $10,816.00. Break it now, pay the penalty, and reinvest at 5% for the remaining 16 months: $10,741.45. Difference: $74.55.
Uses the most common penalty formula — a fixed number of months of simple interest on the principal, charged even if you haven't earned that much yet (which can eat into your principal). Check your CD's disclosure: penalty terms vary by bank.
Banks typically charge a CD early withdrawal penalty as a fixed number of months of interest — commonly 3 months for short CDs and 6–12 months for longer terms. This tool computes that penalty in dollars, subtracts it from your balance to show net proceeds, and then answers the real question: if you reinvested those proceeds at a new, higher rate for the CD's remaining months, would you come out ahead of simply holding to maturity?
The break-even depends on three things: how big the rate jump is, how much time is left on the CD, and how harsh the penalty is. Early in a long CD with a large rate jump, breaking often wins; late in the term, it almost never does. The comparison box above does that math for your exact numbers.
If you withdraw before you've earned as much interest as the penalty, most banks take the difference out of your principal — you can genuinely get back less than you deposited. Check your CD's Truth in Savings disclosure for the exact formula. If flexibility matters to you, compare a CD ladder or a plain high-yield savings account before locking in.
Most banks charge a set number of months of simple interest on the amount withdrawn — e.g., 6 months of interest on a 2-year CD. The formula is: principal × (annual rate ÷ 12) × penalty months. Some banks use days of interest or a percentage of principal instead, so always check your disclosure.
Yes. If the penalty exceeds the interest you've earned so far — common in the first months of a CD — most banks deduct the shortfall from your principal, so you can receive back less than you deposited.
Only if the extra interest at the new rate, earned over the CD's remaining term, exceeds the penalty. This calculator runs that exact comparison. As a rule of thumb, it's most likely to pay off early in a long CD when rates have jumped significantly.
Yes — no-penalty CDs let you withdraw after a short initial window (often 7 days) with no fee, in exchange for a slightly lower APY. They're worth comparing if you think you might need the money.
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