How much interest can a $15,000 short-term CD account earn if opened this July?

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Whether you have a small amount of money saved in your bank account now or a larger, five-figure amount, maintaining full access to those funds remains critically important. With interest rates keeping borrowing costs high, inflation still problematic and job growth mixed, forgoing access to your funds doesn't seem like a particularly advantageous move to make this July. At the same time, simply keeping the money in a traditional savings account with an average rate of 0.38% now – when there are multiple accounts offering exponentially higher rates – doesn't make much sense, either.

Fortunately, there is an account type that comes with an elevated rate and return without mandating long-term loss of access to your money: a short-term certificate of deposit (CD) account. This account type will hit its maturity date sometime over the next 12 months while earning a competitive return for savers in the interim. That, in turn, could make it a particularly attractive option for those who have higher amounts like $15,000 already saved and readily available to transfer into this account type. Before getting started, though, it helps to know the interest-earning potential associated with a short-term CD with this much money deposited. And that's simple to calculate thanks to the CD's fixed interest rate.

So, how much interest can a $15,000 short-term CD account actually earn if opened this July? That's what we'll calculate.

Earn more interest on your money with a high-rate CD account here.

CD account interest rates will change based on the term, or length, of the account as well as the lender servicing the account. This is why it's so important for prospective accountholders to shop around before getting started to ensure that they find the most profitable option.

Here's how much interest a $15,000 short-term CD account can earn if opened this July, calculated against the top rates available with four different terms and the assumption that no account fees or penalties are issued against the account before it matures:

Savers can easily earn close to $150 with a short-term CD account of this size over the next 90 days or so and more than $620 should they open a 1-year version. That said, the ability to maintain an account of this size will vary from saver to saver so it's critical to crunch these numbers before getting started as an early withdrawal fee, depending on the lender, may be equivalent to all of the interest earned on the