Live Oak Bank 1-Year Personal CDs
Fixed 1-year rate with monthly interest payments
Updated August 24, 2026 · By the MoneyAtlas Editorial Team
on Live Oak Bank's site
Why we rate it 4.0/5
A competitive one-year rate with an honest catch: you need $2,500 to get in, and Live Oak pays the interest out monthly instead of compounding it to maturity.
No monthly maintenance fee and nothing deducted over the term, but $2,500 is needed to open.
A single one-year consumer term; no published ladder of shorter or longer CD options.
U.S.-based phone support, with first-call resolution above 90% by the bank's own reporting.
Open online, track maturity dates and set renewal preferences entirely from the account dashboard.
Online-only bank with no branches and no ATM access; every dollar moves by electronic transfer.
Live Oak Bank's one-year personal CD pays 4.10% APY* on a $2,500 minimum deposit, with no monthly maintenance fee and interest paid out automatically each month rather than held to maturity. It is an online-only account from a Wilmington, North Carolina bank better known to business owners than to savers, and deposits are FDIC Insured* up to $250,000 per depositor.
At a Glance
Where 4.10% actually sits
At the one-year mark, 4.10% is near the top of the range we track — but it is not alone up there. Synchrony's certificate pays 4.00%, and Barclays and Western Alliance both sit at 4.00%; Quontic is further back at 3.75%. Look across full CD ladders rather than the one-year point and the picture shifts: Bread and Quorum both quote 4.20% on a headline term, and E*TRADE advertises up to 4.35%.
The practical read: if you are specifically buying a one-year CD and you can clear the minimum, Live Oak's rate is competitive enough that the decision comes down to the two things below — the $2,500 gate and the monthly payout.
Compare
The $2,500 minimum is the real trade-off
Live Oak's own savings account opens at a penny. The CD asks for $2,500 up front, and that gap is the single biggest thing separating this account from the rest of the shelf. If you have less than that — or if reaching it would mean emptying an emergency fund — the CD is the wrong product. Live Oak's high-yield savings account pays 3.90% APY* on any balance and stays liquid. Twenty basis points is not worth locking up money you might need.
Monthly interest payments change what this CD is for
Most CDs compound interest inside the account and hand you the whole balance at maturity. Live Oak pays interest out every month instead. Which way that cuts depends entirely on what the money is for. If you are using the CD as an income instrument — a retiree drawing on savings, say — a monthly payment is exactly what you want. If you are trying to maximise the ending balance, a monthly payout means the interest stops earning interest the moment it leaves the account, so you would need to reinvest it somewhere to keep compounding.
One tax note either way: CD interest is taxable in the year you receive it, not the year the CD matures, and it is reported to you on a 1099-INT. Paying out monthly does not change what you owe in total, but on a one-year term it does put the income in the current tax year rather than deferring any of it.
Is Live Oak Bank safe?
Live Oak Bank is a Wilmington, North Carolina–chartered bank and one of the country's largest SBA small-business lenders, which is why the name is more familiar to business owners than to savers. Deposits are FDIC Insured* up to $250,000 per depositor, per insured bank, for each ownership category — the same protection any other insured bank carries. Live Oak also runs two-factor authentication and real-time fraud monitoring on consumer accounts.
It is online-only. There are no branches and no ATM network attached to the CD, so funding and withdrawal both run through electronic transfer. Live Oak says its U.S.-based support team resolves more than 90% of issues on the first call; that is the bank's own figure, not an independently audited one.
Who it's best for
- Savers with $2,500 or more they will not touch for a year. The rate is competitive at the one-year point and no fee eats into it.
- Anyone who wants the interest paid out rather than locked in. Automatic monthly payments are unusual on a one-year term and genuinely useful if the CD is funding something.
- People who want a chartered bank rather than a fintech. Live Oak holds its own charter and its own FDIC insurance, not a partner bank's.
Who should skip it
- Anyone under the $2,500 minimum, or anyone who would drain a cash buffer to reach it. Live Oak's savings account pays 3.90% APY* on any balance and stays liquid.
- Savers chasing the single highest rate on the board. Bread and Quorum quote 4.20% and E*TRADE advertises up to 4.35% on parts of its ladder.
Savings or a CD at Live Oak?
The gap between Live Oak's CD and its high-yield savings account is 20 basis points — 4.10% against 3.90%. That is a narrower spread than most banks put between locked and liquid money, which makes this a decision about certainty rather than yield. The CD fixes your rate for the full year; the savings rate is variable and will move down if the Fed cuts. If you are confident you will not need the money, take the fixed rate. If there is real doubt, 20 basis points does not cover the cost of breaking the term.
FAQ
Pros
Competitive one-year rate: 4.10% APY* beats most of the one-year CDs we track, including Synchrony, Barclays and Western Alliance at 4.00%.
No monthly maintenance fee: nothing is deducted from the balance across the term, so the quoted APY is what the money actually earns.
Interest paid out monthly: automatic monthly disbursements rather than one lump sum at maturity, which is unusual on a one-year CD and genuinely useful if you need the income.
Cons
$2,500 to open: a high gate next to Live Oak's own savings account, which starts earning at a penny, and next to CDs that carry no minimum at all.
Online-only, no branches: there is no ATM access and no cash deposit option; funding and withdrawal both run through electronic transfer.
Not the highest rate on the board: Bread and Quorum quote 4.20% and E*TRADE advertises up to 4.35% on parts of its ladder, so rate-chasers can do better.