A nine-month certificate of deposit at Marcus by Goldman Sachs pays 4.30% APY, while the twelve-month CD pays only 3.90%, so three extra months of waiting are rewarded with a rate 0.40 percentage points lower. The rates come from Marcus’s own CD page, which was dated Sept. 29, 2026 when it was read on Sept. 30. The odd shape of that rate ladder is more useful to a household than either number alone.
A dip in the ladder at twelve months
Ordinarily a longer CD pays more, because the saver gives up access for longer. The Marcus high-yield CD page shows a different pattern. The six-month CD is listed at 3.95%, the nine-month at 4.30% and the twelve-month at 3.90%. The 18-month, two-, three-, four-, five- and six-year CDs are all listed at 4.35%.
Strictly speaking, only the stretch from nine to twelve months is inverted, a shorter term paying more than a longer one. Beyond a year the curve turns back up to a flat 4.35% for every term through six years, so the twelve-month CD is the weak spot rather than the start of a general downtrend. Every term carries the same $500 minimum deposit.
What the inversion suggests for choosing a term
The page does not explain Marcus’s reasoning and no Marcus spokesperson is quoted on it, so the reasons behind the shape are not reported here. What can be said from the listed rates is what each choice does for a saver.
Someone who wants cash back within a year has a clear pick in the nine-month CD, which beats both the six-month and twelve-month rates. Someone who can leave money alone for 18 months or longer gets the highest listed rate, 4.35%, without having to guess how long the nine-month rate will last. The twelve-month CD is the only term on the page that looks hard to justify on rate alone.
Dollars on $10,000, worked through
Simple interest on $10,000 at 4.30% for nine months comes to about $322.50. At 3.90% for twelve months the same deposit earns about $390, ignoring compounding. The longer CD therefore still produces more total dollars, $67.50 more, because it runs three months longer.
The fair comparison is what the nine-month money does for the remaining three months. To match the twelve-month CD’s $390 total, the $10,322.50 coming back at month nine would need to earn about $67.50 over one quarter, an annualized rate of roughly 2.6%. If a saver can renew or place that money at a rate above about 2.6%, the nine-month route comes out ahead; if not, the twelve-month CD wins. Those figures are illustrations built from the advertised APYs, and they rest on the assumption that rates at month nine are unknown.
Early-withdrawal penalties, from Marcus’s own terms
The CD page says penalties “that may reduce CD earnings will apply to a withdrawal of principal prior to maturity” and points to the CD terms. Those terms, in the Marcus CD guide, set the penalty by term length. For a CD of one year or less it is 90 days of interest on the original principal balance at the CD’s own rate. From more than one year up to five years it is 180 days, and above five years it is 270 days.
Applied to $10,000, the 90-day penalty is about $106 on the nine-month CD at 4.30% and about $96 on the twelve-month CD at 3.90%, using the guide’s formula of interest rate divided by 365, times penalty days, times original principal. A saver who withdraws a month into either CD will have earned about $35 or $32 in interest, so the penalty exceeds what has accrued. The guide does not say plainly whether the difference comes out of principal, and the CD page’s wording is that penalties “may reduce CD earnings.”
Rate guarantee, renewal and grace period
Two features change what the listed rate means in practice. The 10-day rate guarantee says that if a CD account reaches the $500 minimum within 10 days of opening, the account receives the highest published rate and APY during that window. The page also warns that APY “may change before CD is opened and funded,” so the 4.30% and 3.90% are what was displayed Sept. 30, not a fixed price.
At maturity, the default is automatic renewal for the same term, according to the page, with maturity instructions adjustable through the CD Maturity Center until 8:30 p.m. Eastern the day before maturity. The CD guide adds a 10-day grace period after maturity for withdrawals without penalty on high-yield CDs. A nine-month CD that rolls over untouched becomes another nine-month CD at whatever Marcus is paying that day.
Taxes and the deposit insurance behind the rate
CD interest is taxable in the year it becomes available. The IRS says in Topic No. 403 that interest from certificates of deposit counts, and that all taxable interest belongs on a federal return whether or not a Form 1099-INT arrives. The Marcus page describes the deposits as issued by Goldman Sachs Bank USA, Member FDIC.
The source for every rate above is one page: Marcus’s own CD table, showing 4.30% at nine months, 3.90% at twelve months and 4.35% from 18 months through six years, each with a $500 minimum.
Working out the senior deduction and the RMD schedule
Households near or in retirement face separate tax questions that a savings or CD rate does not settle, such as whether Social Security benefits are taxed and when a required minimum distribution has to be taken. Those questions turn on a household’s own income figures.
The Retirement Tax & Withdrawal Planner also lays out the senior deduction, the IRMAA appeal route (SSA-44) and the account withdrawal order, so a retiree can sort those items on paper.
Open the four calculators in The Retirement Tax & Withdrawal Planner →
AI tools assisted in drafting this article, which was reviewed against Marcus’s published CD terms.
