CD Renewal / Rollover Calculator
Auto-renewal is convenient and usually below market. Set the better rate elsewhere against the days your cash spends in transit.
Renewal resets the rate, it does not continue it
The 4.40% that drew you in was a promotional rate for new money. At maturity the default renewal is the bank’s standard posted rate for that term — check your maturity notice and it is frequently a point or more lower. On $25,000, renewing at 3.60% instead of moving to 4.40% elsewhere costs roughly $200 a year. The bank is betting on your inertia, and the grace period is your window to decline the bet.
The transfer gap matters less than people fear. Five days out of the market at 4.40% costs about $15 per $25,000 — noise beside a $200 annual difference.
When renewing really is fine
Three honest cases: the renewal rate sits within a few hundredths of the best national offer (which happens, especially at online banks); the balance is small enough that the difference is beer money; or the CD is one rung of a ladder you rebalance annually anyway and this year’s rung happens to renew well. Otherwise, ten minutes of paperwork pays better than almost anything else in personal finance.