I opened 2 CDs last week - each about 5 days apart. Sometimes you have to wait a while for customer service but when you do get them on the phone they handle any problems right away. Their rate of 5.80 is one of the best and I think well worth the small inconvenience.

Seattle Bank permits funding of CDs by ACH from an external account. But not so at maturity. The only way you can get your funds back at maturity is cashiers check or wire transfers, they tell me. Their fee schedule indicates this will cost $5 (and snail mail delay) or $25, respectively. Of course, the conventional work-around for online banks that do this is to open a Money Market account and use that to receive, then transfer CD maturity proceeds using online banking. Unfortunately, Seattle bank has brick and mortar interest rates on their MMF. They aren't really a (full service) internet bank; they are a brick and mortar operation with selected promotional rates online. I should note that their customer service by email was responsive. I had an answer to my early morning pre-opening questions within 15 minutes of their stated opening banking hours. Unfortunately, those questions should have included how to get my money back! The on-line account opening experience was efficient (and less complicated than most others) and they don't bother with test deposits. Once they approve your CD application, they just initiate the ACH transfer. I completed my CD application on a Thursday morning and the CD was opened and funded (on the next) Monday. UPDATE: I have now redeemed several CDs at maturity and they did not charge a fee for the cashiers check.