Updated April 2024. Navy Federal Credit Union is the nation’s largest credit union, with a long history of serving active military members. More recently, they have expanded their field of membership to include veterans and family members of veterans. NavyFed often offers special rates and/or features on their share certificates. Here’s a recent example:
- Special 18-month EasyStart Certificate at 4.70% APY. Open with as little as $50. No maximum balance. Make additional deposits any time. You also get a single early withdrawal with no penalty.
I opened one with the $50 minimum because I thought the optionality was neat. If rates drop drastically, I’ll have the ability to add unlimited additional funds at 4.70% APY. If rates rise drastically, I can withdraw it all at once with no penalty. If nothing big happens (most likely scenario), I’ll only have committed $50. I already have other products with NavyFed, so it didn’t require any additional paperwork.
The Best Credit Card Bonus Offers – March 2024
Big List of Free Stocks from Brokerage Apps
Best Interest Rates on Cash - March 2024
Free Credit Scores x 3 + Free Credit Monitoring
Best No Fee 0% APR Balance Transfer Offers
Little-Known Cellular Data Plans That Can Save Big Money
How To Haggle Your Cable or Direct TV Bill
Big List of Free Consumer Data Reports (Credit, Rent, Work)
Jonathan….I was about half way through their application process when I decided to check their reviews….which range from somewhat mixed to somewhat terrible especially on Yelp.
And then when I got down to their terms and conditions I noticed that an e-Checking account carries a $5/month fee which seems to be required to open a CD.
Looking beyond the 3.5% rate which sure looks attractive right now do you think the whole
package is really worth the effort?
Any predictions for the July 30th Fed meeting? It would seem with 224,000 new jobs this month there is no logical reason for another cut. But as soon as that number came out, Mass Media changed the entire narrative to an “insurance rate cut”. In my whole life I never heard of the Fed making an “insurance rate cut.
Any thoughts on which way they will go?
I don’t use NavyFed as my primary checking account, so I don’t really have a lot of customer service interactions with them. For my purposes, they have been fine.
I have the Free EveryDay Checking. No monthly fees, no minimum balance. No ATM rebates, but again I don’t use the ATM card. Just be sure to have some sort of activity (transfer in, out) once a year to avoid having a dormant account.
I’ve seen some 5 year Fixed Annuities at 4%. And they allow you to take some withdrawals if you want to.
“This 3-month certificate rate would be a top rate”
Which 3 month certificate? Do you mean the 37 month one?
Looks like the easy start CD is still yielding 3.5% APY despite the latest FED move.
I’m looking to open one of these for my son. Do you know what the typical lag time is between FED rate cuts and banks and CU’s dropping their APYs on savings products?
What’s nice about Navy Fed is they let you choose what you want to do with their proceeds at any time on the website. Other credit unions are sneaky and automatically renew your CD and give you like a 10 day grace period to undo it.