Credit Union CD Rates 2011 – Best APY’s

Credit Union CD rates are consistently beating out the rates of banks in 2011 (especially national powerhouse banks) in a large part due to the way in which credit unions are structured. Credit Unions and banks operate with entirely different motives. For the most part banks exist like any other business would – to make a profit. Credit Unions, on the other hand, are traditionally formed by a group of people with something in common (ie residence, work, school or worship). They are not-for-profit, member-owned institutions that pass along any profits back to their members (or share holders) in the form of higher savings rates and/or lower loan rates. Because of this dynamic, credit unions have been the ideal place to search for the best CD rates in 2011. While they wont provide you with exceptional APY’s on CD rates like the ones seen during the pre-bank collapse era, they will usually beat the national average by significant margins.

Attention The rates featured below are no longer accurate. Refer to the table above for today’s deposit rates from credit unions.

Best Credit Union CD Rates – 2011

(If you feel we’ve missed a top rate offered by your local credit union, please share by leaving a comment!)

6 month CD rates: (current national average sits at 0.55% APY)

- Connexus Credit Union (Wisconsin) has a 6 month CD rate yielding 1.50% APY with a minimum deposit of $10,000 required. You’ll need an active checking account with them to lock in this rate.

- Lockheed Federal Credit Union (California) has a 6 month CD rate yielding 0.90% APY with a minimum deposit of $1000 required.

- Wings Financial Credit Union (Wisconsin) has a 6 month CD rate yielding 0.85% APY with a minimum deposit of $1 required. This is a share certificate.

12 month CD rates: (current national average sits at 0.90% APY)

- Connexus Credit Union (Wisconsin) has a 12 month CD rate yielding 1.75% APY with a minimum deposit of $10,000 required. You’ll need an active checking account with them to lock in this rate.

- Melrose Credit Union (New York) has a 12 month CD rate yielding 1.41% APY with a minimum deposit of $5000 required. This is a share certificate.

- Southeast Financial Federal Credit Union (Tennessee) has a 12 month CD rate yielding 1.30% APY with a minimum deposit of $500 required.

3 year CD rates: (current national average sits at 1.40% APY)

- Melrose Credit Union (New York) has a 3 year CD rate yielding 2.17% APY with a minimum deposit of $5,000 required. This is a share certificate.

- Fort Knox Federal Credit Union (Kentucky) has a 3 year CD rate yielding 2.15% APY with a minimum deposit of $500 required.

- Wings Financial Credit Union (Minnesota) has a 3 year CD rate yielding 1.92% APY with a minimum deposit of $1 required. This is a share certificate.

5 year CD rates: (current national average sits at 2.25% APY)

- Connexus Credit Union (Wisconsin) has a 5 year CD rate yielding 3.00% APY with a minimum deposit of $10,000 required. You’ll need an active checking account with them to lock in this rate.

- Melrose Credit Union (New York) has a 5 year CD rate yielding 2.93% APY with a minimum deposit of $5000 required. This is a share certificate.

- Velocity Credit Union (Texas) has a 5 year CD rate yielding 2.73% APY with a minimum deposit of $1000 required. This is an “Inflation Fighter Share Certificate.”

Like all bank rates, these are time sensitive in nature. Please refer to the date of this article for accuracy. If you feel it’s outdated visit our CD rates center for updated rates and promotions from around the country.

Highest yielding money market account rates in Hawaii

Below are the highest yielding money market account rates serving citizens of the state of Hawaii.

If you are strictly after the best interest rate then you have a variety of options that will provide you with similar yields. The question you need to ask yourself is, “what type of minimum balance can I keep?” Most money market accounts provide a given interest rate based on a certain account balance. The more money you are able to keep in these accounts, the higher the interest rate you will generally receive.

After sorting through dozens of interest rate tables belonging to banks and credit unions serving the state of Hawaii, we have found that in many instances you will lock in more competitive rates with national institutions rather than local ones (if you are eligible). Before committing to one of the banks/credit unions listed below, you may want to browse through our national money market rates tables.

Keep in mind, money market rates are time-sensitive in nature, therefor you may want to refer to the date of this article for accuracy. As with all money market accounts, the interest rates are variable and are subject to change without notice.

Top 2 money market rates in Hawaii:

(click on the institution for more information)

• Wings Financial Federal Credit Union: Honolulu, HI. Money market account yielding 1.92% APY with a minimum balance of $5000. There are no monthly fees or surcharges related with this account. There are no minimum balances required, however anything under $5000 will not provide an interest rate. You are entitled to 2 free withdrawals per month, each withdrawal after will cost $20. Dividends are calculated using the average daily balance method. Membership is available to most people employed in, retired from, or whose job directly supports the air transportation of people or cargo, immediate family members of persons engaged in such activities, and family members (including household relationships) of a current credit union member. Contact (800) 692-2274
• Home Street Bank: Pearl City, HI. Money market account yielding 1.15% APY with a minimum balance of $10,000. Although Home Street Bank is headquartered in the pacific northwest they also serve consumers in Hawaii. Contact: (800) 719-8080

Both of the above institutions are federally insured by either the NCUA or FDIC. If you live in Hawaii and know of a better money market rate offered through your local institution, please share by leaving a comment.

Highest yielding money market accout rates in Michigan

Below are the highest yielding money market account rates serving citizens of the state of Michigan.

If you are strictly after the best rate then you have a variety of options that will provide you with similar yields. The question you need to ask yourself is, “what type of minimum balance can I keep?” Most money market accounts provide a given interest rate based on a certain account balance. The more money you are able to keep in these accounts, the higher the interest rate you will generally receive.

If you browse through our archive of money market account rates, you will see MMA’s are yielding a lot less than they were this time last year. In fact, the national average for money market rates sits at roughly 1.20% APY currently – this number was well above 3.0% APY during the summer of 2008.

Below I have listed the top 2 banks and/or credit unions serving the state of Michigan which are offering the best returns on their money market accounts. Keep in mind, you may receive higher rates from larger national banks whom serve the whole country rather than a specific region. Compare money market accounts nationwide to find the optimal account for you.

Top 2 money market rates in Michigan:

(click on the institution for more information)

• Wings Financial Federal Credit Union: Romulus, MI. Money market account yielding between 1.92% APY and 2.22% APY depending upon your minimum balance amount. This MMA is set up in three tiers, the first requires a minimum balance between $5000 and $49,999 and yields 1.92% APY. The second requires a balance of between $50k and $99,999 and yields 2.07% APY. The highest tier requires a balance of at least $100k and provides a yield of 2.22% APY. Membership is available to most people employed in, retired from, or whose job directly supports the air transportation of people or cargo, immediate family members of persons engaged in such activities, and family members (including household relationships) of a current credit union member.
• Family Financial Credit Union: Muskegon, MI. Money market account yielding 1.87% APY with a minimum balance requirement of $10,000. Unlike Wings Financial Credit Union, FFCU has geographical requirements which must be met for membership. Membership is open to the community. Anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Muskegon, Ottawa, Oceana, Mason or Newaygo County. They have three primary locations. One in Hart, Michigan, one two in Muskegon, Michigan. Employees of the Sealed Power Company started the credit union in 1942 as the Sealed Power Employees Credit Union. Initially the credit union served just the employees of Sealed Power, but over the years membership was made available to relatives of members. Additional groups were added through mergers with Muskegon Printing, Industrial Employees Credit Union, Oceana Schools Employees Credit Union and West Michigan Steel Employees Federal Credit Union.

Both of the above institutions are federally insured by the NCUA (FDIC equivilent for credit unions). If you live in the state of Michigan and know of a better money market account rate offered through your local bank or credit union, please share by leaving a comment.

Best CD (certificate of deposit) rates in Michigan: Top 3

Below are the CD rates with the highest interest rates available to residents in the state of Michigan. These come in the form of 9 month CDs, 12 month CDs, and 48 month CDs. After digging through dozens of rate pages by dozens of banks and credit unions serving the state of Michigan, we found that in most cases you can receive more competitive rates offered by national institutions rather than local ones. (Compare CD rates).

Although the financial institutions we’ve listed below do the majority of their business in Michigan, they still may have eligibility requirements which may prevent you from joining (even if you live in MI). Contact a representative to see if you can take advantage of their products.

How did we compile this list? As you are probably aware, higher CD rates tend to accompany longer maturities and since we did not want to strictly list long maturity CD’s we decided to list the deposit rates which beat the national average by the highest margins.

Top 3 CD rates in Michigan:

(clicking on the institution will bring you to their home page or an internal page)

• Wings Financial Federal Credit Union: Romulus, Michigan. 9 month CD yielding a whopping 2.63% APY with a minimum deposit amount of $500. The average APY for a 12 month CD is currently 1.65%. Membership is available to most people employed in, retired from, or whose job directly supports the air transportation of people or cargo, immediate family members of persons engaged in such activities, and family members (including household relationships) of a current credit union member. Wings Financial Credit Union was founded in 1938 by a group of seven airline employees and has since grown to become one of the nation’s largest credit unions – and the first dedicated exclusively to serving the men and women of the U.S. air transportation industry.
• United Education Credit Union: Battle Creek, Michigan. 12 month CD yielding 2.53% APY with a minimum deposit of $10,000. UECU has set up their certificate of deposit rates in tiers based on deposit amounts. If you deposit between $500 and $9,999 you will receive 2.27% APY on 12 month CDs, however if you deposit above $10k they will bump this up to the 2.53% amount. UECU was founded on April 16, 1936 by a group of educators from the Battle Creek School System as the Battle Creek Teachers Association Credit Union. Their original field of membership was limited to teachers, principals, supervisors and superintendents of the Battle Creek School System. At the end of the first year of operation, there were 79 members, 24 borrowers and assets of $1,861.59. In 1958, their charter was amended to expand the field of membership to include employees of all public schools in Calhoun County, Bellevue Township and Climax Community Schools; and their name was changed to School Employees Credit Union. In 1962 the Credit Union achieved the milestone of $1 million in assets; only three years after reaching the half million dollar mark in 1959. In the year 1972, they reached the $5 million mark in assets. Through the years, their charter was amended several times to include educationally related groups in various geographical areas, as well as educational organizations and retirees. On December 1, 1999 they changed their name to United Educational Credit Union to better represent their field of membership. They now have over $76 million in assets, serve 15,400 members and have three offices.
• mBank: Traverse City, Michigan. 48 month CD yielding 3.0% APY with a minimum deposit amount of $1.00. mBank has 12 branches throughout the state of Michigan. They have locations in Traverse City, Stephenson, South Range, Sault Ste Marie, Newberry, Marquette, McClellan, Manistique, Kaleva, Gaylord, Escanaba and Birmingham.

All of the above institutions are federally insured by either the FDIC or NCUA. If you live in Michigan and know of a better CD rate offered through your local bank or credit union, please share by leaving a comment.

Best certificate of deposit rates in Washington state (Top 3)

Below are the highest yielding certificate of deposit rates available to the residents of Washington state. After researching a few dozen local and regional credit unions and banks serving the state, we compiled a list of the top 3. These rates are time-sensitive in nature, therefor you must take the date of this article into consideration. If you feel they may be outdated you can dig through our archive of best CD rates in Washington state to find a more current offer.

The institutions in which we have listed below whom are currently offering the most lucrative rates may have strict eligibility requirements, especially if they are a credit union. If you do not reside in the state of Washington, then you may have a difficult time taking advantage of these products. If you do reside in Washington state, then you may still want to visit the institution’s membership eligibility page to see if you are eligible.

When forming this list, we realize that the highest deposit yields will be accompanied with the longest maturities, therefor we took the CD rates which are beating the national average by the highest margins so that we would not be strictly listing long term deposit certificates.

Top 3 CD rates (Washington State)

(clicking on the institution will bring you to their rates page)

Wings Financial Federal Credit Union (PDF): Seattle, WA. 12 month CD yielding 2.78% APY with a minimum deposit amount of $500. The current national average rate for a 1 year CD is roughly 1.67% APY. Wings Financial Federal Credit Union serves employees of entities engaged in the Air Transportation Industry who work in the United States, meaning:

• employees of airlines;
• government employees who work directly in the administration, regulation, or security of airlines, airports, or air transportation; and
• employees who are located at an airport if they work directly with:
  • air transportation of freight
  • air courier services
  • air and air transportation support and services, for example, janitorial services, airport baggage handling, aircraft cleaning, maintenance and repair services, and runway maintenance services; and
  • on-board airline food services.

North Cascades National Bank: Wenatchee, WA. 36 month CD yielding a rate of between 3.09% – 3.40% APY. The rate you receive is dependent upon how much you deposit. If you deposit the minimum amount you will receive 3.09% APY if your deposit is greater than $100,000 you will receive 3.40% APY. Although, in the title, this bank claims to be a national one, they list community banking with local locations as one of the greatest strengths. They are headquartered in Chelan, WA and serve the state of Washington and perhaps more. You may want to contact them for further eligibility requirements.

Cashmere Valley Bank: Wenatchee, WA. 48 month CD yielding 3.40% APY with a minimum deposit amount of $100. Cashmere Valley Bank was established September 24, 1932 by two brothers, Hy W. Rieke and H.H. Rieke, who moved to Cashmere after selling their interest in another bank in Odessa, Washington. Cashmere was chosen as the site to begin their new bank because the community was without a financial institution after the failure of two banks during the beginning of the Great Depression. They currently have 11 locations serving most of the middle to east side of the state.

If you reside in Washington state and know of a better deposit rate offered by your local bank or credit union, please share by leaving a comment.

All of the above mentioned institutions are federally insured by the FDIC.

Wings Financial Credit Union’s 12 month CD rate: 2.90%

It’s not quite a 12 month CD with a 3.0% APY but it’s close!

Currently Wings Financial Credit Union is offering it’s members a 12 month CD yielding a “dividend rate” of 2.90%. The national average for 12 month CD’s sits at around 1.96%.

Unfortunately, this credit union comes with some fairly strict yet straight forward requirements for eligibility. See below.

Wings Financial Credit Union Membership Eligibility:

(as seen on their website)

Membership is available to most people employed in, retired from, or whose job directly supports the air transportation of people or cargo, immediate family members of persons engaged in such activities, and family members (including household relationships) of a current credit union member.

The Wings Financial charter states that the field of membership is limited to those having the following common bond:

1. Employees of entities engaged in the Air Transportation Industry who work in the United States, meaning:

• employees of airlines;
• government employees who work directly in the administration, regulation, or security of airlines, airports, or air transportation; and
• employees who are located at an airport if they work directly with:
  • air transportation of freight
  • air courier services
  • air and air transportation support and services, for example, janitorial services, airport baggage handling, aircraft cleaning, maintenance and repair services, and runway maintenance services; and
  • on-board airline food services.

The Industry does not include employees of retail shops, restaurants, travel agencies, hotels, or car rental companies even if located at an airport.

2. employees of this credit union;
3. persons retired as pensioners or annuitants from the above employment;
4. spouses of persons who died while within the field of membership of this credit union;
5. members of their immediate families and households;
6. organizations of such persons, and;
7. corporate or other legal entities in the charter.