5.50% 60-Month CD at a Virginia CU (5 bump-ups)

Arlington Virginia Federal Credit Union is offering a 5.50% APY 60-month share certificate. The minimum deposit is $500 and it's also available in an IRA. All of credit union CDs with terms of 12-months or longer have a bump-up feature which allows you to request a bump to the higher rate during the term. You can request 5 bumps through the term of the 5-year CD.

You may be able to get an extra 0.25% on the CD for being a Platinum member. Refer to this page for details about qualifying for Platinum membership.

Often a bump-up certificate may not be a good deal if you're giving up some interest for the feature. There's a risk that the future rates of the CD may not remain competitive so you might have been better off with a fixed-rate CD with a higher rate.

However, a 5.50% APY is competitive, and 5 bump-up options during a term is much better than most other bump-up CDs. As a comparison, Compass Bank is offering a 5-year Option CD with an APY of 5.10% which allows only two bump-ups in rates.

The credit union also has a record of high rates. I checked the internet archive and found that this 5-year CD had an APY of 5% back in March 10, 2005. As a comparison, Netbank was only offering 4.40% APY for a 5-year CD on March 11, 2005. So there seems to be a good chance that the 5-year CD rate will remain competitive.

The credit union's field of membership includes those who live, work, worship, volunteer or go to school in Arlington County plus their immediate household and family members.

The credit union is NCUA insured with $140 million in assets and 14,151 members.

Thanks to Victor who mentioned this deal in the finding deals post.