Hot CD Special at Visions Federal Credit Union at Rochester New York Branch Only
Visions Federal Credit Union's new branch in Rochester New York is offering two hot CD specials: 5.00% APY 5-month CD and 3.50% APY 35-month CD. Minimum deposit is $2,500, and the maximum is $100,000. These are relationship rates that require the member to open a checking account with a debit or credit card. These specials are not listed at Visions website. A reader emailed me news of this (hat tip), and I just called for additional details. According to the CSR, these specials are scheduled to last until June 30, 2011.
The new Rochester branch used to be the Progressive Neighborhood Credit Union. This small credit union was merged into Visions FCU in 2010.
Standard CD Rates
For those who can qualify for Visions membership but are not in the Rochester area, Visions FCU offers competitive standard CD and IRA CD rates. Some of the best include a 1.36% APY 6-month CD, a 1.46% APY 1-year CD and a 1.82% APY 30-month CD. These rates are listed at the credit union's share certificates rates page as of 5/17/2011. Members can receive an extra 25 basis points with an account relationship. Refer to the bottom of the rate table for details about eligible relationships.
Membership
Since the Rochester branch is new, Visions FCU's membership page doesn't yet include any mention of Rochester or its county Monroe. I asked the CSR about this, and I was told membership is open to anyone who lives, worships or does business in Rochester.
For those outside of Rochester, membership is available to those who live, work or worship in Broome, Chenango, Tioga, Chemung, Schuyler (NY), the City of Syracuse, or Bradford County (PA). Membership requires a $25 minimum balance in the share savings account and a one-time fee of $1.
Branches
In addition to the new Rochester branch, Visions Federal Credit Union branches are located in several cities in Upstate and Western New York. Some of the cities include Binghamton, Elmira, Owego and Syracuse. There are also two branches in Bradford County in Northern Pennsylvania.
Visions FCU is part of the CU Service Centers network which allows you to take care of many bank transactions at member branches around the nation.
Visions Federal Credit Union Overview
Visions is a large credit union with $2.60 billion in assets. It has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 0.06% (excellent) based on March 2011 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Visions Federal Credit Union for more details. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 17429).
How These Compare to the Best Nationally Available CDs
Any short-term CD rate over 1.50% these days is a great deal. The best nationally available 6-month CD rate is 1.50% APY at Connexus Credit Union (this requires an active checking account). For CDs with terms around 3 years, any rate above 2.50% is a great deal. The best nationally available 3-year CD rate is 2.27% APY at Velocity Credit Union (rates accurate as of 5/17/2011).
To search for the best nationwide CD rates and the best CD rates in your state, please refer to the CD rates section of DepositAccounts.com.
Banks Mentioned in this Post:
- Weekly Rate Summary
- Bank Reviews
- Bank Health Ratings
- Savings Account Rates (filterable)
- CD Rates (filterable)
- IRA Rates (filterable)
- Checking Accounts (filterable)
- 40 Ways to Get the Most Out of Your Bank
- The Big List of Credit Unions Open to Anyone
- What Do You Need to Open a Bank Account?
- Difference Between Banks and Credit Unions
- Interest Rate vs. APY
- Difference Between Wire Transfer and ACH
- How ACH Transfers Work
- Do I Have to Pay Taxes on Bank Account Interest
- How to Build a CD Ladder
- Blog Archive
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3-year Term IRA CD
1.21% APY
Capital One 360
360 Checking Account
0.85% APY
Anonymous - #1, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 12:22 AM
I opened 2 cd's with Visions FCU in Rochester and was very pleased with the entire experience. The credit union representative who assisted me in opening the cd's was great and was very knowledgeable with regard to the NCUA insurance and with the requirements to increase the insurance over the standard $250,000. He made certain that the entirety of my deposits were fully insured and backed it up with a written copy of my deposits and the corresponding insurance covering the full amount. You can't ask for any more than that.
Anonymous - #2, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 7:40 AM
Am a bit confused:
I'm a Visions member with no interest in their "standard" rates. I don't live in or near to Rochester, but I'm within driving distance (about two hours). Obviously it would pay me to drive to the Rochester branch if they would open one of these great accounts for me. Or would I be denied because I don't actually live in Rochester?
Anonymous - #3, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 8:45 AM
Called them. Spoke directly with Rochester branch.
Offer is extended only to those who are not existing members. Accounts must be opened at Rochester branch.
Anonymous - #4, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 8:48 AM
Looks like a local deal intended to attract new members. I guess for anyone living in or near to Rochester, NY, the gravy train has just pulled into the station.
Anonymous - #7, Wednesday, May 18, 2011 - 11:35 AM
Stuff is being missed here. Visions membership is extended to many NY residents, and even a few PA residents. And most of those invividuals are within driving distance of Rochester, and could drive there and open these accounts.
But the accounts are only being offered to residents of the Rochester region. This is a local deal.
sabre82af - #8, Thursday, May 19, 2011 - 11:13 AM
As a pilot who flies to Rochester regularly, the bank said I must live in Rochester to get the 5% rate. With multiple cds in holding at ING Direct, 5% for 5 months would have been the deal of the year!
Anonymous - #9, Friday, May 20, 2011 - 8:28 AM
I just joined but now having second thoughts whether or not to fund the CD's. The fee schedule and the relationship requirements are one of the most complex I've ever seen....requirements from colulmn A and from column B. If you don't use your mandate debt card monthly, you get charged, bill pay is free if you have over $20K, if not its $2.95/mo.....if you have $20K you must use Billpay at least 3X/mo or there is a $2.95/mo fee. If over 10x/mo there is another fee. From my perspective this CU clearly does not understand who is the customer. From my quite limited use of their 800 customer service number....service is poor with long waits. The rates are great but so far, so is the pain.
sabre82af - #10, Friday, May 20, 2011 - 8:36 AM
Stick with it for the 5 months-it's worth 5% especially if you can fund 50 or 60k like I would have liked to do but can't. Just keep track of what the requirements are-the small fees are negligible if you fund the 5%cd with a lump sum. I used to fund 50k with 2 accounts making over 3% requiring 24 debit transactions per month!
Anonymous - #11, Monday, May 23, 2011 - 3:44 PM
Went to open one of their special CD's today...found out Visions will not title the account as a revocable trust account but only as a totten(POD) account. Strangely, Visions will title the account as a revocable trust account iif its a regular CD account. No rationale was given for this policy or why its not stated in the flyer terms. A previous visit to Vision indicated "no problem" to title the CD as a rev trust account. A call to HQ for clarification is so far unresponsive. As for the direct deposit requirement I was told that any ACH would do. The special CD has specific requirements that differ from their superior and relationship rates. Quite confusing
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