CD Rates Fall But Remain Competitive at Melrose Credit Union

After seven months of holding steady on its CD and IRA CD rates, Melrose Credit Union reduced all of its CD rates by 10 basis points yesterday. On the plus side, rates are not falling as much as they did last year. As a comparison, Melrose Credit Union's 5-year CD rate fell 36 basis points during the first half of 2010. Also on the plus side, Melrose Credit Union CDs are still competitive when compared to CDs available nationwide. Melrose is no longer the rate leader on some of the CD terms, but it's close. Below are the new Melrose Credit Union CD rates and for comparison purposes, I've included the best nationally available CD yields from banks:

APY's from the institutions' websites as of 6/28/2011

Keep in mind the one downside of Melrose Credit Union which is a harsh and confusing early withdrawal penalty. Here's the listed early withdrawal penalty for CD terms over 1-year:

18-60 Months term: Forfeiture of the first 180 days Dividend and a Reduction to the Share Savings Rate at the time of purchase.

The PDF of this disclosure is available here. Please make sure to request the latest disclosure from Melrose before you open a CD.

Melrose Credit Union Membership

Anyone can join the credit union. According to Melrose's membership page:

Since Melrose Credit Union has an open New York State charter there are no geographic or group affiliation field of membership restrictions. So, regardless of where you live or how you earn a living, you may qualify for membership.

Even though Melrose makes it easy to qualify, they don't make it easy to apply. Several readers have commented about problems they had in the application. Please refer to my November Melrose Credit Union CD review for more of these details.

Melrose is located in Briarwood, New York which is in Queens.

Melrose Credit Union's Growth and Financials

As you might expect, Melrose Credit Union's deposits have grown quite a bit over the last year. Total deposits based March NCUA data is now $1.11 billion which is up by $163 million (17.21%) since last year. Assets have also been increasing quite a bit. Assets have gone up from $1.27 billion in March 2010 to $1.46 billion in March 2011.

The credit union continues to have solid financials. Its overall health score at DepositAccounts.com is still 5 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio 0.49% (excellent) based on March 2011 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Melrose Credit Union for more details. The credit union is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 62005).

Searching for the Best CD and IRA CD Rates

To search for the best nationwide rates and the best rates in your state, please refer to the following sections of DepositAccounts.com:

• CD rates
• IRA CD rates