Liberty Savings Fed Credit Union (NJ) Offers 3% APY On Long Term CDs
Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union (LSFCU) is currently offering 3.00% APY ($5k minimum) on three of its long-term CDs: 60-, 66-, and 72-month. The same three CDs can also be opened with a $500 deposit, earning a slightly lower 2.90% APY.
All the CDs are also available as IRAs (Traditional), earning the same tiered APYs with the same funding requirements.
The fine print on the Deposit Rates page states,
Bonus dividend of an additional 0.10% on any single
certificate of 2 years or more with a balance of $50,000 or more.
According to CSR, the Early Withdrawal Penalty for any of Term Certificate is “3 months of dividends, whether earned or not.”
Such a mild EWP could be useful if rates should start trending upward in the next four years. Using DA’s Early Withdrawal Penalty Calculator, you can see what the effective yields would be on a month-by-month basis. For example,
- 2.52% APY – closed at 18 months
- 2.64% APY – closed at 2 years
- 2.77% APY – closed at 3 years
- 2.83% APY – closed at 4 years
Availability
Headquartered in Jersey City, Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union offers membership to individuals who live, work, worship, or attend school in Hudson County in northern New Jersey (proof of residency required).
Employees, retirees, members, and volunteers of more than 200 SEGs are also eligible to join.
Joining Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union and/or opening a CD can be done at any of three New Jersey branches located in Jersey City (2) and Union City.
LSFCU’s Membership Application is available for download and can be returned in person to any of the three branch locations or by mail.
Employees of LSFCU’s SEGs may apply for membership through their company’s Human Resource department by speaking to the company’s representative responsible for employee benefits.
In order to be a “member-owner”, all members must open a
Savings account and maintain no less than $25.00 in the account.
There’s also a $10 membership fee, which will be waived for “persons affiliated with an employer or organizational partner”, i.e., an SEG.
Two fees to be aware of: a $25 early termination fee for accounts closed within 12 months of opening and a $10 termination fee when an account is closed after 12 months of opening. In other words, leaving LSFCU will incur a fee.
In addition to participating in the CO-OP Shared Branching and ATM networks, LSFCU is a member of the Allpoint ATM Network.
With your Liberty Savings FCU account number and your picture ID, you can go to a listed Shared Branch service center and make deposits, withdrawals and/or payment to your Visa card or loans as easily as if you were standing in a Liberty Saving’s FCU lobby.
Credit Union Overview
Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas ratio of 8.50% (excellent) based on June 30, 2019 data. LSFCU has an excellent capitalization level (14.07%), the result of holding $95.43 million in assets with $13.42 million in equity. Please refer to our financial overview of Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 7184) for more details.
During the course of my research on any given credit union, I frequently come across phrases like “organized by a few employees”, or “established by a group of local businessmen.” In the case of Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union, the founding members were husband and wife, William and Catherine Miller. While attending New York University, Mr. Miller had written a doctoral thesis on the history of the credit union movement. An employee of the Jersey City public school system, Miller recognized the need for a credit union for his fellow teachers. Putting his theoretical knowledge to work and offering free membership to school employees through Hudson County, Miller established the Hudson County School Employees Federal Credit Union in 1951. In 68 years, LSFCU rebranded twice and expanded the FOM to include many SEGs. LSFCU is currently the 28th largest credit union in New Jersey, with more than 21,000 members and assets in excess of $95 million.
How the CDs Compare
When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are available to northern New Jersey residents, Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union’s 60-Month CD APY currently shares the top spot with four national easy membership credit unions.
When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are available to northern New Jersey residents, Liberty Savings Federal Credit Union’s 72-Month CD currently ranks first.
The above rates are accurate as of 9/17/2019.
To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.
