Thursday, August 30, 2012 - 6:00 PM

Can A CD With Joint Owners Have A Beneficiary?

Navy Federal Credit Union (0 stars) - Details

My DP recently joined Navy Federal Credit Union and I became joint on a new CD with him. A bank will always allow us to put down someone as a beneficiary incase we both should become deceased at the same time due to an accident etc. We went to a local branch out of town of Navy FCU recently to purchase the CD and the rep said they also allowed this so we filled out all the forms for it to be done in this manner for the CD. We were at the branch for over 3 hours trying to get one CD which was not a pleasant experience but we wanted it done correctly. I called today because we have not received any documents from them showing the CD info and were told now by a different rep that they cannot put a beneficiary on a CD with joint owners. When I asked to speak to a supervisor, I was told they had recently changed this so it could now be done but we would have to fill out all new forms and return to them. We had already filled out these forms on the day of purchase but they had no record of them now. I decided to wait to see what is sent in the mail before we make any changes because I have lost my trust in their employees knowing what they are doing.

My question is, has anyone purchased a CD from Navy FCU and had problems getting documentation of the CD from them? Do you know if they do or don't allow a beneficiary on a CD with joint owners? Did you get any documentation of the particular CD showing the necessary info? I am uncertain who to believe now and not happy with our first experience with their employees who handle their CDs. Thank you for any information you can share about Navy FCU.

paoli2453 posts since
Aug 10, 2011
Rep Points: 1,802

1. Thursday, August 30, 2012 - 9:52 PM

In answer to your first and third questions:   In September of 2011 I opened 2 CDs with NavyFed in person and had no trouble at all getting documentation of the CDs. I left the branch with two packets, each containing copies of the CD application (term, amount, account number, joint owner, etc), the disclosure statement (EWP info, grace period, etc), and a "new account receipt", which included the account number, joint owner, effective date, amount, maturity date, rate and APY.

In answer to your second question: In looking at my CD application docs, it looks like at the time they did not allow a beneficiary on a CD with joint owners. In the joint owner section, one is asked to select survivorship selection. The choices are: joint account, no survivorship (with a note: "on the death of an account owner, the deceased shares pass to the estate") and "joint account with survivorship (with a note: "on the death of an account owner, the deceased shares pass to the surviving owner").    Also, the disclosure statement includes the following language: "If issued with a joint owner, a certificate is jointly owned with full rights of survivorship, unless otherwise requested."

If you are now allowed to add a beneficiary to a joint account, then the form must have changed.   The one I completed was marked NFCU 646E (5-09) in the lower left hand corner.

Hope this helps

pearlbrown1,009 posts since
Nov 2, 2010
Rep Points: 3,889

2. Friday, August 31, 2012 - 7:53 AM

Pearl: Thanks for the quick reply. The documents you received are what we hoped to have gotten by going out of town to the branch personally. They instead said they had to be "processed" and we would get confirmation in the mail. After 3 hours there I was in no condition to argue with them and thought maybe it was done this way because he was a new member and it was our first CD transaction. This was on 8/24/12 and they said yesterday it will be coming in the mail.

I don't know what number was on the POD sheet she had him sign because we did not get anything to bring home. Instead she said we could look on the internet and see the account. We can see he has a CD on the internet but not all the information with the details of the CD. Since it seems they did give you that information, I will call them again today and ask to speak to a Supervisor about what is going on in our case. Thank you so much for your help.

paoli2453 posts since
Aug 10, 2011
Rep Points: 1,802