City of Boston Credit Union Adds Limited-Time 9-Month CD Special
As part of its “Member Appreciation Month” celebration, City of Boston Credit Union (CBCU) is offering a limited-time 9-month Share Certificate Special (SCS) that earns 0.88% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $500 and is capped at $100k, with a limit of one SCS per member. New money is required and is defined as “funds not on deposit at CBCU.”
There is one sentence in the fine print on CBCU’s Rates page that concerned me:
Must be a member of City of Boston Credit Union to open certificate account.
Since the SCS is part of Member Appreciation Month, I wasn’t sure if “must be a member” meant only existing members. In other words, could someone join CBCU this week and then open an SCS AFTER the membership was approved. Good news – according to CSR, the SCS can be opened by existing and new members alike.
As stated in the Truth-in-Savings disclosure, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads (in part) as follows:
If your account has an original maturity of less than one year to a year: The penalty we
may impose will equal one month’s dividends on the amount withdrawn subject to penalty.
Massachusetts Share Insurance
City of Boston Credit Union also maintains excess share and deposit insurance through Massachusetts Share Insurance Corporation (MSIC) fully insuring deposits in excess of the NCUA limits.
MSIC now fully insures excess shares and deposits above the federal insurance limit
of $250,000 at ALL of member credit unions. As a result of the new law, MSIC will now
fully insure excess shares and deposits without limits that exceed NCUSIF coverage.
Availability
Headquartered in Boston, Massachusetts, the City of Boston Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) is primarily residency-based, with individuals who live, work, or attend school in the Massachusetts counties of Middlesex, Norfolk, or Sussex, qualifying for membership.
Employees, retirees, registered students and alumni of Northeastern University are eligible to join, as are employees and retirees of Factory Mutual Insurance Company (FM Global) and “its subsidiaries who work in or are paid from the United States of America and its territories and possessions.”
Employees and retirees of the City of Boston or the Commonwealth of Massachusetts also qualify for membership.
Family members of membership-eligible individuals are also welcome to apply. Family members are defined as spouse, domestic partner (including widow/widower), parent, child, sibling, uncle, aunt, cousin, niece, nephew, grandparent, grandchild, including in-law, step-, half-, and adoptive relationships.
CBCU’s Who Can Join page lists a qualifying requirement I’ve never seen before:
A person not so eligible for membership may be on a joint account with a member of
the Credit Union for the purpose of purchasing shares and making withdrawals only.
Joining CBCU can be done online. The membership application is available as a download, which can be returned by snail-mail or in-person at any of the six Massachusetts branches, located in Boston (2), Canton, Dorchester, South Boston, and West Roxbury. The Norwood branch (inside the Sheraton Four Points Hotel) is scheduled to re-open in mid-April. The Hours & Locations page provides information about all branch locations, including phone #s for setting appointments.
If you don’t have access to our website or it is inconvenient to visit one of our locations, please call a Member Service Representative at City Hall (617) 635-4545; Canton (781) 828-1444; Dorchester (617) 635-1313; South Boston (617) 635-1020 or West Roxbury (617) 635-2300. A Member Service Representative will mail you everything you need to open a City of Boston Credit Union Account, even a postage-paid envelope.
According to CSR, once a CBCU membership has been established, a Share Certificate Special can be opened in person, by phone, or through snail-mail.
A minimum balance of $5 in a Share (Savings) Account is required to remain in good standing with CBCU.
CBCU participates in the SUM ATM program.
Credit Union Overview
City of Boston Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 8.81% (excellent) based on December 31, 2020 data. In the past year, CBCU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $83.61 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 23.22%. Please refer to our financial overview of City of Boston Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 67841) for more details.
City of Boston Credit Union is one of the oldest credit unions in the country, having been established in 1915 by James Michael Curley, Mayor of Boston. In 2019, two Boston area credit unions (Chadwick Federal Credit Union and Northeastern University Federal Credit Union) merged into CBCU. With nearly 31,000 members and assets in excess of $533 million, City of Boston Credit Union is currently the 28th largest credit union headquartered in Massachusetts.
How the Share Certificate Special Compares
When compared to 357 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com, which are available within the FOM and require a minimum deposit of $10k or less, City of Boston Credit Union's 9-month Share Certificate Special APY currently ranks first.
The above information and rates are accurate as of 4/9/2021.
To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.
