Community Financial Services Bank Offers 49-Mo CD Special (3.39% APY)

Community Financial Services Bank (CFSB) is currently offering a 49-month Bump Up CD Special (3.39% APY) and a 29-month CD Special (3.19% APY). Either CD Special can be opened with a $1k minimum deposit, with no stated balance cap.

I first posted on these CDs with these same rates in November. With CD rate cuts happening at other banks, I thought these CDs would be worth highlighting once more. There have been a couple of changes. One unfortunate change that recently occurred is that these CDs are no longer nationally available. I’ll have more on this in the Availability Section below.

The CD Specials are also available as IRAs (Traditional, Roth, and CESA), earning the same APYs with the same funding requirements.

The 49-month CD Special has been part of CFSB’s product line for almost a year, but the bump option is a new feature. Rather than having the typical one-time rate increase, the 49-month Bump Up CD Special offers two interest rate increases anytime during the term. In addition,

Account holder may select the interest rate available on any other CFSB CD/IRA product being offered on the published rate sheet at the time the account holder chooses to increase the rate.

While the “interest rate available on any other CFSB CD/IRA product” feature may sound tempting, CFSB doesn’t offer a full line-up of CDs. There are only three CDs (including the 49-month) currently in the product line, so the number of interest rates to chose from are rather limited.

As stated in the fine print on the Certificates of Deposit page,

For CDs of at least 12 months: interest may be added back to
principal every three months or deposited into another account.

In a Live Chat, CSR stated that partial withdrawals are allowed and the Early Withdrawal Penalty is “12 months’ worth of interest on the amount being withdrawn” for the 49-month CD and “6 months’ worth of interest” for the 29-month CD. There is also a $35 transactional fee for each withdrawal.

Funding a CD and Accessing Maturing Funds

Funding a CD can be done by ACH, wire transfer, or check. There is a 10 day grace period, starting the day of maturity. CFSB’s standard procedure for distributing funds is a check, but a wire ($35 fee) or ACH transfer are also options.

Availability

Headquartered in the far-western Kentucky town of Benton, Community Financial Services Bank has once again changed its market area. While CDs had been available on a nationwide basis since mid-2017, the CFSB now “accepts applications from residents in Kentucky, Tennessee, Indiana, Illinois, Missouri and existing clients” exclusively. According to CSR, the down-sizing of the market area took effect at the beginning of April.

In addition to being opened online, the CD Specials can also be opened at any of the seven full-service Kentucky branches located in Benton (2), Calvert City, Mayfield, Murray, and Paducah (2).

Bank Overview

Community Financial Services Bank has an overall health grade of "B" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 12.87% (above average) based on December 31, 2018 data. In the past year, CFSB has increased its total deposits by $40.44 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 4.78%. Please refer to our financial overview of Community Financial Services Bank (FDIC Certificate # 287) for more details.

Founded in 1890 as the Bank of Benton, Community Financial Services Bank is currently Kentucky’s tenth largest bank, with assets in excess of $1.16 billion. As the first bank established in Marshall County, Bank of Benton ended its first year of operation with assets of $26,221 (approximately $700k in 2018 dollars). The Bank acquired Calvert Bank in 2001 and re-branded in 2007 as Community Financial Services Bank.

How the CD Specials Compare

The Bank’s five-state market area makes an accurate comparison difficult, so I’ve chosen to compare the CD Specials to nationally available CDs. When compared to 172 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com, which require a similar minimum deposit ($5k or less) and are available nationwide, Community Financial Services Bank’s 49-month Bump Up CD Special APY currently ranks first.

When compared to 205 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com, which require a similar minimum deposit ($5k or less) and are available nationwide, Community Financial Services Bank’s 29-month CD Special APY currently ranks first.

The above rates are accurate as of 4/25/2019.

To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.