CAFCU Has Added A Competitive Nationally Available 7-Month CD Special
Illinois-based Corporate America Family Credit Union (CAFCU) has added a 7-month Share Certificate Special earning 5.50% APY. A minimum of $1k of money “transferred from another institution” is required to open a 7-month Share Certificate Special. As stated in the fine print on the Share Certificates page,
“Moving your money from another financial institution” refers to
transferring or depositing money not currently on deposit at CAFCU.
The $1k minimum deposit of new money is mentioned on the website several times and one instance is worded a bit awkwardly, implying that new and existing funds can be used. CSR confirmed that all funds must be money new to CAFCU.
Early Withdrawal Penalty
The Truth-in-Savings disclosure is no longer available on the CAFCU website. The following is from the CAFCU Disclosure Booklet (also not on the website but provided by a CAFCU official):
60 days of dividends at Share Certificate for 6-month and 12-month certificates.
Penalties shall never exceed actual dividends earned. The amount of penalty assessed upon early withdrawal may be deducted from the principal amount only when the dividends earned on the Share Certificate have been previously withdrawn.
According to the CAFCU official, partial withdrawals are not allowed.
If a member wants to make a partial withdrawal, we need to close the current certificate and assess the penalty. We can then open a new certificate for the remaining funds and at the current rate.
Availability
Headquartered in Elgin, Illinois, CAFCU’s field of membership (FOM) provides a way for virtually all U.S. citizens and residents aliens (18 years or older) to join through an easy membership requirement option.
Easy Membership: anyone who joins The Hope Group is eligible for CAFCU membership. Joining CAFCU and The Hope Group can be done simultaneously using the online membership application.
The purpose of The Hope Group is to offer educational grants to colleges
and/or universities to be placed in their “general scholarship” fund.
Residency: Individuals who live or work in a 25-mile radius of any CAFCU branch location are eligible to join.
Employment: Employees of many Sponsor Companies also qualify for membership. The Sponsor Companies are not listed on CAFCU’s website, but you can find out if your employer qualifies by contacting the Member Center (800.359.1939).
Family Relationship: Family members of current CAFCU members are welcome to apply. CAFCU defines family as “spouse, parent, child, grandparent, grandchild, sibling, aunt, uncle, cousin, niece, nephew, in-law, step-child or domestic partner.”
Account Opening
Joining CAFCU can be done online or at any of the 12 Illinois branches located in Arlington Heights, Burbank, Chicago, Crystal Lake, Elgin (2), Mount Carmel, Oak Brook, Rollings Meadows, Rosemont, Streamwood, and Warrenville. CAFCU has nine other full-service branches in Peoria (AZ), Bristol (CT), Brookhaven (GA), Overland Park (KS), High Point (NC), Marion (OH), Towanda (PA), Irving (TX), and Herndon (VA).
Opening a Regular Share Account with a minimum $5 deposit establishes a CAFCU membership.
As stated in the Share Certificate FAQs,
Can I open a share certificate online?
We're working on improving our options for online account openings. However, share certificates cannot currently be opened online.
A Share Certificate Special can be open at any of the above-mentioned branch locations or by calling the Member Center (800.359.1939). Current members can open a Share Certificate Special using the CAFCU online banking platform.
Log into CAFCU's digital banking app and send us a secure message to request a new share certificate account. Please specify the term length and amount you would like to invest.
Funding and Other Details
The following information is from the CAFCU website and a conversation with CSR. FYI – the FAQs on the Share Certificates page contains a great deal of helpful information.
- Funding – ACH, wire (no fee), check, or Shared Branch transaction. According to CSR, funds need to be on deposit at CAFCU before opening a Share Certificate Special.
- Ownership – Individual, joint, or trust.
- CO-OP Shared Branch Participant – Yes.
- Dividends – Compounded daily/credited monthly and can be transferred to a CAFCU savings account.
- Maturing Funds – Internal transfer to a CAFCU savings account.
- Beneficiaries – Unlimited, percentages can be assigned. Social Security numbers are required.
- Grace Period – 10 calendar days before being renewed as a 6-month Share Certificate.
- Credit Check – Hard pull when joining through Transunion.
Credit Union Overview
CAFCU has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 3.58% (excellent) based on September 30, 2023 data. In the past year, CAFCU’s total non-brokered deposits decreased by -$81.59 million, a poor annual growth rate of -11.93%. Please refer to our financial overview of CAFCU (NCUA Charter # 68215) for more details.
Founded in 1939 by 15 employees of the Automatic Electric Company (AE), the credit union was originally known as the Automatic Credit Union. (AE manufactured telephone stepping switches, which allowed customers to connect their calls without operator assistance.) When GTE acquired AE in 1955, the credit union’s name was changed to GTE Employees Federal Credit Union. As the FOM continued to expand and diversify, the Corporate America Family Credit Union rebrand occurred in 1986, with the subsequent CAFCU rebrand occurring in 1997. As the 15th largest credit union headquartered in Illinois, CAFCU has more than 68,000 members and assets in excess of $843 million.
How the 7-month Share Certificate Special Compares
When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, two credit unions currently have higher rates than offered on the CAFCU 7-month Share Certificate Special. The following table compares the 7-month Share Certificate Special to the four highest-rate similar length-of-term CDs from other banks/credit unions within the market area.
The above information and rates are accurate as of 2/13/2024.
To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.