Special 8-Month CD Rate at Digital Federal Credit Union - Easy Membership

Digital Federal Credit Union is offering an excellent short-term CD deal. It's a 1.50% APY 8-month certificate. Minimum deposit is $1,000. It's a limited time offer. The special is listed on DCU's front page and in this DCU special offers page as of 11/19/2012. Hat tip to the reader who mentioned this special in the comments.

DCU has an online application that allows members to open this special CD. However, if you're a new member, the maximum that can be transferred from your checking account at another institution is only $3,000. If you're already a DCU member, you can fund the CD with money from your DCU checking or savings account, and there doesn't appear to be a limit for this funding method. So if you're not already a DCU member, the best approach to open this special CD may be to become a member first. If you have opened this CD, please leave a comment about your experience.

Last year DCU was offering very competitive rates on its regular certificates. Its regular certificate rates are still competitive but they are no longer rate leaders even with the extra 0.25% that comes from a checking relationship. I first mentioned DCU in 2005 when it was offering a 5% 16-month CD (the good old days).

In addition to qualifying for the relationship CD rates, there are other reasons why you may want a DCU checking account. These include free ATM usage, mobile check deposit and free monthly FICO credit scores. Please refer to DCU's checking page for more details.

Credit Union Membership

Anyone can join DCU via membership in an association. Refer to this credit union page for the list of associations. The least expensive membership is $10 for joining Reach Out for Schools. You can be immediately eligible to join DCU if you live, work, worship or attend school in parts of Georgia and Massachusetts. Refer to the Join DCU page for the full details. I have more details about the application process in my 2010 DCU review.

DCU Overview

Digital Federal Credit Union branches are located in Massachusetts and New Hampshire. It's part of the shared branch network, CU Service Centers, which allows members to conduct many banking transactions at other credit unions in the network.

DCU is a large credit union with $4.4 billion in assets. It has an overall health score at DepositAccounts.com of 4 stars (out of 5) with a Texas Ratio of 10.68% (above average) based on June 2012 data. Please refer to our financial overview of Digital Federal Credit Union for more details. DCU is federally insured by the NCUA (Charter # 23521).

How This CD Rate Compares

This DCU special easily beats the best short-term deals at internet banks. The two best internet bank deals are at EverBank and at Ally Bank. EverBank has a special 6-month intro rate of 1.25% for its checking and money market account. This rate only applies to balances up to $100K for the checking and $50K for the money market account. The best short-term deal at Ally Bank is its 11-month No-Penalty CD which has a 0.96% APY. The no-penalty feature allows the customer to make this CD have any term from 7 days to 11 months. These rates are accurate as of 11/19/2012.

Searching for the Best CD Rates

To search for the best nationwide CD rates and the best CD rates in your state, please refer to the CD rates section of DepositAccounts.com.