Dover FCU Celebrates International Credit Union Week With 5-Year CD
*Note: Determining the field of membership (FOM) for a credit union is usually a straightforward process, but based on the comments below from many DA readers, Dover Federal’s FOM is not clear cut. If you join Dover Federal, any pertinent information about the FOM you can share would be greatly appreciated.
Since 1948, International Credit Union Day has been celebrated on the third Thursday of October. Dover Federal Credit Union (Dover Federal) has chosen to “Celebrate the Dover Federal Difference” during International Credit Union Week (October 17-22) by offering a 5-year Term Share Certificate (2.50% APY). The minimum opening deposit for this limit-time offering is $500, with a maximum deposit of $25k.
As stated on Dover Federal’s Truth In Savings page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:
If your account has an original maturity of more than one year:
The penalty we may impose will equal 180 days dividends.
Many thanks to DA reader, NYCDoug, for his timely Forum post about this deal.
Availability
Headquartered in the capital of Delaware, Dover Federal Credit Union’s field of membership is wide and varied.
Military and Uniformed Services: Military personnel of the U.S. Government with duty locations in Delaware, and civilian employees of the U.S. Government working in Kent or Sussex Counties are eligible to join.
Employment: Employees of Bayhealth and Dover Downs (all locations), and employees or members of more than 400 Dover Federal’s Business Partners qualify for membership.
Family Relationship: Immediate family or household members of eligible individuals also qualify for membership.
Easy Membership: Delaware residents who join the Friends of Bombay Hook (a non-profit working in conjunction with Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge) qualify for membership in Dover Federal. The Credit Union will pay the membership fee.
Complete details on membership eligibility can be found on Dover FCU’s "Join Now"page.
Opening the 5-year Share Certificate can be done online, or in person at any seven Delaware branches located in Dover (3), Dover Air Force Base, Milford, New Castle, and Smyrna.
Note: I wrote about a 2-day Share Certificate offering in a June 2015 blog post, and the comments of some DA readers pointed out the difficulty of joining Dover Federal and funding the Share Certificate in a short period of time.
Credit Union Overview
Dover Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas ratio of 12.00% (above average), based on June 30, 2015 data. In the past year, Dover Federal has increased its total deposits by $22.64 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 6.02%. Please refer to our financial overview of Dover Federal Credit Union for more details.
Dover Federal Credit Union was first chartered in 1958 by a group of Air Force and civilian workers at Dover Air Force Base. Today, Dover FCU is Delaware’s largest credit union, with over 46,500 members and assets in excess of $445 million.
How the Share Certificate Compares
When compared to the 190 similar length of term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com, which require a similar minimum deposit and are available to Delaware residents, Dover Federal Credit Union’s 5-year Term Share Certificate APY currently ranks first.
The above rates are accurate as of 10/13/2015.
To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to the CD rates section of DepositAccounts.com or our Rates Map page.
I did look at joining the "Y", doable I think. But the cost is too high. Does anyone else have a way the general public can gain entry?
http://friendsofbombayhook.org/membership.html
"Our organization . . . has more than 300 members from all over the United States and Canada." . . .
Joining is easy!
Join online and pay your membership dues with Paypal. Select a membership plan from the list and click the "Pay Now" button. Pay with your Paypal or credit card account.
Please see above where Ken wrote:
"Delaware residents who join the Friends of Bombay Hook (a non-profit working in conjunction with Bombay Hook National Wildlife Refuge) qualify for membership in Dover Federal. The Credit Union will pay the membership fee."
I bolded the salient words. Many of us are not Delaware residents, so joining Friends does us no good. Do you have a broadly applicable way in for people who are NOT residents of Delaware? Thanks
If you want the freebie where they pay for membership in Friends of Bombay Hook, you have to live in Delaware.
If you join Friends of Bombay Hook on you own and cough-up the $15 membershp fee, you qualify for membership in the credit union. But, you must provide proof of membership.
The CSR told me that they were under the impression that you could only join Friends of Bombay Hook if you were a resident of Delaware. However, FBH's website says that it's open to anyone.
Plus the CD must be FUNDED by October 22nd. So, for us out of staters, that means a wire transfer would be needed to fund it in time.
Here's their disclaimer.
"All CD’s must be opened and funded during the week of October 17-22 to qualify for the rate promotion. If you have additional questions, please feel free to give us a call or visit your local branch."
So, you have to join FBH, get proof of membership, join Garden and fund the CD between now and the 22nd of October.
Good luck with that - especially if it's an IRA!
Thank you for posting. That is exactly what I was told day before yesterday by one of their reps. This CU seriously needs to get its act together pronto! It appears they are not close to being ready for prime time. Perhaps best to remain clear, since this is the kind of situation where they might tell you you're in . . . then later, in the midst of many apologies and expressions of sorrow for the "inconvenience", change their minds. It could become messy. They should have a solid, well documented, admissions policy, and then they should follow that policy. They should not be telling one thing to this caller and another thing to that caller.
But I also recall that my Bombay Hook membership was relatively easy to establish in 2015 . . . and it was from out of state (New York). Maybe they've since changed the rules?
Thinking optimistically, I put a check in the mail to Dover yesterday, post-dated for next Monday (along with a letter of instruction) which I sent to the attention of the helpful CSR with whom I spoke on Wednesday [Cheri]. I'm counting on my check to arrive in Delaware early next week, in time to meet the promotion deadline. I did not want to expense another wire transfer, and was told that, due to ACH limits, I would not be able to fund their maximum $25K that way.
I do recall hearing variations in stories from different CSRs last year, so, similar to me, you may also need to escalate your issues to management in order to establish your account and obtain a satisfying result this year. May all our intended 2016 transactions with Dover go smoothly!
Based on his input I tried ONE MORE TIME and was AGAIN told that to become a member Delaware residency was required. This was the second time I received that same answer and I can tell you now, that answer is BOGUS!!!
Because, again with thanks to NYCDoug, I telephoned and spoke with Deb Jewel, a very nice person. Deb confirmed Delaware residency is NOT necessary if one first joins FOBH. For me, failure to speak with Deb earlier on has been fatal and means I most likely will miss the deal. She was clear that those outside DE must FIRST join FOBH, before trying to join the CU. And FOBH has to issue you documentation, etc., again first. A parallel joining process, to save time, is not allowed.
Had I received good information when I first telephoned them on Wednesday I would have had a pretty good chance. As things are now, meeting their deadline, which is a HARD deadline, seems nearly impossible.
I think (not sure) both times I spoke with their Member Resource Center I was talking with the same rep. It was a woman and she was adamant, both times, that for me, as a person living outside the State of Delaware, membership was an impossibility. And she was DEAD wrong both times. Bad luck.
Then complete a Dover application to get a Dover member number (Deb walked me through the process last year) and either wire your money, or send them a check, payable to your new account. If your check is in the mail on Monday, it would probably arrive in time (by Saturday) from almost anywhere in the continental US. But to be safe, you might overnight it via FedEx, or use a UPS two-day delivery (or some equivalent -- certified, registered, whatever). And it's possible you'll actually need two checks: one for the CD, and one to establish Dover's [$5 minimum] required savings account. If you're shooting for the whole hog, you might be able to send them a single check for $25,005. [But I'd first verify that with Deb].
Then you need only follow up with a call to Dover by Thursday/Friday to make sure they received your money, and are themselves following through by opening up your CD. It's important to get your Dover member/account number first, before sending your check, since the funds from your check will be put on hold . . . But as long as it's your new CD in which your funds are being "held" -- opened prior to the deadline -- who cares? You still earn interest, and so it makes no difference whatsoever.
The best thing is that, once your relationship is established and your account open, you're well-positioned to take advantage of any and all similarly compelling offers from Dover down the road.
Sounds like you really want this, Frank, and where there's a will there's a way.
So get going, and Good Luck!
The trick with ACH, of course, is that you first need an account to transfer into. Which, in turn may require trial deposits. And those deposits would most likely target your Savings account (minimum $5) -- from which you would subsequently fund your CD (once your entire $25K max were there). If -- If -- there were not a hold placed on the funding amount you ACH-ed into your Savings account. Once it was established. [Chicken and egg?]
So to my mind, at least, there are too many moving parts: too many loopholes and "ifs" and potential "gotchas" for things to go wrong, barriers and blunders that could create delays. By which time the promotion would be over!
So I'm counting on the USPS -- with its slow and steady snail mail -- to, in this case, win the race, in the coming days. [Frank, too, from what I read below.] "Neither snow nor rain nor heat nor gloom of night . . . " That said, still hoping, for everyone's sake, that there are no hurricanes or flooding forecast for next week -- at least in Delaware. ;-)
After writing the above, and later settling down a bit, I decided yesterday to look at this once again. I investigated FOBH a little, reading one of their newsletters on-line. It seemed a worthwhile cause and I liked that they were serving the interests of young people, among other good works. I figured, "what the hen", it's only fifteen bucks, why not try! So I joined FOBH on line, then went ahead and did the Dover FCU application also on-line, in accord with Deb's admonition that I would need to join FOBH first.
I also received some good help along the way from another Dover rep (not the one who had put me off track). What she told me was to apply on-line ONLY for my Dover FCU savings account. This because the special 2.5% rate does not become effective until Monday, and until that time the on-line application shows the wrong interest rate (something I had noticed) for the share CD.
I ended up snail mailing two checks which will arrive at Dover early next week. One check is for my new savings account and the second is money to open the 2.5% share CD. I requested they open a share CD for me in my letter to the credit union. That way there is no problem with timing, since my letter will arrive during the interval of time the special is in effect. And of course I also mentioned the 2.5% share CD rate in my letter.
Regarding FOBH, of course I have no FOBH member number since I only just became a member. What I did was to print out my PayPal receipt and send a copy to the credit union so they will know I'm a member of FOBH. I really do not know if that will suffice, but I have no other choice so will just have to hope for the best. It could take forever for me actually to receive a FOBH member number.
I agree with you it is worth it for others to have a go with this. Worst case you will be a member of Dover FCU next time they run a CD special. And the $15 cost to join FOBH, which seems a good organization, is not a large cost in any event.
Worst for me was encountering, possibly twice, a Dover rep who provided poor guidance. This was dispiriting, especially since (for me) it was the second time in less than ten days this happened to me. Last week I received poor counsel from a rep at another CU (NFCU) which was aggravating and chewed up my time as I went about putting things right. But in the end such things are all merely routine travails of us rate chasers, and as such they must be tolerated and seen through. There is really no choice.
This has moved more quickly than I expected would happen. My letter to Dover FCU, only just mailed out on Friday, reached them today, Monday. And while I applied to FOBH on Friday as well, I already have received their welcome package, including my membership card. FOBH mailed this out to me on Saturday, October 15, based on the postmark on their letter.
But the response I received from Dover FCU was not positive. Contrary to what Deb Jewel had told me, they are now saying I'm not eligible for Dover membership because my residence is outside Delaware. They did not challenge my FOBH membership and the rejection was not on that basis.
To label this situation "confused" would be an understatement. Could there have been a policy change between Friday afternoon and Monday morning? I have no idea. I've tried to reach two people at Dover FCU by telephone, but in both instances the calls just went to voice mail. When there is more to report I will post again. But for now my membership attempt in Dover FCU stands as having been rejected because I do not live in Delaware.
To be safe, I sent them an internal email [from my existing online member account] and also annotated my online application [in their optional blank field for comments / instructions].
Here's what I wrote:
I am applying for this week's 5-Year Share Certificate Special @ 2.50% APY. I sent a $25,000 check to Dover ["Att: Cheri"] last Thursday, from New York, which you should receive in the next day or two, if it is not already in your possession. Please use the entire amount of the check to open up a new 5-Year CD @ 2.50% for me. Thank You!
They're working until 5:05 pm today. I'm hoping everything will be processed, and show up properly online by Wednesday. Fingers crossed!
All is well.
This was MY misunderstanding because I was operating on a false assumption. I did receive a rejection, as stated up thread. However, I was assuming they had received the letter I mailed to them on Friday (after all, I received today my package from FOBH which was mailed a day later than that!). But they do not yet have my letter, or if they do have it they have not yet opened it. Hence, I was declined because the credit union will not buy FOBH membership for out-of-state persons. Of course we all knew that from stuff posted here earlier. Those living outside Delaware must apply to FOBH and pay the $15 on their own, which I did. But without having my letter, the folks at Dover were unaware of my pre-existing FOBH membership and they (according to known rule) were not going to foot the bill for that. Hence, the rejection.
After speaking with a contact there, she is now indicating my membership is pending receipt of my letter, which contains proof of FOBH membership, along with my opening deposits as stated up-thread. So all is well, I hope.
Talk to you again in 2021, Frank ;-)
And can't wait to see what Dover has in store for us next year . . .
FYI: The account rate posted online is 2.47%, which I trust compounds monthly to this special's advertised annual yield of 2.5%
Altogether a very smooth process except for the rep who twice told me I was ineligible. This is the third CU I've joined in the last several weeks, with another one anticipated for tomorrow, in person. Joining in person, when possible, is easier. Of the four, three are in the DC region or are government/military related . . or both.
It's all a lot to do but it certainly is preferable to risking one's money in the stock market casino.