Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union 60-Month Jumbo Step-Up CD Has Top APY

POSTED ON WEDNESDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 2020 BY Ken Tumin

Deal Summary: 60-month Jumbo Step-Up CD, 2.99% APY, $25k minimum; 60-month Step-Up CD, 2.89% APY, $5k minimum.

Availability: Easy membership requirement.

I want to thank the DA reader who emailed me about the Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union (FBFCU) 60-month Jumbo Step-Up CD (2.99% AYP). Not only is it a very competitive rate, it’s the highest APY offered on a nationally available 5-year CD. The Step-Up option allows for one rate increase at any time during the term, should rates increase. The minimum opening deposit is $25k, with no stated balance cap. The non-Jumbo version of the Step-Up CD earns 2.89% APY and requires only a $5k minimum opening deposit.

APY	MIN	MAX	INSTITUTION	PRODUCT
2.99%	$25k	-	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union	60 Month Jumbo Step Up Term Share Certificate
2.99%	$25k	-	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union	60 Month Jumbo Step Up IRA Term Share Certificate (Traditional, Roth, CESA)
2.89%	$5k	-	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union	60 Month Step Up Term Share Certificate
2.89%	$5k	-	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union	60 Month Step Up IRA Term Share Certificate (Traditional, Roth, CESA)

Rates as of February 22, 2020.

Both Step-Up CDs are also offered as IRAs (Traditional, Roth, and CESA), earning the same APYs with the same funding requirements.

As stated in Truth-in-Savings disclosure (available in FBFCU's Forms & Disclosures page), the Early Withdrawal Penalty (EWP) reads as follows:

Unless stated otherwise, owners of non-IRA Term Share Certificate accounts shall forfeit an amount equal to three (3) months dividends on the amount withdrawn. Owners of IRA Term Share Certificate accounts shall forfeit an amount equal to three (3) months AND assessed an Administrative Fee, refer to Term Share/IRA Certificates Rates for current fee.

A partial withdrawal is permitted, as long as it does not result in a “principal balance of less than the required minimum opening deposit.”

While the three month EWP is exceedingly mild, there is a risk that FBFCU could disallow an early withdrawal request based on the following disclosure statement,

Withdrawal of the principal amount of your Certificate
may be made only with the consent of the Credit Union.

Funding and Accessing Maturing Funds

Funding a CD can be done by ACH, wire transfer, or by in internal transfer. Maturing funds can be distributed by cashier’s check, wire transfer, or transferred into another FBFCU account. There is a 10-day grace period before a CD automatically renews.

We are now proud to offer CO-OP Shared Branching and CO-OP ATMs! As a Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union member you can make transactions at over 5,000 credit union branches and use nearly 30,000 surcharge-free ATMs across the globe.

Availability

Headquartered in Fort Bragg, North Carolina, Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) includes a route to membership for almost all US citizens/resident aliens.

Easy Membership: Membership ($40 fee for two years) in the Braxton Bragg Chapter of the Association of the United States Army (AUSA) qualifies for membership in FBFCU. The AUSA membership application is available as part of FBFCU’s online application (It's also available in FBFCU's Forms & Disclosures page).

Residency: Individuals who live, work, worship, or attend school in Cumberland County, North Carolina are also eligible to join.

Employment: Individuals who regularly work at Fort Bragg qualify for membership. (The online application requires the employer’s name and full address.)

Military Relationship: Any active duty or retired service member is eligible for membership.

Family Relationship: Immediate family and dependents of anyone who meets any of the above criteria is welcome to apply.

Joining FBFCU and/or opening a Jumbo Step-Up CD can be done online, or at any of five North Carolina branches, located in Fayetteville (3) and Fort Bragg (2).

A $5 minimum deposit in a Regular Share Savings account establishes a FBFCU membership.

Credit Union Overview

Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 3.79% (excellent), based on September 30, 2019 data. In the past year, FBFCU increased its total non-brokered deposits by $6.86 million, an above average annual growth rate of 1.95%. Please refer to our financial overview of Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 13690) for more details.

Established in 1960, Fort Brag Federal Credit Union is currently North Carolina’s 12th largest credit union, with more than 38,600 members and assets in excess of $411 million. The original FOM was exclusive to active duty military assigned to Fort Bragg, military retirees, and their family members The FOM was expanded in 2003 to include all Fort Bragg employees, in 2012 to include members of the Braxton Bragg Chapter of AUSA, and in 2012 to include the residents of Cumberland County, North Carolina.

On December 18, 2019, FBFCU awarded a total of $721,000 in Loyalty Dividends to nearly 23,000 qualifying member-owners. Almost 60% of FBFCU's membership received a dividend, with some receiving as much as $500.

How the Jumbo Step-Up CD Compares

When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide, Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union's 60-month Jumbo Step-Up CD APY currently ranks first, regardless of minimum deposit.

Interest Rate	CD Length of Term	Credit Union/Bank
2.99% APY	60-Month Jumbo Step-Up CD ($25k min)	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union
2.98 APY	5 Year Jumbo CD ($100k min)	Transportation Federal Credit Union
2.89% APY	60-Month Step-Up CD ($5k min)	Fort Bragg Federal Credit Union
2.75% APY	60 Month CD ($100k min)	Blue Federal Credit Union

The above rates are accurate as of 2/12/2020.

Searching for the best CD rates, both nationwide and in your state? Please refer to our CD Rates table.

Tracey | Feb 14, 2020 | Comment #18

I literally spent hours opening this account. Yes, there is an application for AUSA membership in the online sign up process. But the form is just a pdf. You can't fill it out online. During the process, you can check that you are a member, but after you finish you have to have proof of membership to open the account. You cannot get an account number without proof of membership, and you cannot open a CD without an account number. You have several options to fund the $5 minimum, and for some reason, my credit card would not work. Another part of the process you have to enter your unique code to prove you read the disclosures. The code "is in red at the bottom of page 2". Well, on my ipad, I could only see the second page if I opted to print it, and there was no unique code. I called about it, and the rep said that I would receive the code via email or text message. The only email I had was one telling me my progress had been saved and a password to get back in. The rep told me that was the code. Of course it wasn't. When I called back, the rep could not help me and said she would try to get one of the girls who deals with that to help me. I was put on hold and ultimately transferred to a voicemail where I left a message and was never called.

So I fired up the old laptop and logged back into my application. There are actually 30 pages of disclosures, not the 2 that showed up on my iPad. Got the unique code and proceeded. You have to call to open the CD after your share account is open. You don't have an account number until you call. That was when I had to provide proof of AUSA membership. I had signed up over the phone and had my membership number, but that was not good enough. They wanted an email (which I had not received) and a receipt showing I paid. So, I hung up and called AUSA. That rep helped me get into my AUSA account online so that I could take a screenshot of my my account. So I call Ft Bragg back to get an email address to send the screenshot to. She waited to receive the email after I sent it, and then finally gave me my account number.

So then I say I want to open a CD, and she looks at my account and says there is no money to fund it. I had thought that I would open it and ACH the money in. No such luck. I was to mail a check (for $100,000),and pray the rate would still be in effect when they received the check. If not, they would mail me a check for the balance. Sigh. Then the rep said I could make a deposit at a shared branch. There was one about 20 minutes from me, so I get in the car and drive to make the deposit. All set, get home and the money is already posted to my account. Yay! Call Ft Bragg to open the cd and get the same rep. She tells me the shared branch put a 5 day hold on the check, so she can't open the CD because the funds are not available. However, she did say she was trying to talk to a manager to override it so they could open the CD. She said she would call me back either way with the answer. She did get it overridden and funded the CD, and even though I received an auto generated email telling me the cd was set up, she called before I could even type an email to thank her.

Literally, a whole day to accomplish this.

RockyC | Feb 14, 2020 | Comment #19

Wow! Sorry for your troubles. They should give you 4% for your efforts!

OrderlyChaos | Feb 15, 2020 | Comment #20

I got completely spoiled by Ally. If you already have an account with them, 5 seconds (I am not exaggerating) to open a CD, 5 seconds to add/change the beneficiary, 1 minute response time from a knowledgeable CSR, 1 day (with an established linked account) for basically unlimited ACH transfers. But of course this comes at the lower rate cost...

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RockyC | Feb 13, 2020 | Comment #12

I called to inquire about a hard or soft pull. The person I spoke to wasn’t sure but believes it is a hard pull. If anyone knows for sure, please advise.

alan1 | Feb 13, 2020 | Comment #13

Someone else called and received a different answer: "The answer I was given is that it is a soft inquiry to become a member. Hard inquiry comes only when applying for loan or credit card."
Comment #3 at https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/cd-rates-survey/#comments

alan1 | Feb 13, 2020 | Comment #14

RockyC -- someone else called and received a different answer: "The answer I was given is that it is a soft inquiry to become a member. Hard inquiry comes only when applying for loan or credit card."
Comment #3 at https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/cd-rates-survey/#comments

RockyC | Feb 14, 2020 | Comment #15

I called them to ask how often interest is compounded and posted. The lady couldn’t answer, then she tried to guess and throw out wild answers, then said ummm, I don’t know. I asked about the early withdrawal penalty. Same bewildering response. I asked to speak to someone who can answer my questions. She said no one is available. I said I would wait. She put me on hold and disconnected me 3 minutes later. I’ve lost all confidence and will not be opening an account with them. It’s sad because the rate is good, but there’s too much incompetence and inefficiency for my liking.

OrderlyChaos | Feb 14, 2020 | Comment #16

After reviewing FBCU employee responses on Indeed, I would not trust them with my money either. Good rates don't mean much if you can't get access to your money.

RockyC | Feb 14, 2020 | Comment #17

Amen. I decided to have some fun and I called back. Got the same lady. I told her she disconnected me. Again, no one was available to talk to me, at least no one with functioning neurons. I asked her, “may I make a deposit at a shared branch?” and she said only up to $1,000. I said that makes no sense. She said maybe she’s wrong. Attention FBFCU: you have an idiot answering your phones!