FORUM Credit Union's 18-Month CD Earns 3.00% APY

FORUM Credit Union (FORUM) has been offering 3.00% APY on its 18-month CD for a couple of months, but in light of falling rates, the 3.00% APY has become competitive. (Two months ago, the rates for Noteworthy Local Deals, 18-month CDs in the bi-weekly CD Rates Summary ranged from 3.25% APY to 2.85% APY, with FORUM’s 18-month CD right in the middle.) The minimum opening deposit is $500, with no stated balance cap.

The 18-month CD is also available as an IRA (Traditional, Roth, or CESA), earning the same APY with the same funding requirements.

As stated on FORUM’s Truth In Savings page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

Terms longer than 12 months - all accrued dividends up to
180 days' dividends but not less than seven (7) days' dividends.

Availability

Headquartered in Fishers, Indiana, FORUM doesn’t share much information about its field of membership (FOM) on its website, but the online membership application does detail who is eligible to join.

Employees of more than 3,000 Select Employee Groups qualify for membership.

Residents of 88 of Indiana’s 92 counties and portions of the remaining four counties (Allen, Lake, Marion, and St. Joseph) are eligible to join. NOTE: it’s been almost four years since I last wrote about FORUM and during that time, the FOM has expanded from eight Central Indiana counties to more than 97% of the entire state.

Relatives (spouse, sibling child, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, including step-parent, step-child, and step-sibling) of current FORUM members are welcome to apply.

Joining FORUM can be done online, or at any of 13 Indiana branches located in Avon, Carmel, Fishers (2), Greenwood, Indianapolis (7) and Noblesville.

Once the membership application has been approved, opening a CD can be done over the phone (800.382.5414), in-branch, via Live Chat, or through a Secure Email.

A minimum $5 deposit is required to open a Share Savings account and establishes FORUM membership, but a minimum $100 balance is required to earn dividends. As stated in the Consumer Fee Schedule, there are two potential fees associated with the Share Savings account.

Inactive Savings Account – No activity for 36 months and account balance less than $200.00, $10.00/Month

Early Account Closure – If account closed within six months $50.00, One-time fee

FORUM is a participating member of the CO-OP Shared Branch network.

Can't make it to a branch? Members have access to 5,000 shared branch
locations and more than 4,800 surcharge free Alliance One ATMs nationwide.

Credit Union Overview

FORUM Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 4.57% (excellent) based on December 31, 2018 data. In the past year, FORUM has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $58.08 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 6.18%. Please refer to our financial overview of FORUM Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 68248) for more details.

FORUM Credit Union was formed in 1941 by the employees of Indiana Bell Telephone Company. Like so many other credit unions founded for the benefit of Bell Telephone employees, FORUM’s scope and membership eligibility changed following the breakup of AT&T. FORUM Credit Union is currently the sixth largest credit union in Indiana, with nearly 153,000 members and assets in excess of $1.4 billion.

How the CD Compares

When compared to 233 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a minimum deposit of $10k or less and are available within the FOM, FORUM Credit Union's 18-month CD APY currently ranks second.

The above rates are accurate as of 5/17/2019.

To search for the best CD rates, either nationwide or state-specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.