Garden Savings FCU Has Nationally Available 2-Year CD (2.02% APY)

At the end of last week, New Jersey-based Garden Savings Federal Credit Union (Garden Savings FCU) added 51 bps to its 24-month Share Certificate (2.02% APY). The minimum opening deposit is $500, with no stated balance cap.

Even though it is not marked as such, CSR stated the 2.02% APY is a “special rate” and hinted it may not last long. A year ago, the 2-year Share Certificate also offered a special rate that lasted about three weeks.

The Share Certificates is also available as an IRA (Traditional, Roth, CESA) earning the same APY, with the same funding requirements.

As stated on Certificates page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

On terms of 1 year or greater, early withdrawal penalty is 180 days of dividends earned.

Thanks to DA reader, Sylvia, for her Forum post about this nice 2-year CD.

Availability

Headquartered in Parsippany, New Jersey, Garden Savings Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) provides a way for almost any U.S. citizen to join.

Easy Membership - Members of the American Consumer Council (ACC) are eligible to join Garden Savings FCU.

Residency - Individuals who live, work, worship, attend school, volunteer, or regularly conduct business in the New Jersey cities of Elizabeth, Newark, or Jersey City qualify for membership.

Employment - Employees, retirees, and volunteers of more than 125 businesses and organizations qualify for membership.

Family Relationship - Immediate family members of current Garden Savings FCU members are eligible to join.

About a year ago, DA reader, Sylvia, pointed out in a Forum post, that Garden Savings FCU “is not a very tech smooth CU.” Things are looking up for the Credit Union: there’s a new online application. It’s a fairly standard document, but I did notice this statement regarding joint accounts.

If another person will be joint on your accounts,
they must enter and validate their personal information.

The online application is not without issues: when I selected “CDs” on the first page of the online application, I saw "No products of this type are available at this time." I asked CSR about this, she stated the online application actually has two parts, and what I was seeing was the initial part. Once your application has been approved, you can open a CD online.

The Membership Application can still be downloaded and returned by fax, snail mail, or email.

Garden Savings FCU also has five full-service New Jersey branches located in Dover, Maplewood, Newark, New Providence, and Parsippany.

Credit Union Overview

Garden Savings Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B" at DepositAccounts.com, with an above average Texas Ratio of 15.21%, based on June 30, 2017 data. In the past year, Garden Savings FCU has increased its total deposits by $28.42 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 9.88%. Please refer to our financial overview of Garden Savings Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter #18710) for more details.

Garden Savings Federal Credit Union is currently New Jersey’s sixth largest credit union, with more than 27,500 members and assets in excess of $358 million. Originally founded in 1968 for the benefit of the employees of AT&T Bell Laboratories (known today as Alcatel-Lucent) employees, Garden Savings FCU expanded their FOM in 1985 to include other SEGs, as well residents of the county seats of Essex, Hudson, and Union Counties, New Jersey. In 2013 and 2014, Garden Savings FCU merged with Morristown FCU, NWNJ FCU, and Essex Division Telephone FCU.

How the Share Certificate Compares

When compared to the 193 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are available nationally, Garden Savings Federal Credit Union’s 2-year Share Certificate APY currently ranks first.

The above rates are accurate as of 9/19/2017.

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.