Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU Ups 24-Month CD To 3.50% APY
Pennsylvania-based Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union (MSDFCU) recently raised the rate on its 24-month CD to 3.50% APY. The minimum deposit is $1k, with no stated balance cap. While MSDFCU offers a Jumbo version of the 24-month CD ($25k minimum), the APY is also 3.50%.
The 24-month CD is also available as an IRA (Traditional), earning the same APY with the same funding requirements.
As stated in the Truth-in-Savings disclosure, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:
Withdrawals of principal prior to maturity are subject to a penalty equal to 90 days of dividends for terms under 12 months or 180 days of dividends for terms of 12 months or longer. If dividends have already been paid, the penalty will be deducted from principal.
Funding a CD Online
While a CD can be opened online, the online application states,
Maximum online funding for new members is $2,500. Existing members maximum online funding is $25,000. For deposits greater than $25,000, please contact the Credit Union
Availability
Headquartered in Chalfont, Pennsylvania, Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) offers almost any US citizen or resident alien (with a valid Social Security number) a way to join.
Easy membership: Joining the New Britain Charitable Foundation (NBCF) with a $10 donation qualifies for MSDFCU membership. NBCF was established in 2016 “to serve recognized charitable organizations, community organizations, and other entities who serve the communities in Bucks and Montgomery Counties.”
According to NBCF’s Donate/Referral page,
To join the Credit Union please visit the Merck Sharp & Dohme FCU website and complete your membership by opening an account using the “Become a Member” button. Select item 3, and use the drop-down menu to locate New Britain Charitable Foundation as your organization.
Employment: Employees of Merck & Company, Inc, Flik International (West Point, PA), Merck plants in Durham and Wilson (North Carolina), and Telerex are eligible to join, as are employees/members of more than 400 sponsor companies/associations.
Relationship: Immediate family members or household members of a current MSDFCU member are welcome to apply.
Joining MSDFCU and/or opening a CD can be done online or at any of six Pennsylvania branches located in Chalfont, Harleysville, Lansdale, North Wales, Trappe, and West Point.
The Membership Application is also available as a download and can be returned in person or by snail mail.
Credit Union Overview
Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 1.96% (excellent) based on December 31, 2018 data. In the past year, MSDFCU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $17.54 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 3.67%. Please refer to our financial overview of Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 6574) for more details.
Founded in 1950, Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union was originally known as The Drug Works Federal Credit Union, serving Sharp & Dohme employees. (Starting as an apothecary shop in 1845, Sharp & Dohme had great success in the development of sulfa drugs, vaccines, and blood plasma products.) When Merck merged with Sharp & Dohme in 1953, the Credit Union’s name was changed to reflect the new company. MSDFCU is currently the 20th largest credit union in Pennsylvania, with more than 29,400 members and assets in excess of $552 million.
How the CD Compares
When compared to 194 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar minimum deposit and are nationally available, Merck Sharp & Dohme Federal Credit Union's 24-month CD APY currently ranks first.
The above rates are accurate as of 3/27/2019.
To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to the CD Rates Table page.
I was told that the 3.5% CD offering started on 3/1/19 and ends on 3/31/19. So for practical purposes, you need to have the CD funded by Friday. It takes about a day to get your membership account opened. They are not part of the shared branch network so you’d have to mail them a check or send a wire.
The main problem is that I was told that they will not give you your account number by telephone or email – it comes in a separate snail mail. Therefore, you can’t do a wire without your account number. I suppose you could send them an overnight letter with your check for deposit into your new account. It’s a good promotion, but with only three days to finalize everything I’m going to have to pass.
This is probably masochistic but I will post my outcome here
Probably worth mentioning their $15 INCOMING wire fee.
But, Pennsylvania is cold and there are no lie-flat first class seats going there.
I might have to fire up my jet.
I wonder how they would feel if I walked in with a cashiers check for more than their total assets.
Waiting for a CU to offer a good deal with a 5 minute window
Its coming
Ken actually made brief mention of this deal in one of his posts on Tuesday, 26 March. I applied immediately that day. Still, sadly, not really enough time to get the deal.
MSDFCU has told me they have only a single person, just ONE person, processing applications received online. Lotsa luck with that. I still have not heard back regarding my application from yesterday.
You would hope they might extend the deal, even if only just by a day or two. Appears that ain't gonna happen.
I applied last night 3/26 and I'm waiting for an email/call back with instructions on what the CU needs beyond my membership application (probably ID documentation). Once the savings account is open and funded (they already debited my external account) they said they will give me my account number over the phone.
UPDATE 3/27/2019: the 24-month CD is only available through the end of business on March 29, 2019. Opening funds must be received by 3:30 pm EDT. The good news is that I've just confirmed with MSDFCU that they are making an exception to the policy of only providing a new account number through USPS. I was told that upon application approval, you will be contacted by email with all the information about your account, including account number.
In practice, even though they've said they'll contact people by phone with an acct. number, it's clear that this is a dicey deal. I'd need to get an account number today, so I could send a wire by tomorrow, and then set up the 24 month CD with the wired money that (hopefully) arrived in my savings acct. Possible, but certainly a frazzling situation, given that I've got an open offer on another CD with a somewhat lower APR. Seems like all kinds of things can go wrong. But the deal is good enough to give it a try.
Except that.........when I applied online, I got an email saying they couldn't 'automatically approve' my account, and would have to have their New Accounts team review the application and get back to me. This happened to me just last week. It's a funny kind of 'glitch' - the institution from last week's application showed that I had opened a high number of accounts in the last 18 months, and rejected my application. I called in, and they said that opening a lot of accounts in a short period of time was a signature mark of a scammer. The fact that I called in, immediately changed their minds and they approved the account. They said scammers never call them back, while legit customers do. Funny, eh? Putting funds into CD in (what was) a rising rate environment, where institutions leap-frog each other constantly stirs up suspicion of the customer.
In any case, I doubt this is a doable deal unless they extend the deadline, of which there is no indication at this time that they will. And, if they actually did get back to me today with a savings acct number, any slip of the lip with the wire, or with opening the 24 month with the wired funds before 3:30 pm EST Friday would be a real mess. Still, I'm giving it a shot. I could probably find a better use of my time :-)
I think readers would like to know more about the Chex and Credit checks when opening a new account. My experience in the last 12 months has been that the best deals on CDs have come from Credit Unions. The Credit Unions seem to scrutinize more compared to Banks. Only one Credit Union did NOT do a hard pull on my credit (Navy Federal), as far as I know, and I do not know if they pulled a Chex report. The latest account I opened recently was with a Credit Union, and they called and inquired as to why I had opened "numerous accounts" in the past year. I explained that the rates were rising all last year and that I was taking advantage of it, which sufficed. However, I tried to open an account at Mt. America CU for about 4 weeks with no success. They never responded to my calls or email? So I guess it's possible they denied my application due to too many accounts?
It might be a good idea to start a thread where everyone could share their experiences with Chex and Credit Inquiries. My question is: If you are flagged as having too many new accounts, then how do you fix that?.....Should you close accounts you are not using; If so, how long till they disappear from your report?
You could try to dispute duplicate Chex entries, and those from institutions where you never actually opened an account. https://wallethub.com/edu/chexsystems-removal/12781/ Data stays on your Chex report for up to 5 years (and IIRC sometimes something older accidentally gets left on there; you can dispute any of those too), though most banks/CUs only look at accounts opened in the past 1-2 years. I don't think having closed the account is a valid dispute reason; Chex is just trying to say when you opened the account, not its current status.
I think Navy FCU mostly uses an alternative to Chex, called EWS (Early Warning System). You can request a report from EWS too.
I just received my Chex report, just reviewed it, and here is what I found: Mt. Am. CU never made an inquiry to Chex or my credit report?....Who Knows?
The Chex report shows that 3 different Credit Unions pulled my report 2 times, which I assume their computer system triggered because of joint ownership?
Several Banks/CUs are NOT listed there for which I opened accounts.
All of the inquiries I see are since rates started to rise. None of my old accounts that I have had for years are listed. These recent inquiries are listed under a category 'Inquiries Viewed By Others'.
Thanks for the information about EWS, that is also something I need to check into.
Then: Kaboom!!
MSD FCU did not plan for, or even realize, the possibility of a last minute tidal wave hitting them amidships. They are reeling from the impact and risk annoying, even antagonizing, many folks who sadly learned of the deal very late. What to do?
Well, if they would honor deposits initiated before month's end that would help a lot. I hope their so far rigid cutoff on the deal flexes at least that much. There is a chance here for MSD FCU to make a great many new friends and enlarge their membership significantly. We shall see what happens and we must hope for the best.
Disclaimer: I have no idea how much longer this Dow deal will last.
A premium service would allow Lending Tree to make money by announcing deals. Free market incentive.
On their website, it says the deal expires noon on 3/30, so that is inconsistent with what they told Ken.
I agree I've missed out on several deals lately because we find out about them too late.
Frustrating...
at post Rate Comparison
The deal actually expires with March's end. But of course March ends on a Sunday and no business whatsoever is conducted then so . . . now we are back to Saturday.
The credit union is open locally on Saturday morning. If you walk into a branch office then you can get the deal. But how many of Ken's readers could do that? Not too many I think you will agree. And neither the branches nor the main Chalfont office can be relied upon to process US Mail incoming deposits on Saturday, either. Hence for most of us you can scratch both Saturday and Sunday as being of any use to us whatsoever.
So now we are backed up, as a practical matter, to close of business Friday, which is exactly what Ken told all of us in his update. It's a pity March does not end this coming Monday, instead of on Sunday. That would offer so many of us a fighting chance to get the deal.
Go to MSD FCU home website and bring up offer noting it says there deal is good until noon on March 30th. Take a screenshot of that page and save it.
You never know. ;-)
It's a good deal but I'll never go through this much hassle again. My bank had the wire transfer instructions in their system before noon, but I had to go into the branch again at 2 PM and ask why they hadn't sent it. Turns out it was waiting for management sign off. Many banks don't even start sending out wires until mid afternoon. The 3:30 PM requirement was IMHO unreasonable.