Navy Federal Unveils Rate-Leading 15-Month Add-On Special CD - Update

Early Withdrawal Penalty

As stated on Navy Fed FAQs page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

If the term to maturity is greater than 1 year, the amount forfeited is equal to the lesser of:

all dividends for 180 days on the amount withdrawn, or

all dividends on the amount withdrawn since the date of issuance or renewal.

Funding and Accessing Maturing Funds

When opening a Navy Fed Certificate online, the easiest way to fund a Certificate is probably is through a transfer from an existing Navy Fed checking, savings, or Money Market Savings account. An ACH transfer initiated by another institution may be the quickest way to get the funds into your Navy Fed liquid account. Once the funds are received, a Certificate can be opened using the online application, which allows you to specify that funds be pulled from that Navy Fed account.

An easy way to access maturing Navy Fed Certificate funds is to have the funds transferred to any existing Navy Fed checking, savings or Money Market Savings account (MMSA). There is a 21 calendar day grace period following maturity before the Share Certificate automatically renews.

If you plan to pull funds from Navy Fed using the ACH service of another institution, you should consider opening either the Money Market Savings account or one of Navy Fed’s checking accounts. Navy Fed has restrictions on ACH debits from its savings account. Navy Fed’s Electronic Funds Transfer Agreement and Disclosure (page 13) reads in part,

Please note that your Navy Federal savings account may only receive ACH credits. MMSAs may receive ACH credits and debits in accordance with the limitations set forth in the MMSA agreement.

When you originate an ACH transfer at another financial institution, Navy Federal places no limitations on the dollar amount of received ACH transfers, and Navy Federal does not charge fees for received transfers.

You may only originate ACH transfers at Navy Federal from your checking account. For transfers originated at Navy Federal, there is no limit on the number of funds transfers you can make from your checking account per day. However, there are minimum and maximum total dollar transfer limits associated with transferring funds to/from another financial institution via the ACH, when the transfer is originated from Navy Federal. Transfers from a Navy Federal checking account to a checking account at another financial institution may be requested for a minimum of $5.00 to a maximum of $5,000.00 per business day. However, the total aggregate amount of all checking transfers within any five-business-day period cannot exceed $15,000.

Earned Dividends

The Certificates brochure states,

Dividends that have been credited are available for withdrawal anytime without penalty. You can request to have the dividends remain in your certificate account, have them automatically transferred to your Navy Federal savings account, checking account, or Money Market Savings Account on the first of the month, or have them sent to you in the form of a check.

Beneficiaries and Trust Accounts

Unlimited beneficiaries (with assigned percentages) can be named, with name, address, DOB, and Social Security numbers required for each beneficiary. Beneficiaries can be designated in the online application or by using Navy Fed’s Payable on Death (POD) Form. For Trust Accounts, refer to Navy Fed’s Deposit Trust Accounts Form. This form should be used “to reassign or establish accounts in the name of a Legal Trust,” which Navy Fed calls a “Deposit Trust Account.”

Availability

Unlike PenFed's nearly universal membership eligibility, Navy Fed’s field of membership (FOM) is restricted to individuals who have a military connection, regardless of residency status.

As I described in a 2017 blog post, Navy Fed’s FOM has expanded and while a military connection is still required, many more people are now eligible to join. The most recent group added are individuals with family members who were affiliated with the military at any time.

The Navy Fed "Become a Member" page lists the various ways to qualify for membership.

Active Duty, Retired and Veterans – Service members in all branches of the armed forces are membership-eligible, including:

Active Duty members of the Army, Marine Corps, Navy, Air Force, Coast Guard, and Ait National Guard.
Delayed Entry Program (DEP)
DoD Officer Candidate/ROTC
DoD Reservists
Veterans, retirees, and annuitants

Family Members – Individuals with parents, grandparents, spouses, siblings, children (adopted and step-), grandchildren, or household members who at any time were affiliated with the military or are already Navy Fed members are also eligible to join. As stated on the Membership FAQs page,

In addition to the personal information you'll need to supply for yourself, you'll need to provide your sponsor's last name, Access Number and relation to you (i.e., spouse, grandfather). If you're unsure of their Access Number, you may use the last 4 digits of their Social Security Number and their date of birth.

Department of Defense (DoD) Civilians – Any DoD civilian employee, U.S. government employees/contractors assigned to DoD installations, and DoD retiree/annuitants are welcome to apply.

Joining Navy Fed and/or opening a Certificate Special can be done online or at any of 337 branches located in 30 different states and the District of Columbia.

FYI – Navy Fed does not pull your credit report when opening a Certificate.

A balance of at least one share ($5) is required to establish and maintain membership.

Credit Union Overview

Navy Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 4.90% (excellent) based on September 30, 2022 data. In the past year, Navy Fed has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $9.49 billion, an excellent annual growth rate of 7.54%. Please refer to our financial overview of Navy Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 5536) for more details.

Headquartered in Vienna, Virginia, Navy Federal Credit Union is considered the largest credit union in the world. Founded in 1933 as the Navy Department Employees’ Credit Union of the District of Columbia, Navy Federal has grown from its initial seven members to more than 12,100,000 members and assets in excess of $156 billion.

How the 15-Month Certificate Special Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationwide and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, only one credit union has a higher rate than currently offered on the Navy Federal Credit Union 15-month Certificate Special. The following table compares the 15-month Certificate Special to the two highest-rate CDs from other credit unions and the two highest-rate CDs from banks.

The above information and rates are accurate as of 1/9/2022.

To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.