Oregon Community Credit Union (OR/WA) Ups 13-Month CD Special Rate

Oregon Community Credit Union (OCCU) is currently offering a very competitive 5.30% APY on its 13-month CD Special. The minimum opening deposit is $500, with no stated balance cap.

13-month CD Special is also available as an IRA CD Special (Traditional, Roth), earning the same APY with the same deposit requirements.

Rate Bump and Add-On Options

A one-time rate increase and a one-time additional deposit are offered on the 13-month CD Specials. As stated on the Certificate Accounts Rate and Fee Schedule (page 2),

At any time during the term of the certificate, you may elect to increase the interest rate one time prior to maturity, to the current interest rate offered by OCCU on certificates of the same term. Your increased interest rate will take effect on the day we process your request.

In addition, at any time during the initial term of the certificate, you may make an additional deposit up to the original amount of the certificate (note: annual IRA contribution limits apply for IRA accounts). You may only exercise this option once during the initial term of the certificate.

Although not stated on the website, CSR confirmed that the rate increase and additional deposit options are not tied to each other: they can be exercised independently at any time during the term length.

Early Withdrawal Penalty

As stated in the Truth-in-Savings disclosure, the Early Withdrawal Penalty (partial withdrawals allowed) reads as follows:

The amount of the early withdrawal penalty is based on the term of your account. The penalty schedule is as follows:

Certificate Terms: 6 months-24 months – 365 days interest

If the account has not yet earned enough interest or if the interest has already been paid, the penalty will be deducted from the principal.

Availability

Headquartered in Eugene, Oregon, Oregon Community Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) expanded in 2021 and now includes individuals who live or work any of Washington State’s 39 counties or in the following 28 Oregon counties.

Oregon counties – Benton, Clackamas, Clatsop, Columbia, Coos, Crook, Curry, Deschutes, Douglas, Gilliam, Hood River, Jackson, Jefferson, Josephine, Klamath, Lane, Lincoln, Linn, Marion, Morrow, Multnomah, Polk, Sherman, Tillamook, Wasco, Washington, Wheeler, and Yamhill.

Educational relationship – Students and employees of the University of Oregon qualify for membership. Members of the University of Oregon Alumni Association (UOAA) are eligible for membership, regardless of where they live.

Employment – State of Oregon employees and employees of Bi-Mart are eligible for membership.

Relationship – Immediate family of current OCCU members are welcome to apply, as are immediate family of any membership-eligible individual.

Account Opening

Joining OCCU can be done online or at any of the 13 Oregon branches, located in Eugene (8), Junction City, Keizer, Salem, Springfield, and Wilsonville.

This account [Primary Savings] comes with every new membership to the credit union. You’ll only need to keep $5.00 in it to be an OCCU member.

Existing OCCU members can open a CD online, in-branch, or over the phone. Those joining OCCU must establish a membership before a CD can be opened.

Funding and Other Details

The following information is from the OCCU website and a conversation with CSR.

• Funding – Internal transfer. Funds must be on deposit with OCCU before a CD can be opened.
• CO-OP Shared Branch Participate – Yes.
• Ownership – Individual, joint, or trust.
• Dividends – Compounded daily/credited quarterly and can automatically be transferred into an OCCU Primary Savings account.
• Maturing Funds –Cashier’s check to address on file or transferred to a Primary Savings account.
• Beneficiaries – Unlimited and percentages can be assigned. Social Security numbers are preferred but not required.
• Grace Period – 10 calendar days before automatic renewal as a 12-month CD.
• Credit Check – Hard pull when joining.

Credit Union Overview

Oregon Community Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 9.51% (excellent) based on March 31, 2023 data. In the past year, OCCU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $65.61 million, an average annual growth rate of 2.62%. Please refer to our financial overview of Oregon Community Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 65856) for more details.

Oregon Community Credit Union is currently the second largest credit union in Oregon, with nearly 261,000 members and assets in excess of $3.4 billion. OCCU was established in 1956 as the Lane Federal Credit Union by a group of state government employees. (“Lane” refers to Lane County.) In 1981, the name was changed to U-Lane-O Credit Union when the FOM expanded to include the University of Oregon employees and students. The Oregon Community Credit Union rebrand occurred in 2003, following the change to a community charter.

In the same year as the OCCU rebrand, a merger with the Portland Teachers Credit Union (now known as OnPoint Community Credit Union and Oregon’s largest credit) was explored. But according to a Credit Union Times 2004 article, what would have been the largest credit union merger ever, was not to be.

Very early in 2004, the boards agreed on the merger. The deal was given regulatory approval by NCUA, the state regulator and the FTC, but in June things fell apart.

The theme of the merger all along was a “merger of equals,” but they later admitted that may not have been the best approach. “In most mergers you have one institution that is doing the acquiring and can make the call on things one way or the other. In this (merger of equals) approach, it takes a lot more time and discussion to decide basic things,” said Dias. Oregon Community CU CEO Gordon Hoerauf said, “I’m sorry to see it not gel, but these things happen.”

How the 13-Month CD Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available within the FOM and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, no banks or credit unions have higher rates than currently offered on the Oregon Community Credit Union 13-month CD. The following table compares the 13-month CD 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 6/6/2023.

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