Premier Members Credit Union Adds Rate-Leading 10-Month CD Special

For a limited time, Colorado-based Premier Members Credit Union (PMCU) is offering a 10-month Certificate Special with a rate-leading 5.25% APY. The minimum opening deposit is $500, with no stated balance cap.

The 10-month Certificate Special is available as a personal or business account, but is not available as an IRA Certificate Special.

Reverse Tiered Money Market

In a recent Forum post, DA reader, deplorable_1, noted that PMCU had increased the rate on its Reverse Tiered Money Market (RTMM) to 5.00% APY (up to $2k).

While the 5.00% APY is a good rate for a money market account, a balance greater than $2k quickly diminishes the yield, as the remaining rate tiers are not competitive. For example, a balance of $2.5k will have a blended APY of 4.20%.

• 1.00% APY, $2k-$5k
• 0.75% APY, $5k-$10k
• 0.50% APY, $10k+

According to the landing page, a RTMM can be opened with a minimum $5 deposit, check writing is available, and there is a limit of one RTMM account per member.

Availability

Headquartered in Boulder, Colorado, Premier Members Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) provides a way for almost any U.S. citizen or resident alien to join.

Easy Membership Requirement: PMCU will make a $5 donation on your behalf to the Impact on Education, a charitable organization run by the Boulder Valley School District. The $5 donates matches the initial deposit into the membership shares account.

Residency: Individuals who live or work in the Colorado counties of Adams, Arapahoe, Boulder, Broomfield, Clear Creek, Delta, Denver, Douglas, Eagle, Elbert, El Paso, Garfield, Grand, Jefferson, Larimer, Mesa, Montrose, Pueblo, Summit, or Weld are eligible to join.

Affiliation: Individuals who work, attend, or are affiliated with the Ball Corporation, Boulder Community Heath, Boulder Valley School District, IBM, Lexmark, Medtronic, or Westminster Public Schools qualify for membership, as do individuals who have family members who work, attend or are affiliated with these seven organizations.

Relationship: Family members of current PMCU members are also welcome to apply.

Account Opening

Joining PMCU and/or opening a Certificate Special can be done online, by phone (303.657.7000), or at any of 16 full-service Colorado branches, located in Arvada (2), Boulder (3), Castle Rock, Centennial, Estes Park, Firestone, Longmont (2), Louisville, Pueblo, Thornton, and Westminster (2).

To ensure your ownership in the credit union, we require you to maintain $5 in the membership savings account.

Funding and Other Details

While PMCU makes joining a simple process through its online application, opening a CD is anything but. CSR stated there had been many inquiries about the 10-month Certificate Special from out-of-state potential members. She also said she was answering questions no one (including me) had ever asked her before. Most of the questions I asked should have had straight-forward answers, but the word “but” came up a lot. After a long conversation with CSR, the phrase “you can’t get there from here” kept coming to mind, with the largest obstacle being how to actually fund the Certificate.

• Funding – ACH ($5k limit), wire ($20 fee), shared branch transaction (limited amount), internal transfer.
• Ownership – Individual, joint, and trust.
• CO-OP Shared Branch Participant – Yes, but PMCU limits incoming shared branch transfers to $1k per day and $10k per day for outgoing shared branch transfers.
• Dividends – Compounded/credited monthly, but cannot be withdrawn penalty-free.
• Early Withdrawal Penalty – 90 days of dividends, with partial withdrawals permitted.
• Maturing Funds – Internal transfer to a PMCU membership savings account.
• Beneficiaries – Unlimited, equal shares, Social Security numbers not required.
• Grace Period – 10 calendar days before renewal as a regular 6-month CD.
• Credit Check – Hard pull.

Credit Union Overview

Premier Members Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.76% (excellent), based on December 31, 2022 data. In the past year, PMCU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $48.67 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 3.63%. Please refer to our financial overview of Premier Members Credit Union (NCUA Charter #62574) for more details.

Premier Members Credit Union is currently the seventh largest credit union headquartered in Colorado, with nearly 79,000 members and assets in excess of $1.7 billion. The PMCC rebrand occurred in 2015 when Premier Members Federal Credit Union (PMFCU) and Boulder Valley Schools Credit Union (BVSCU) merged as equals.

At the time of the merger, the two credit unions had a combined history of 105 years. PMFCU was established in 1966 as the IBM Boulder Federal Credit Union, later known as the IBM Rocky Mountain Employees Federal Credit Union; the PMFCU rebrand occurred in 2000. BVSCU was chartered in 1959 by 17 teachers who each deposited $5. BVSCU began to expand its FOM in 1976 by adding other school districts and eventually becoming the primary credit union for Ball Corporation, “best known for its early production of glass jars, lids, and related products used for home canning.”

How the 10-month Certificate Special Compares

When compared to similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com which are available nationally and have minimum deposit requirements of $10k or less, no banks or credit unions have higher rates than currently offered on the Premier Members Credit Union 10-month Certificate Special. The following table compares the 10-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 4/21/2023.

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