SAFE Federal Credit Union 2-Year Easy Street CD Earns Up To 2.79% APY

SAFE Federal Credit Union (SAFE) is currently offering a 24-month Easy Street Certificate (ESC) for members aged 50 years or older, with tiered APYs of 2.79% APY ($100k), 2.69% APY ($50k), and 2.17% APY ($1k). For youngsters under 50, there’s a comparable 24-month Investment Certificate, which earns slightly lower rates of 2.69% APY ($100k), 2.58% APY ($50k), and 2.07% APY ($1k).

While there’s no IRA version of the ESC, the 24-month Investment Certificate is offered as an IRA (Traditional, Roth, and CESA), earning the same tiered APYs based on the same deposit levels.

60-month Investment Certificate

In July, SAFE raised the rates on its 60-month Investment Certificate and those rates are still in effect. Like all SAFE Certificates, the 60-month has three tiered APYs: one excellent (3.38% APY), one good (3.27% APY), and one meh (2.76% APY).

DA has been tracking the 60-month Investment Certificate since 2011, and for the vast majority of that time, the APY was less than 2.00% APY. Starting in May 2018, the rate began to rise, adding a total of 157 bps in five rate increases over the next 14 months.

According to CSR, the Early Withdrawal Penalty for any SAFE Certificate is 90 days of dividends "unless the withdrawal is for medical reasons." If proof of a medical circumstance is provided, any withdrawal will be penalty free.

Availability

Headquartered in Sumter, South Carolina, SAFE Federal Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) is primarily residency based, with individuals who live, work, worship, or attend school in the South Carolina counties of Clarendon, Florence, Kershaw, Lee, or Sumter eligible to join.

Residents of 62 census tracts in Lexington and Richland Counties also qualify for membership.

Employees of more than 500 companies (including many public school districts and local government agencies) offer SAFE membership as an employee benefit.

Immediate family members (spouse, parent, sibling, child, grandparent, include step-relations) of a current SAFE member qualify for membership.

Joining SAFE Federal Credit Union can be done online, or at any of 19 South Carolina branches located in Bishopville (2), Camden, Columbia (4), Eastover, Florence, Lexington, Lugoff, Manning, Santee, Shaw AFB, Sumter (4), and West Columbia.

While the Easy Street and Investment Certificates are listed on the online application, CSR stated that an in-branch visit is required to finalize the transaction.

Opening and maintaining a Regular Shares Savings Account (minimum $5 deposit) is required to be a SAFE member in good standing. There is a $5 Early Share Account Closure fee if the account is closed within 90 days of opening.

You can go anywhere with SAFE Federal Credit Union—as a member of the CO-OP Shared Branch Network, our cardholders are allowed access to more than 5,000 different credit union locations (and over 30,000 different ATMs) nationwide.

Credit Union Overview

SAFE Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 1.96% (excellent), based on June 30, 2019 data. In the past year, SAFE has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $558k, an above average annual growth rate of 0.06%. Please refer to our financial overview of SAFE Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 9988) for more details.

Founded in 1955 by fifteen Shaw Air Force Base civilian employees, SAFE Federal Credit Union has grown to become South Carolina’s fourth largest credit union, with more than 126,000 members and assets in excess of $1.06 billion. As Hurricane Florence was taking aim at South Carolina in September 2018, SAFE’s Vice President of Marketing, Toby Hayes, recognized SAFE had an ”opportunity to help our members preparing for the coming storm, while also providing financial support for those facing its aftermath in the weeks to come.”

According to a CUTimes.com article,

Hayes and his team were taking inventory of promotional items ahead of the hurricane when he realized they had close to 2,000 emergency lanterns that had been purchased for an event later in the month.

Within hours, they coordinated with other executives, designed and printed signs for all 17 branches, and arranged for morning delivery to all their locations to sell the lanterns for $10 each to members to raise money for hurricane relief.

Within two days, SAFE raised more than $18,000 for the Carolinas Credit Union Foundation Disaster Relief Fund, “which provides grants to employees and volunteers of credit unions in North and South Carolina who are either displaced or encounter a hardship as the result of a natural disaster.”

How the Easy Street Certificate Compares

When compared to 243 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require are available within the FOM, SAFE Federal Credit Union's 24-month Easy Street Certificate top two APYs currently rank first and second, regardless of minimum deposit requirements.

How the Investment Certificate Compares

When compared to 208 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require are available within the FOM, SAFE Federal Credit Union's 60-month Investment Certificate top two APYs currently rank first and second, regardless of minimum deposit requirements.

The above rates are accurate as of 11/22/2019.

Searching for the best CD rates, either nationwide or in your state? Please refer to our CD Rates table.