Excellent IRA CD Rates Up To 3.85% APY At Space Coast Credit Union
Tax Day is nearly upon us, but there’s still time to open an IRA CD and Space Coast Credit Union (SCCU) has some great rates. SCCU’s IRA CD rates are about 50 bps higher than its CD rates, transforming good longer-term CD rates into excellent IRA CD rates. The minimum opening deposit is $500, with no stated balance cap.
As stated in the Account Disclosures brochure, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:
We will impose a penalty if You withdraw any of the funds before the maturity date. The penalty imposed will equal 90 days of interest on Your Account for Accounts with a term less than 12 months, 180 days of interest for Accounts with a term between 12 and 24 months, 365 days of interest for Accounts with a term between 30 and 36 months and 730 days of interest for Accounts with a term greater than 36 months.
Thanks to DA reader, rockies, for the timely Forum posts about SCCU’s IRA CDs.
Availability
Headquartered in Melbourne, Florida, Space Coast Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) is residency based, with individuals who live or work in any of the following 24 Florida counties eligible to join.
Florida counties – Brevard, Broward, Collier, Flagler, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, or Volusia.
Family members of existing SCCU members also qualify for membership. "Family members" is defined as spouse, domestic partner, parent, child, sibling, grandparent, grandchild, aunt, uncle, niece, nephew, or cousin.
Joining SCCU can be done online or at any of 65 Florida branches, located along the Atlantic coast from Palm Coast to Homestead.
The Share Savings Account is the required primary membership account that establishes you as an owner/member of SCCU. A total of $10 (initial $5 deposit and $5 membership fee) is required to open the Share Savings Account.
While opening an IRA CD cannot be done online or over the phone, SCCU does have a “New Account Consultation” form to provide “assistance with choosing the right account for me.” Opening an IRA CD can be done at any of the above mentioned full-service branch locations.
Credit Union Overview
Space Coast Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 4.11% (excellent) based on December 31, 2018 data. In the past year, SCCU has increased its total deposits by $92.52 million, an above average annual growth rate of 2.72%. Please refer to our financial overview of Space Coast Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 67297) for more details.
Space Coast Credit Union was founded in 1951 as the Patrick Air Force Base Credit Union, serving the military personnel stationed at the base. (FYI – Patrick AFB is currently home to the 45th Space Wing, which commands the Cape Canaveral Air Force Station.) In 68 years, SCCU has grown from a fledgling credit union with seven members and $372 in assets to become Florida’s third largest credit union, with more than 421,000 members and assets in excess of $4.1 billion.
How the IRA CDs Compare
When compared to similar length-of-term IRA CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available with the FOM and require a similar minimum deposit, all of Space Coast Credit Union’s IRA CD APYs currently rank first. The following is a sampling of the more popular term lengths.
The above rates are accurate as of 4/9/2019.
To look for the best IRA CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our IRA CD Rates Table page.
"Space Coast Credit Union membership is open to all who work or live in Brevard, Broward, Clay, Collier, Duval, Flagler, Hillsborough, Indian River, Lake, Lee, Manatee, Marion, Martin, Miami-Dade, Monroe, Nassau, Okeechobee, Orange, Osceola, Palm Beach, Pasco, Pinellas, Polk, Putnam, Seminole, St. Johns, St. Lucie, Sumter, or Volusia Counties in Florida."
https://www.sccu.com/
Or at least the local CU.
Too bad it's only a local promo.
NavyFed had similar IRA rates (3.75) recently (nationwide, though a restricted FOM) but still good to see deals like this
It's a good idea if you're going to send funds for an IRA account to have them sent to an IRA savings account rather than fund the CD directly even if that's possible. That way you can decide when the funds are received by the new institution whether or not you want the CD at whatever the current rate is on that day. if you send the funds directly to the CD you could be stuck with a rate don't want for the term of the CD.
Trust accounts are always more complicated to manage than individual accounts. They also limit investment opportunities because of that and also because some institutions and investments don't accept trust accounts.
This is a downside of IRAs that I've never heard discussed. There is an opportunity cost to an IRA versus a non-trust account. I'm not saying that IRAs are a net bad deal, only that this is a factor not commonly considered either with IRAs or with other types of Trust accounts.
Some institutions will allow you to wire your IRA funds to the new trustee. But this can be a tricky proposition in part because they're not used to doing it that way. If you do this, you have to be very careful and monitor the situation all the way through.
The advantage to the wire is that it gives you some control over when the new trustee will receive the funds. Otherwise the old trustee will probably send the new trustee a check by snail mail via some country in Central Asia in order to hang onto the funds as long as they can. And of course you won't be earning any interest while it's in transit. If it's a significant amount of money this can be a substantial cost. So a wire is something to consider in spite of the additional complications.
How do you monitor the wire? Do you have to be in the same room, or both rooms? Thanks!
10k to 99,999 - $100
100,000 to 249,999 - $250
500,000 and up - $500