Sun East Federal Credit Union Offers Rate-Leading Short-Term CDs
Two weeks ago, I wrote about the 6-month Appreciation Certificate (4.00% APY) offered by Pennsylvania-based Sun East Federal Credit Union (Sun East). While the rate was quite competitive, the Appreciation Certificated was only available to existing members and required at least 50% of new money. The 4.00% APY is still in effect, but the 6-month Appreciation Certificate is now the 6-month Certificate Special, available to new and existing members, with new money no longer required.
The 6-month Certificate Special still requires a $1.5k minimum opening deposit. The early withdrawal penalty (EWP) is 90 days of dividends, with no partial withdrawals allowed; the 6-month Certificate Special can only be closed earlier.
9-month Summer Savings Certificate Special
Although the Labor Day weekend is only days away, Sun East has added a 9-month Summer Savings Certificate Special that also offers 4.00% APY. This limited-time offer can be opened by current and new members with a $500 minimum deposit. Like the 6-month Certificate Special, the 9-month Summer Savings Certificate Special has a 90-day EWP, with no partial withdrawals allowed.
Funding and Maturing Funds
Funding a Certificate Special can be done by ACH, wire, check, or internal transfer. Maturing CD funds are automatically transferred to a Sun East savings account, at which point, a cashier’s check can be issued – no wire or ACH transfer is available.
Unlimited beneficiaries can be designated, with Social Security numbers required for all named beneficiaries. Percentages can be assigned.
Excess Share Insurance
Looking to deposit more than $250k, but concerned about deposit coverage at Sun East?
Deposits insured up to $500,000.
$250,000 by the National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government Agency, and $250,000 by ESI, a licensed property and casualty insurer.
Availability
Headquartered in Ashton in southeast Pennsylvania, Sun East Federal Credit Union expanded its field of membership (FOM) about three years ago. Now virtually any U.S. citizen/resident alien (18 years or older), with a valid Social Security number, can qualify for membership by joining the Sun East Charitable Foundation.
The Sun East Membership Page lists five different ways to “pre-qualify for membership.” The fifth option is “Pre-Qualify by Support.”
Support the Sun East Charitable Foundation. For a donation of only $10, you not only help worthy individuals and organizations in the greater Brandywine Valley, but you will also pre-qualify for a Sun East membership.
Joining Sun East Charitable Foundation and the credit union can be done simultaneously using the online application.
The other options to pre-qualify for membership include:
By Location: Residents of Nottingham, Oxford, and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) or Newark and Wilmington (Delaware) qualify, with Zip Code being the final determinant.
By Family Member: Immediate family members (parent, child, spouse, sibling, grandparent, grandchild) of a current Sun East member are welcome to apply.
By Employer: Employees of more than 1,200 SEGs (drop-down menu available on membership page) also qualify for membership.
By Community: Individuals who worship, attend school, or volunteer in Nottingham, Oxford, and Philadelphia (Pennsylvania) or Newark and Wilmington (Delaware) are membership eligible.
Joining Sun East Federal Credit Union and/or opening a 6-month Certificate Special or a 9-month Summer Savings Certificate Special can be done online, or at any of six Pennsylvania branches located in Ashton, Concordville, Nottingham, Springfield, Upper Chichester, and Upper Darby. There is also a branch in the Concord Gallery Shopping Center located in Wilmington, Delaware.
Already a member? Easily open a new certificate in Online Banking or the Mobile App by selecting “Add an Account/Product”; select your desired product and then follow the steps to add the new product.
Opening a Certificate Special can also be done by phone (877-5-SUNEAST, 877.578.6328).
When you join Sun East Federal Credit Union and deposit as little as $5, you become a member and shareholder of the credit union.
In addition to the branches located in southeast PA and north Delaware, Sun East is part of the,
CO-OP Shared Branching Network with nearly 30,000 surcharge-free branches and ATM locations nationwide.
Credit Union Overview
Sun East Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "B+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 7.77% (excellent) based on June 30, 2022 data. In the past year, Sun East has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $17.9 million, an above average annual growth rate of 2.56%. Please refer to our financial overview of Sun East Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter #6160) for more details.
Founded in 1949 as the Sun Oil Marcus Hook Federal Credit Union, Sun East Federal Credit Union is currently Pennsylvania’s 19th largest credit union, with more than 52,000 members and assets in excess of $817 million. Along with five other southeast Pennsylvania credit unions, Sun East has partial ownership in First Heritage Mortgage Services.
First Heritage Mortgage Services, LLC is a credit union-owned company that offers seamless first mortgage solutions for credit unions and financial institutions nationwide. First Heritage supports and services more than 100 partner credit unions with combined assets of more than $10 billion. Founded in 1984, First Heritage’s owners include American Heritage Credit Union, Service 1st Federal Credit Union, Erie Federal Credit Union, People First Federal Credit Union, Sun East Federal Credit Union, and Lebanon Federal Credit Union.
How the 6-Month and 9-Month Certificate Specials Compare
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, no banks or credit unions have a higher rate than currently offered on the Sun East Federal Credit Union 6-Month or 9-Month Certificate Specials. The following table compares the two Certificate Specials 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 9/1/2022.
To search for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state-specific, please refer to our CD rates table page.
1. Your entire financial situation and goals and;
2. The future of the economy and interest rates.
It's a crystal ball question so any answer is a guess. Are some guesses better than others? Very likely yes. The only problem is you won't know which ones until some time in the future. And by then it will be too late.
Edit They have a callback feature.
Bought BMY a couple days ago and sold it this morning for a 5% gain... who needs a 4% CD....;)
Also pullback in the 10 year yield as expected, need to cool off the overbought reading on TNX and the hopefully make another run at 3.25%
Looks like it may have gotten messed up. Today my interest was posted but instead of staying with the CD it was credited to my savings account. I don't really care that much because it's only a 6-month CD, but now I have to ACH pull my interest out to an external FI every month because their savings account only pays 0.05% APY.
The current 9-month deal wasn't available at the time I got my 6-month 'member exclusive' CD.
Rickny ... they do a good job of calling you back without losing your position in the queue.
Funding instructions are listed above. " Funding certificate special can be done by ACH, wire, check or internal transfer."
I believe that you will have these other options, when the membership application is approved.
Also, there are good people at Sun East, competent people who know what they are doing. If you are fortunate enough to speak with such a person, be certain to obtain her or his extension number, so you will have it in future should things go amiss.
Only my opinion, but I do not think things at Sun East are so bad as to drive you away from this or any deal. But know going in there are some warts.
Two frustrating days of trying to open an account. (2) $10 donations to Sun East Foundation that the credit union has no record of receiving. (2) disputes filed now with PayPal to get the donations credited back to my credit card. Spoke to 2 different service reps - one yesterday - one today after several hour waits for a callback. They have no idea why they have no record of the donations to the foundation. I have receipts for both. They say that doesn't mean anything to them. Were supposed to have someone email me yesterday with a resolution. Did not happen. Neither rep knows of any means to do an account application - other than trying again to make another donation, hoping it goes thru, and then the website is supposed to take you automatically to an account application. It doesn't happen. Anyone who calls goes onto a long callback wait list. I've tried to call again and am now number 102 on the call back list. Another call back, I am pretty certain will yield the same result -"I'm sorry. I don't know what to tell you to do other than try making another donation to join". They are beyond overwhelmed with response to this offer, and from my experience - pretty dysfunctional.
4% sounds good - it's not worth the aggravation. The apathy and dysfunction are enough of a red flag for me to pass on this one.
"We have reviewed this transaction(s) and are denying your case(s). The decision was made because the purchase is ineligible for PayPal Purchase Protection according to our User Agreement.
We're sorry for any problems you may have experienced with the transaction(s).
So I had to call the credit card to dispute the charges. The charges have been paid. They are not yet showing on my on-line statement - so I was told to call back Monday or Tuesday. And, after they show up I can try to get them dropped from my credit card.
All this for chasing 4% !
I did get another call back an hour or so ago from Sun East from getting in the que about 5 hours ago. The rep told me that this was the wrong department so she could not help me. I had been put on a call back list for the wrong department. When I told her I had chosen the option for "open a new account" - she replied that their system was not working right and call back numbers were being given to wrong departments - but she could manually add me to a list for the correct department to attempt to resolve the issue. If you wrote a book about this place - no one would believe it !
At least now I know to stay away from Sun east FCU !
Has anyone outside of Pennsylvania actually had any success in getting a membership by using the online application with the donation method in the last month?
Earlier I suggested "either they have too much business so they cont care or they are just a-holes"
Well now, I'd like to update that.
THEY are just a-holes!
Sounds to me like a badly managed operation that is in way over its head.