Golden 1 Credit Union (Easy Membership) Adds 15-Month CD

POSTED ON MONDAY, DECEMBER 12, 2016 BY Ken Tumin

Availability: Easy membership requirement

For a limited time, California’s Golden 1 Credit Union (Golden 1) is offering a 15-month Special Certificate (1.50% APY online, 1.25% APY in-branch). The minimum opening deposit is $1k, with no stated balance cap.

The 15-month Special Certificate is also available as an IRA (Traditional), earning the same APYs, but only requiring a $500 minimum deposit.

As stated in Golden 1's Disclosure of Account Information, the Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

If your account has an original maturity of 12 months through 23 months, the penalty we
may impose will equal 180 days’ dividends on the amount withdrawn subject to penalty.

Thanks to DA reader, jake9, for his Forum Post about Golden 1 Credit Union. (FYI, the 27-month Certificate jake9 noted in the Forum at the end of November has been transformed into the 15-month Special Certificate. Either Santa made this deal better, or IT made a mistake in the original promo page.)

Availability

Headquartered in Sacramento, Golden 1 Credit Union’s field of membership is wide and varied, with qualifying requirements that allow almost anyone to join the credit union.

Easy Membership - Joining the Financial Fitness Association qualifies for Golden 1 membership. Golden 1’s online application allows you to join both organizations simultaneously. Financial Fitness Association’s $8 membership fee will be collected at account funding.

Residency - Individuals who live or work in any of the following 38 California counties qualify for membership:

Alameda, Amador, Butte, Calaveras, Contra Costa, El Dorado, Fresno, Imperial, Kern, Kings, Lassen, Los Angeles, Madera, Marin, Merced, Monterey, Napa, Nevada, Orange, Placer, Riverside, Sacramento, San Benito, San Bernardino, San Francisco, San Joaquin, San Luis Obispo, San Mateo, Santa Barbara, Santa Clara, Shasta, Solano, Sonoma, Stanislaus, Sutter, Ventura, Yolo, and Yuba.

Employment - Employees of more than 850 SEGs (listed on the first page of the online application) are eligible for membership.

Joining Golden 1 Credit Union can be done online or at any of the 79 branches located throughout California.

To qualify for the 1.50% APY, the 15-month Special Certificate must be opened online; if opened in-branch the APY will be 1.25%

Credit Union Overview

Golden 1 Credit Union (FICU Charter # 65610) has an overall health grade of "A+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.26% (excellent) based on September 30, 2016 data. In the past year, Golden 1 has increased its total deposit by $760.74 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 9.2%. Please refer to our financial overview of Golden 1 Credit Union for more details.

Founded by a group of California state employees in 1933, Golden 1 Credit Union is currently California's second largest credit. With more than $10.3 billion in assets and over 817,000 members Golden 1 is also the sixth largest credit union in the U.S.

How the Special Online Certificate Compares

When compared to the 141 similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that require a similar deposit and are available nationally, Golden 1 Credit Uinon’s 15-month Special Online Certificate APY currently ranks fourth.

The above rates are accurate as of 12/12/2016.

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

Comments

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8 Comments.

Anonymous | Dec 12, 2016 | Comment #1

can you open up a cd with a credit card?

Bozo | Dec 13, 2016 | Comment #2

OK, as I am a resident of Contra Costa County, I thought I'd give it a twirl. To get the preferred rate, you must open on-line. I filled in all the prompts, clicked on what I thought were all the right buttons, and kept getting "nice try, no cigar" message. I'm tempted to go over to the Oakland branch (a twenty minute drive) and see what they can do. For such a short term, this is a pretty decent rate.

Anonymous | Dec 13, 2016 | Comment #3

I dunno, Bozo. I really do not. Go out just another two months and collect an extra half percent at NFCU. In your opinion, are those extra two months definitive? Do you have a special life event, e.g., wedding of a child or something of that nature, to where you are hogtied to the fifteen month deal? I have nothing of that sort, and for me the NFCU deal is much more appealing. You are married so that gets you up to $100k quickly at NFCU. That's tough to beat IMO.

Bozo | Dec 13, 2016 | Comment #4

Excellent point, what with the "road map" provided last week (i.e., Navy League => San Diego Council). I have my first RMD coming up next year, and I'm exploring options. Your point is well taken, as in, "slow down, what's the rush?" My immediate goal is to sweep money out of a sweep account in a SEP-IRA that earns a tad north of nothing. I do that with the RMD. I suspect I do have a bit of time to cogitate, after I do the RMD in January.

Thanks for the input.