Vibrant Credit Union 30-Month CD Is Now A Rate Leader

Illinois-based Vibrant Credit Union (Vibrant) recently added 90 bps to its 30-month Certificate, making it one of three rate-leading CDs in the nationally available 3-year term-length category. Currently earning 1.25% APY, the 30-month Certificate has a $5 minimum opening deposit and no stated balance cap.

As stated in the Rates & Service Charges document, the extremely harsh Early Withdrawal Penalty reads as follows:

We may impose a penalty if you withdraw any of the principal of the Certificate Account before the maturity date.

1) Amount of Penalty. The amount of the penalty is all of the dividends earned on the account.

2) How the Penalty Works. The penalty is calculated as a forfeiture of dividends earned. If earned dividends are insufficient or have previously been withdrawn, the penalty will be deducted from the principal balance.

There is no language on Vibrant Credit Union’s website that indicates that the bank reserves the right to deny an early withdrawal or early closure.

Funding and Maturing Funds Distribution

Funding a Certificate can be done by an ACH or wire transfer. According to CSR, the easiest way to fund a Certificate is through an internal transfer from a Vibrant checking or savings account. Vibrant participates in the CO-OP Shared Branch network, which makes depositing money relatively easy.

Maturing funds will be distributed by a cashier’s check to the address on file, wire transfer, or a transfer to a Vibrant checking or savings account. There is a seven day grace period before a Certificate automatically renews.

Availability

Headquartered in Moline, Illinois, Vibrant Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) includes three ways to qualify for membership, including an easy membership requirement.

Residency: U.S. citizens who live in any of 22 northwest Illinois counties, 15 southeast Iowa counties, three west central Indiana counties, or three southwest Wisconsin counties are eligible to join.

Employment: Employees of more than 200 companies (listed only on the online application) also qualify for membership.

Other (Easy Membership): As stated on the online application, the third eligibility option reads:

I want to qualify a different way.

No problem! Complete the rest of the application and we will contact you!

According to CSR, if you don’t meet the residency or employment requirement, you can “qualify through a different way.” When asked to define a “different way,” CSR stated Vibrant CU would open a free insurance policy for those applying ($1k value) and through that transaction, qualifying applicants for membership.

Joining Vibrant and/or opening a Certificate can be done online or at any of four Illinois branch locations (Danville, Geneseo, Milan, and Moline) or three Iowa branch locations (Bettendorf, Clinton, and Des Moines).

Establishing a membership with Vibrant starts with as little as $5 in a credit union savings account.

Vibrant participates in the CO-OP Shared Branch network and the AllPoint ATM network.

Credit Union Overview

Vibrant Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 1.96% (excellent) based on September 30, 2021 data. In the past year, Vibrant CU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $35.03 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 5.38%. Please refer to our financial overview of Vibrant Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 61093) for more details.

Chartered in 1935 for the benefit of the John Deere Harvester Works Plant employees, the original Deere Harvester Credit Union opened its doors with a modest $40 in assets. In the mid-90s, the field of membership was changed to include non-employees, as well as John Deere employees.

In 2005, John Deere requested the credit union to rebrand and remove any name/affiliation with the John Deere brand. At that time we changed from Deere Harvester Credit Union to DHCU Community Credit Union (an acronym without a meaning).

Following the DHCU rebrand, there was still confusion about non-employees being eligible for membership, so the name was changed to Vibrant Credit Union in late 2015.

Between February 2017 and April 2018, Vibrant acquired one Iowa (IntegrUS Credit Union) and four Illinois credit unions (Salt Creek Credit Union, First Illinois Credit Union, Electris Energy, Inc. Employees Credit Union, and Dekalb County Credit Union). Vibrant Credit Union is currently the eleventh largest credit union headquartered in Illinois, with more than 50,000 members and assets in excess of $1 billion.

How the 30-Month Certificate 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 other banks or credit unions currently offer a higher rate. The following table compares the Vibrant Credit Union 30-Month Certificate 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 2/9/2022.

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