Northwest FCU Adds 5-Year Appreciation CD
Northwest Federal Credit Union (NWFCU) celebrated its 70th anniversary in 2017. As a thank-you to its loyal members, NWFCU is offering a 5-year Appreciation Certificate, which can earn up to 3.41% APY with Heritage Club bonus rates.
Heritage Club
NWFCU’s Heritage Club is for Credit Union members, age 62 and over.
There is nothing you need to do to join the Club, at age 62 you automatically become a member of this elite group.
As DA reader, me1004, stated in a Forum post today,
Unfortunately, their rules for joining the Heritage Club have changed. It used to be open to all ages by opening a certain checking account, or those simply age 62 or over. But it is now only for those age 62 or over, and they automatically qualify as a Heritage Club member. (I presume if you were under age 62 and already a Heritage Club member, you will retain your membership even after the rule change, but you better check that.)
I confirmed with CSR that NWFCU members who belonged to the Heritage Club prior to the qualification change have been grandfathered in.
For those who don’t qualify for the Heritage Club rates, the 5-year Appreciation Certificate still offers competitive APYs: 3.05% ($1k+), 3.10% ($100k+), and 3.15% ($250k+).
The Appreciation Certificate is also available as an IRA (Traditional, Roth, CESA, SEP), earning the same APYs dependent on the same funding requirements and bonus rates requirements.
| APY | MIN | MAX | INSTITUTION | PRODUCT | DETAILS |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 4.85% | $1k | - | Northwest Federal Credit Union | 5 Year IRA Certificate (Traditional, Roth, CESA, SEP) |
As stated on the Certificate Disclosure page, the Early Withdrawal Penalty (EWP) reads as follows:
We will impose a penalty if you withdraw any of the principal before the maturity date.
For a term equal to or greater than two (2) years the penalty will be the lesser of 366 days of dividends on the amount withdrawn or all dividends on the amount withdrawn since the date of issuance or renewal.
If the dividends have already been paid, the penalty will be deducted from the principal.
There are two EWP exceptions listed in the Disclosure: the standard death or legally incompetent exception and the more rarely seen, “An IRA owner reaches age 59 ½.”
Thanks to the DA readers who emailed me and commented in the Forum about this hot deal at NWFCU.
Availability
Headquartered in Herndon, Virginia, Northwest Federal Credit Union offers membership to virtually anyone in the U.S., with a variety ways to qualify:
Easy Membership: Joining the non-profit Florida Literacy Coalition (FLC) ($10 membership dues) qualifies for NWFCU membership eligibility.
Organizations: Employees and members of 34 Community Partners also qualify for membership.
Government Employment: Employees of five named U.S. Government Agencies, including Homeland Security and CIA, are eligible to join.
Member Companies: Employees of more than 420 Member Companies also qualify.
Relationship: Family members (defined as spouse, children, siblings, parents, grandparents and grandchildren, including adopted family members) and household members (defined as persons living in the same residence who share living expenses) of any of the above groups are eligible for membership.
Joining NWFCU and/or opening an Appreciation Certificate can be done online, by phone (703-709-8900 or toll-free 844-709-8900) or at any of seven Virginia branches located in Chantilly, Gainesville, Herndon (2), Leesburg, Manassas, and Vienna.
Credit Union Overview
Northwest Federal Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 7.06% (excellent) based on December 31, 2017 data. In the past year, NWFCU has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $182.54 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 6.84%. Please refer to our financial overview of Northwest Federal Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 5500) for more details.
Established in 1947, Northwest Federal Credit Union is currently Virginia’s fourth largest credit union, with more than 253,500 members and assets in excess of $3.4 billion. NWFCU’s philosophy of "people helping people" has been put into action through the NWFCU Foundation, which recognizes students who demonstrate leadership, dedication and commitment in school, at home and in the community, by awarding college scholarships. Since 2005, the Foundation has awarded a total of $1,097,000 in scholarships to 258 recipients.
How the Appreciation Certificate Compares
When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationally, Northwest Federal Credit Union’s 5-year Appreciation Certificate APY (with Heritage Club bonus rates) currently ranks first, regardless of minimum deposit.
When compared to the similar length-of-term CDs tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationally, Northwest Federal Credit Union’s 5-year Appreciation Certificate APY (without Heritage Club bonus rates) currently surpasses the competition, regardless of minimum deposit.
The above rates are accurate as of 4/20/2018.
To look for the best CD rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our CD Rates Table page.
It's only my opinion, but I believe interest rates will continue to rise into at least the fall of this year. Spring weather has been slow in coming to a large portion of America. Once warmer weather becomes more widespread, interest rates will commence rising more rapidly all across the country.
I bet they were upset after I broke my CD with them last month to transfer the money into Sharonview.
Even if it is legal, why don't people complain about this?
Would you also approve of a white discount, a black person discount, or a red hair bonus rate?
If, as you glibly conclude, the bank's goal is to help the needy, it would give the highest rate to small accounts.
Is logical thought really so hard?
How is it legal to give different savings rates to people of different ages?
Even if it is legal, why don't people complain about this?
If I had any interest in the CD, I might call to complain.
I do have a problem with this website promoting obvious discrimination.
If you feel strongly banks should be helping the needy, why aren't you calling them?
What they do must be legal.
Also, don't see any reason to knock this site for passing along this deal. Ken has done a great job passing along the latest and best deals.
I wish there was never a way to submit posts out of a continuous order.
It is a pain fishing around to find a reply to someones post if another not significant posts follows it.
We should all post at the bottom of the thread and refer to the POST NUMBER to which we are replying, As is the case of Bozo replies.
thankyou Mr Bozo
It's all life cycle most of us have in common. It's all in how we managed our money is what separates us. And most of us "seniors" earned a lot less during our working years than the whiners are making today.
1. Federal laws addressing age discrimination apply to (i) employment, (ii) education where an institution receives federal financial assistance, and (iii) federally funded health programs. These laws do NOT apply to discounts on purchases (or in this case, interest rates offered by a bank/CU). "Age" is not a protected class if you are dealing with a bank/CU as a customer (and not an employee). I hope this addresses your comment about the legality of this CU's offer.
2. This website is not "promoting obvious discrimination". It is accurately reporting a current promotion by a credit union.
3. As for your other comment , I agree with you that the CU is not trying to "help the needy" but rather provide additional incentives to seniors to attract their deposits.
Reader, I am not sure if you have a real understanding of discrimination laws. There are federal laws and state laws. I don't know the laws of the state where this bank is located. I do know the California Court of Appeals recently allowed a suit against Tinder for offering price discounts to people under the age of 30.
California’s Unruh Civil Rights Act provides broad protection against ARBITRARY age-based price discrimination. In the Tinder case that you referred to, Tinder lost because the court held that it used an ARBITRARY basis for charging prices to its customers.
In regard to senior discounts/pricing, California courts have held that charging different prices to children and senior citizens is sometimes permissible and socially desirable, in part because children and elderly persons frequently have limited earning capacities which justify differential treatment in some circumstances. The courts have held that an otherwise prohibited "discriminatory" practice will be upheld as reasonable, and therefore NOT ARBITRARY, "when there is a strong public policy in favor of such treatment."
So, based on my reading, a bank /CU should not have a legal problem offering higher rates to senior citizens in California.
But regardless, as I pointed out, classes of all ages get one sort of benefit or another that the rest don't get. I think people here are looking at things with blinders on. Seems to me you either oppose for all the classes or none, but people don't want to oppose the things their class gets.
This Website is starting to fall apart under the new owners. This is not the only issue, the editing function for posting threads in the forum also no longer works, and the tool to hyperlink link there also does not work.
Did you even know that a health insurance premium of maybe $100 a month for the younger generation turns to about $675 a month for those age 60? Isn't that age discrimination, why is that legal? I think the seniors out there would much rather pay the $100 a month and give up this piddling 0.25% interest rate benefit.
If you are not going to complain about it across the board, including all the benefits you get, then all you are doing is -- well, if I finish that sentence it will sound like name calling, which I have no interest in doing that, but I don't know how to make they point without it unintentionally sound like something else, like name calling. At any rate, while, as I said, you have some good points, by taking them completely out of context by being so selective, you are being very myopic.
Do you really think an 80 year old should pay the same life insurance premiums as a 20 year old?
Seriously, people generally have a lack of logic.
I paid $935 a month for a crappy Obamacare policy for January and February, but I was glad to throw my Obamacare policy in the toilet and go on Medicare in March. Someone else now will have to help pay for the ones that pay very little to nothing for Obamacare.
While it may be legal to offer some services/rates to some groups and not others (some CUs will offer savings accounts ONLY to teachers with proof of teaching employment) I agree it's a bad way to treat your customers -- and it makes everyone feel bad. It certainly doesn't make me want to put my money in one of these CDs -- and I'm a NWFCU customer who put my money in last time.
Legally they may have a case, but once my current CD matures with NWFCU in a few months, I'll be moving my money elsewhere. (They would have to offer an amazingly special deal to get rid of the bad taste something like this puts in my mouth.)
There's a difference between making the additional requirement something that one has control over (ie, you must have a checking account with us to get the higher rate) and one something has no control over (you must be of a specific racial heritage, or of a specific age).
Not good, NWFCU.
And I know you read these comments because you've replied to them before.
"How come he gets a cake just because it's his birthday"???
Get a life
NWFCU, please ignore the silly talk.
Frankly, the complaints here are beyond borderline ridiculous. I hope NWFCU does read this because I want them to know that I really appreciate their Heritage Club membership and that is why I will always be a customer, not to mention their prompt, courteous, helpful, professional representatives that are a pleasure to deal with.
I see Harrys wise post asking why this is legal.
And most of the posts, such as yours, complaining about the whiners. Going on, and on, and on.
Wow 3.05 % plus on liquid money !
IRA one-rollover-per-year rule
You generally cannot make more than one rollover from the same IRA within a 1-year period. You also cannot make a rollover during this 1-year period from the IRA to which the distribution was rolled over.
Beginning after January 1, 2015, you can make only one rollover from an IRA to another (or the same) IRA in any 12-month period, regardless of the number of IRAs you own.
The one-per year limit does not apply to:
rollovers from traditional IRAs to Roth IRAs (conversions)
trustee-to-trustee transfers to another IRA
IRA-to-plan rollovers
plan-to-IRA rollovers
plan-to-plan rollovers
trustee-to-trustee transfers to another IRA
why would one do an indirect rollover instead of a trustee to trustee transfer ?
looks like you can do an unlimited number of transfers