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Retirement Savings: How Much Should I Save Each Month?This Year’s CD Deals We Can Be Thankful For
I want to wish everyone a happy and healthy Thanksgiving. Thanks for all of your support this year.
It’s sort of my blog tradition for Thanksgiving to look back at some of the bank deals this year that we can be thankful for. As you might expect, I’m going to have to keep this post short.
Last year I started off by saying that it was a disappointing year for interest rates. I’m afraid this year has been much worse.
Before the pandemic struck in March, there were a few long-term 3% CD deals. Anyone who jumped on those deals should be thankful.
One of the last 3% CDs was at Andrews Federal Credit Union. Early this year it was offering a 7-year CD with a 3.05% APY. This ended in early March. DA reader calman wrote in the DA Forum that he applied for this CD on March 4th, and on the 6th (the same day the CD rate dropped), funds were pulled from his source bank account for the initial deposit. I was happy to read that he received the 3.05% APY. Rates have now fallen at Andrews FCU to very low levels. The 7-year CD now has a rate of only 0.30% (less than one tenth the early 2020 rate).
Other credit unions that were offering 3% CDs early this year haven’t cut rates as much as Andrews.
In early January, Financial Partners Credit Union was offering a 5-year Jumbo CD with a 3.00% APY. That ended in mid January. Rates have fallen, but they have remained competitive, and their CD rates are still higher than what online banks are offering. Currently, Financial Partners’ 5-year Jumbo CD has a 1.30% APY.
Also in early January, Affinity Plus Federal Credit Union was offering a 5-year CD with a 3.00% APY. This rate fell on January 20th. Rates continued to fall, but like Financial Partners, the rates have remained competitive. The current 5-year CD has a 1.25% APY. The credit union also has other competitive deposit products. Its Superior Money Market account has a 1.50% APY on balances up to $25k. The rate falls to 0.70% on balances over $25k. These rates require that you maintain a monthly direct deposit of at least $500.
Thankful and Hopeful
Ultra low deposit rates were just one of many of the consequences of the pandemic. Let’s hope that a vaccine will end the pandemic next year, and we’ll see a strong recovery of both the economy and deposit rates.