My apologies. I didn’t catch that nuance. I grabbed the 17-month 3.25% and neglected to note the 40-month was just IRA.
But you’re only getting 0.16% extra versus the Patelco offering that let’s you out without penalty each year so if rates go up you’re not locked in for the whole 3 years. Am I missing something?
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You’re overlooking the 3% first year rate. You’re essentially paying a .5% penalty upfront. And then getting it back in the final year if you dont break it. However, if you do break it, it’ll be for something north of 4%, meaning you’re still “getting back” that .5%, just from another bank. So the answer kind of depends on the penalty for breaking the 3.66% option.
Interesting debate!!
I will say that I do not break CD’s before maturity. I may be wrong in my thinking, Right now I have a couple CD’s that will be maturing the end of the month & early Feb. The rate is only 2%, which can be beat all around today, but the penalty would be bad.
As far as thinking about breaking the 3.66% CD before maturity, it’s not in my thinking…
Is anyone liking that two year, 3+% add-on CD that Ken is featuring. It is a Freedom CU CD. There is a $500 buy-in so not chopped liver like at NFCU.
But insofar as I can tell there is no cap, either. So it costs you $500 to lock in ability to invest at 3% for the next two years.
I dunno. What do you think?
You know, the more I think about this, for $500 this appears to be a no brainer. No?
shinobi,
I guess you could just think of this one as a 3% savings acct. You could add regularly, but you could not take out funds for the 2 yr period. Have to think about this one.
I was checking my Freedom CU site & I have a CD paying 3.5% that matures 2/20/21. Wish it was an add-on CD. 
I hate these Monday holiday days!!
Trying to complete money exchanges with banks & CU can cause problems. I’m trying to complete ACH transfers with a 3.66% CD that actually closed the offer last week. They are giving me a couple extra days to get my money in because of the holiday.
Oh well… It’s hard to win sometimes…
Two “heads up” items for the CD crowd here. Both of these occur this week.
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Watch for the announcement at the conclusion of the FOMC meeting which commences tomorrow and ends Wednesday afternoon. No, they’re not gonna raise interest rates I’m all but certain. But they will update how the Fed is seeing the economy post-Christmas. It’ll be their first meeting of 2019 and what they have to announce will be of interest.
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Friday morning at 8:30am ET the employment report for January will be revealed. Perhaps equally important, revisions to the December and November jobs numbers will be released. Recall we had a blowout jobs creation number for December which was supportive of higher, or at least stable, interest rates. But that December number could be, it might be, revised downward on Friday.
Big week. Keep a weather eye.
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Any thoughts on the Premier America Credit Union’s latest special, 17-Month CD, 3.20% APY?
Looks real good to me but maybe I’m biased as I recently jumped on that navy fed 17 month 3.25% cd. For “short term” I think that’s a great rate. If a 4% comes along again then it’s time to shove in some money “long term”.
If I sign up I’ll make sure I do so where you get the referral credit. (assuming you’re already joined)
I’d forget the “ifs”, tomorrow’s rates could be 5% or 2%, it’s all guessing. What matters is the premium over current liquid rates.
3.2% is .70% over the best liquid rates right now. Over the 17 month term, that’d require a 1.4% increase in liquid rates (in equal steps over the 17 months) for you to come out behind with this CD.
Historically, that’s about six 1/4 pt Fed increases, which no one expects in the next year and a half.
Guessing future CD rates is a crapshoot. But even breaking this CD, that .7% premium is going to mostly cover any penalty. Theres very little chance that you’d come out ahead keeping your money in a liquid account instead of this CD.
Having said that, tomorrow will produce some big 5% CD promo, and make me look like a fool. But I’m not expecting it, and if it happens I’ll gladly eat crow.
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Don’t hesitate to send me a PM if you have inside track on a 5% CD with high limits. 
I have a fair amount of 5% CD at Penfed expiring in 2021 and would love to find some replacement to park that money for a long while at that rate.
All indicators are now that the fed is backing off a bit to see how things are. That being the case I’m thinking that 5 year connexus CD @ 3.63% APY may be a lock. Sure it’s not the 4% or more I wanted but I did get one at garden and circumstances appear that when the current short term cd’s expire 3.63% could look really really good.
MACU has an addon cd paying 3.51% good for 5 years (max of 100k) which looks like a good insurance policy to get into now.
https://www.depositaccounts.com/blog/federal-funds-rate-hike/
I decided to join Connexus. Their certificate page still shows 3.63% for 5 years. However, when I was picking products I wanted when I joined, it showed 3.5% APY. Their 3 year showed 3.2% (was 3.35%).
I just emailed them, as I couldn’t call them at 4:55 AM, but I’m afraid the 3.63% rate may be history.
From what I’m seeing elsewhere, sad to say, I believe you could be entirely correct.
Couple of observations:
OK, after yesterday, backpedaling at the Fed appears confirmed, at least for now. It’s not just their forward guidance on rates (i.e., the Federal Funds rate). It’s also their pronouncement regarding possible slowing of balance sheet unwinding.
But both of those Fed announcements appear to be having a salutary impact on the stock market. As a CD buying rate chaser, I’m happy when the stock market denizens are happy. I want the stock market to advance. It’s great! What I do not want is economic malaise and stagnation. Those things reduce demand for the money I seek to lend, and that means lower interest rates.
It’s tougher to start a new business, or to grow an existing one, in the middle of a polar vortex. But spring weather is coming commencing next week. The economic environment, likely as not, will improve going forward.
Watch tomorrow’s employment report. If it’s a real dud ignore the above. Release is at 8:30 am ET.
Then, on Saturday, pay heed to Punxsutawney Phil’s forecast. Let’s hope he points to an early spring. 
Sadly I can confirm the rate changed TODAY…if I could have created it early in the morning it might have still been on older rate. grrr I had to wait a call in to find out proper process to open as existing member…their website kept saying “add 1 more product” when actually you just click on “share certificate” on a certain page and choose your rate. Glad I setup the MACU addon last night as it’s 3.51% up to 100K.
So the big question is take the 3.5% and lock it in? Ally’s 5 year is just 3.10% and I figure if I wait around it’s just going to drop more. First Internet bank (my main bank) is always the last to raise rates and the first to drop them…and they did just drop them so the stampede seems to be starting.
Yep; they emailed me that it was changed today. I doubt you would have had luck earlier in the morning, as I was seeing the new rate at about 4:45 AM CST.
I decided to still join and open the 5 year and maybe a 3 year (it wouldn’t let me do both while joining). I considered just going with Penfed’s 5 year, 3.35, but then I calculated the difference over 5 years and couldn’t leave that much money on the table.
I just did sort of a wacky thing:
I opened a Freedom CU five year CD paying 3.25% APY. Opening deposit was $500, paid using my Freedom CU Rewards credit card. It was possible to open the account entirely online. No need to telephone the credit union.
Q: Shin, are you aware that is quite a low rate? There are a number of five year certificates of deposit out there paying a better interest rate than that.
I am aware. But this is an add-on CD. That is why I was willing to accept the low rate of interest. It’s sort of a five year insurance policy, something to have in back pocket in case CD interest rates tumble. Probably will never need to add money to this account.
Q: Why open the account now?
I dunno. I thought about it for a while. But am seeing, on Ken’s website, CD rates decline in a few other places. Just thought “bird in the hand” and “why not”. It’s $500, not $5,000 or $50,000. Figured for $500 I could not go too far wrong . . . . . . even if CD rates turn around and start climbing to the sky.
The NFCU “Celebration Special” six month CD becomes available today. It is a six month CD with an APY of 3%:
Link to NFCU special certificate rate page
Lifted from that page:
3This offer, including the stated APY, is effective February 4, 2019. Navy Federal reserves the right to end or modify this offer at any time. The highlighted rate is applicable to the 6-month certificate term only. Minimum purchase amounts of $1,000, $10,000, $20,000, $50,000 and $100,000. No maximum purchase amount. Additional deposits are not allowed. Penalties apply for early withdrawals from certificates. Other restrictions may apply.
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