Hey Shin,
I am new to Keesler, are they open to anyone for membership or area specific? The 30 mth 3.1% looks good.
Thanks!
Ok, just checked out Ken’s site and Keesler site, membership is limited to Mississipi, Lousianna and Alabama. :frowning.
Hi, fatty
I do not live in any one of those states. But I was successful joining Keesler only a few months back. Ken’s site is notoriously unreliable when it comes to such things.
Suggest you telephone Keesler and discuss this with them. By the way, you will be required to make at least a $10 contribution to the American Cancer Society before being allowed to join. Suggest you allow Keesler to make this contribution for you.
ETA
OK, I just had another look. No need to telephone them at first. Here is what to do to get started:
First go here and fill in your zip code
Under “Select your Eligibility” click on “I am a member of the following association”.
Hit the expand arrow and click on American Cancer Society Cancer Action Network.
After that you should be good to go. You will have to contact them after completing the application to be certain they will make your ACS contribution ($10 minimum). You must also be certain to include that contribution along with the required opening deposit for your savings when you ACH them funds the first time, or send them a check, or whatever. Good luck.
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Look on the “Who Can Join?” page, and scroll to the bottom where it says
If you’re not sure you’re eligible, contact us and we’ll help you with additional options for qualifying for membership.
Call, talk to a rep, and you’ll be all set in about 10 minutes. Note: they do want the funds in your share account before they’ll open a CD.
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Thanks Glitch99!
Will look into it. I did see the Join the Cancer society option but after reading Ken’s write-up I thot I wouldnt be eligible. Will give them a call and see how it goes. Thanks again to everyone on this thread. Have a blessed Christmas!
Just call and tell them you’re asking about those “additional options” for eligibility. It really is as simple as that.
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Adding a data point here regarding my adventure with PSECU, with the requisite nod of the head and thanks to scanchain.
OK, so this was challenging for me . . . trying to get everything lined up I mean. Turns out there are three options for the ATS (automatic transfer):
-
Once a month, on the same day of the month each time
-
Twice a month on the same two days each month each time.
-
Every two weeks, on the same day of the week each time.
Option three helped simplify things for me a lot, and that is what I went with. With both options one and two the day of the week bounces around all over the place! It was driving me nuts. As a worst case example, if your transfer day happened to fall on a Monday (God forbid), your money is sitting for three days in savings earning virtually nothing in the way of interest. No GOOD!!
I chose Friday as my transfer day, and I set the first transfer to occur in a week having no holidays. Fortuitously, Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. Day and Presidents’ Day are separated by precisely four weeks. So if you avoid one holiday you avoid the other. And I did. When it comes time to move money around, holidays are quite annoying.
Bottom line, things are looking good . . . and manageable. It appears as if 'twill be possible, in effect, to move funds unavailable until February and April into my PSECU CD at 3.25%. And having “day of the week” control is what has made the difference for me to accomplish this without undue drama.
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Happy the PSECU movement of monthly money is going to work for you. Sounded to complicated for me.
But, I managed to open several of the 3% & 3.25% CD’s. So much that I had to open the Tentative Trust POD’s to increase my Insurance coverage.
This is a best choice. I have never thought of that!
Yeah, like I said I was going nuts until I figured it out. In addition:
For me personally option 3 also offered a slightly higher injection density than the other two options. This is because there are four and one third weeks per month. It’s not a lot but every little bit helps.
You might wonder why not just increase the size of each funds injection to compensate. That aspect was also a wrestling match for me given that I settled on use of Alliant over PurePoint, right or wrong, and Alliant has that annoying $25k limit.
The Alliant decision followed from fact “funds in waiting” are all at Grow earning 2.75% APY (not horrible when you think about it), and use of PurePoint as a conduit imposes that darn four day hold . . . something I don’t have to confront at Alliant. Besides, I have a longer history with Alliant and I trust them to “git 'er done” slightly more than I trust PurePoint. Though both are obviously valid choices to move money.
Noted in passing:
Ken has just released his most recent safety ratings. Here are Ken’s ratings, and also those from Weiss Research, for two popular credit unions:
Navy Federal Credit Union
Ken: A
Weiss: A
Pennsylvania State Employees Credit Union
Ken: A+
Weiss: B+
Do you know the rating for GTE Financial from Weiss Research?
Excellent question. Here is the data:
GTE Federal Credit Union
Ken: B+
Weiss: C
Weiss notes on their rating page for GTE that the “C” rating is a downgrade. Their current rating puts both GTE’s profitability and liquidity into the category of “weak”.
My opinion:
It’s never a good idea to have uninsured funds at any financial institution (though I myself do this at NFCU (only)). However, I would never dream of having uninsured funds on deposit at GTE Financial. A person would have to be crazy to do so.
ETA
Interestingly Grow Financial, a direct competitor of GTE operating in the same regional market, has also been downgraded by Weiss to a “C” rating. What the heck is going on in the Tampa region anyway!?
Interesting, however, with all the cash they have taken in I wouldn’t think liquidity would be a problem. Weiss seems to be unusually harsh in their ratings. According to the NCUA they are well-capitalized and still very profitable. I noticed they gave Alliant Credit Union a “C” rating, too.
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Lots of seegars!
Here is my data point on the NFCU IRA 3% APY add-on CD deal:
This is a link to the deal which I originally posted 17 days ago
There are two aspects to this:
- Doing the deal itself
- Qualifying for the (I hope) tax-free $50 bonus
The deal itself was somewhat straightforward, though done via custodian-to-custodian transfer it took a long time to complete. There was obviously annoying paperwork. Internal processing at the NFCU end was efficient, though their IT capabilities are weak. I ended up needing to snail mail the paperwork. Still, patience won the prize, it got done, and I’m happy to have the CD. This effectively puts a 3% APY floor beneath my IRA interest rate for the next thirty-seven months . . . so worth having. And should interest rates rise, I’m not obligated to add another penny to the $50 opening deposit.
The bonus
$50 is not a fortune, even tax free. But I’m not proud and I’m happy to accept NFCU’s largesse. 
Thing is, I hope I get the money. The terms of their offer are a bit vague. It must be your first IRA with them, that much is clear. Rather than trying to explain the rest, it is easier simply to copy and paste their wording:
This offer is effective December 8, 2019 and can end or be modified at any time. Offer only available to members who open their first IRA plan and deposit a minimum of $50 in the new IRA account no later than 45 days after account opening. Limit one IRA $50 bonus per member. Once funds have been deposited to the IRA, Navy Federal will credit the bonus directly into your new IRA account within 30 days. The IRA $50 bonus will be credited to your IRA in the form of a dividend and will not be reportable as a contribution. Penalties apply for early withdrawals from the certificate, including any earned dividends. Members should consult a tax consultant or obtain legal advice regarding any tax implications related to the dividend. Taxes related to the IRA $50 bonus are the member’s responsibility. Navy Federal does not provide tax advice. Other restrictions may apply.
The confusing (for me) aspect there is the following line:
Penalties apply for early withdrawals from the certificate, including any earned dividends.
This is confusing only because it seems to include the assumption that there is a certificate in the first place. For me this was not the case because:
I took advantage of NFCU’s offer to open an IRA savings account for $0.00 with no funding of the account being required for the first 90 days. This allowed time to transfer money from my current custodian to NFCU, even with all the paperwork. So my first NFCU IRA account was NOT a CD.
Obviously I inquired about all this. They assured me the new IRA savings did, indeed, qualify me for the bonus. I hope this works out. Half a Benjamin is better than none at all.
Anyway, with funds in your IRA savings it becomes straightford to use $50 of that balance to open your new 37 month IRA CD at 3.00% APY, and that is exactly what I did.
So bottom line the CD is now locked in and I’m hoping for the best on the bonus. Should know by the end of January. If I get the $50 I will just add it onto the CD.
Speaking in general, this is the season of add-on CD accounts. You cannot have too many. And that applies equally as well to IRA CD accounts. I may never add a penny to my new NFCU IRA CD. But I’m really happy to have it just the same, as inexpensive insurance.
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For benefit of those who follow such things in effort to obtain insight regarding where the economy is headed and how we are doing:
The US Bureau of Labor Statistics will not be releasing the December employment report until Friday, January 10, 2020 at 8:30 am ET.
If you were expecting the report Friday of this week:
Sorry. No dice.
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Sadder & more sad! Just checking Ken’s site. Sun East, 19 mo. 2.75%. I have some Sun East CD’s from better times 3.5%. 
I think that APY is 2.25%, pattyb53, not 2.75%.
And 2.25% for 19 months is ridiculous!!
I think Ken was just filling space.
You’re right shinobi… It is ridiculous…
Those 3.5% CD’s I have at Sun East will mature 3/2021. You probably have them also. Oh for the good ole days! 
Do y’all use these in IRAs? Or are they a huge pain due to them not being acat securities and requiring a complicated transfer each time?
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