California Coast Credit Union 5-Month CD with 9.50% APY
California Coast Credit Union, a local credit union in San Diego and Riverside counties, is currently offering the highest interest rate in the country. While this Credit Union is based in California, the offer could possibly be available to everyone around the country based on previous datapoints.
You can get a 5-month Celebration Certificate (CD) with a 9.50% annual percentage yield (APY). While interest rates are quite high currently, they still hover under 6% APY. So this is a tremendous rate. However, there’s a low limit and the account opening results in a hard pull.
Becoming a Member
California Coast Credit Union is a credit union, which means that you’ll need to become a member before you can open an account.
If you live or work in San Diego or Riverside counties, then you can just pay $5 to join.
For everyone else, the only membership requirement is a $15 membership fee, which is a bit more expensive. That’s how it worked last time at least, but that might have changed this time around.
How to Earn 9.50% APY on California Coast Credit Union CD
In order to open a CD, you will need to deposit new money, which is money that doesn’t come from a California Coast Credit Union account. There’s a maximum of $3,000 (and a minimum for $500) for the opening deposit and a limit of one of these offers per social security number. This means that you can only do this offer once.
You will also need to have an active (which means one transaction a month) checking account with eStatements in order to qualify for the 9.50% APY. You will have a 30-day grace period to meet the requirements. If the conditions are not met, the 9.50% stated APY may be reduced to the APY in effect for a 3-Month Certificate Account for the remainder of the term. You must open a savings account as well, but there’s no balance requirement.
You can see the offer page here.
$50 Referral Bonus
You can earn an extra $50 when you sign up through a referral from existing members. The person referring you also gets $50. You can earn up to a maximum of $500 by inviting people to join the California Coast Credit Union.
You can find more details about the referral program here.
Guru’s Wrap-up
This is a great rate compared to what’s currently available. But there are several downsides that might make many potential applicants reconsider.
There’s a limit of $3,000 which means that you will earn $118.75 in interest over 5 months. This is also a hard pull on your credit report, which is not a good idea if you frequently open new credit cards. And last but not least, they now might be enforcing the eligibility requirements the the credit union membership (must live or work in San Diego or Riverside counties).
On the other hand, it is possible to fund new accounts with a credit card for up to $5,100. That’s the maximum of $3,000 for the CD and another $2,100 for the savings account. If you’re looking to take advantage of this, make sure to set a low cash advance limit. That ensures that the transaction doesn’t go through if the credit card issuers considers it a cash advance.
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