Fixed Income Investment in Jacksonville FL Area

[ShokWaveRider]

I was wondering if there were any recommendations for Credit Unions and/or Banks offering good CD Rates in The Jacksonville Florida Area.

Similar to the ones offered by the DCU.org CU in MA.

Thanks in Advance.

SWR

[wabmester]

There are several nation-wide banks offering around 3% for a 1-year CD. Check bankrate.com

If you want a local bank, check out www.everbank.com headquartered in Jacksonville, FL. Fairly competitive CD and checking account rates but not the highest rates such as a non-local bank would offer but if you want local, it is the highest yielding one that I've found. Currently has a promotion for a 2.50% (3 months/2% afterward) intro rate for FreeNet checking account.

Also, if you want to play on the declining dollars, it also offers WorldCurrency CDs/Deposit Accounts, Commodity CDs etc.

[ShokWaveRider]

I did check Bankrate. I was hoping for some pointers to Credit Unions that I could join and get preferred rates as they usually offer more than banks. I have an address in Clay County so I should be able to become a member.

SWR

[MJ]

Try this CU site

http://ncua.gov/indexdata.html

MJ

[cute fuzzy bunny]

I use DCU. I live in california. Been my bank for almost 25 years. I did go into a bank branch ONCE about 20 years ago when I lived in MA.

They send you postage paid business envelopes for your deposits, although theoretically you can make deposits at any credit union ATM I've never tried it. Other than that I've done all my bank stuff online with them. Never a problem.

[Nords]

... you could check your yellow pages for credit unions and see if they list a trade organization.

When I was trying to find a better checking account for a non-profit association, I quickly ran through all the banks but wasn't very excited about calling all 97 of Oahu's credit unions. Then I found a listing for the trade organization that's supported by most of them.

Your trade organization might also have a chatty staff member who'll talk you through the local CUs, tell you the tricks of their membership qualification rules, and point you to the ones with the highest rates. Worked for me and saved hours of dialing.

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

Try this CU site http://ncua.gov/indexdata.html MJ

Thanks

SWR

[ShokWaveRider]

Quote:

I use DCU. I live in california. Been my bank for almost 25 years. I did go into a bank branch ONCE about 20 years ago when I lived in MA. They send you postage paid business envelopes for your deposits, although theoretically you can make deposits at any credit union ATM I've never tried it. Other than that I've done all my bank stuff online with them. Never a problem.

I am looking at DCU but I have no direct pension deposit. Or any way of getting one for 15 years.

Currently I am with the OrangeCounty Credit Union of Southern California. They are not bad, But it seems like forever to get things done, like renewing CDs etc., from other locations. They used to be great when I could walk in. But over the phone is a different matter. I even deal directly with the bank manager via email. It takes them 2 days to answer most correspondence.

SWR

[MJ]

Quote:

I am looking at DCU but I have no direct pension deposit. Or any way of getting one for 15 years.

You can open a ING account, you can auto schedule a direct deposit of $500 a month to the DCU checking account and then transfer it right back the following day or you can ask them to move the $500 to the 3% CD until it closes.

If you are not interested in doing that the interest rate drops by a .25%.

Although, I don't have an account with this one, you can try this bank that has checking account with 2.75% interest.

http://www.presidential.com/

Good luck

MJ

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Thats interesting...so they'll take any ACH deposit?

I never tried it...the site says "payroll, pension, social security". Have you tried this "other" direct deposit method and had it work?

I usually get same-day email response back from dcu.

[MJ]

Quote:

Thats interesting...so they'll take any ACH deposit? I never tried it...the site says "payroll, pension, social security". Have you tried this "other" direct deposit method and had it work?.

When I told them that I am retiring and but not entitled to any pension yet, I asked if I could schedule a monthly transfer from ING, they said yes. They said I had 90 days to set up the direct deposit. I think they are expecting a scheduled transfer.
I just opened the account so it is not set up yet.

MJ

[ShokWaveRider]

Mj:

Do you live in MA? Or did you set up the account remotely?

SWR

[MJ]

Quote:

Mj: Do you live in MA? Or did you set up the account remotely? SWR

I don't live in MA. I found their phone under "Contact Us" and called them. They helped me find the forms to download. I mailed the forms in. They were very helpful. Make sure you are clear on when you can get the 3% CD if you don't have direct deposit in place. I got mixed information.

MJ

[cute fuzzy bunny]

Try this:
https://www.dcu.org/DCU_aapd_application.pdf

This is an application for both a credit union account and the "American Association of People with Disabilities (aapd). It costs $8 one time to join AAPD, and becoming a member makes you eligible for credit union membership.

Once you've got that, you can apply for free home equity lines of credit, a visa card, cd's and the regular or limited money market account. The limited money market account is currently paying 2.4%, but it must be kept above $25,000...you can make one free withdrawal a month, as many deposits as you like. The regular money market is paying a sliding scale from 1% for $1000 to 1.85% for $100k and up.

The 11 month cd's pay 2.75% without direct deposit, 3% with with a $2500 minimum. You lose 30 days interest if you cash it out early. The 5 year jumbo cd's are paying 4.61% for 25,000+ amounts; you lose six months interest if you cash those out early.

With the free checking account and direct deposit, there are almost no fees for anything. You get free checks, free electronic bill payer service, free atm access at credit unions (and they'll pay you back up to $5 if a bank atm charges you a surcharge), etc. What drives me nuts about some banks I've seen is its $3 for this, $5 for that...none of that here. In fact, I think the only thing I've ever had to pay for is wire transfer fees.