New at PenFed - 3% 5yr certificates

[Sesq]

Hmm. I have a pen fed arm at 2.625% I was planning to eliminate next March when I come into a windfall (company stock). If these rates hold till then, even with a rate reset on the 5/5 ARM I come ahead by $5K. I'll still have to service the debt which I don't enjoy (but can afford), but math is math, if I have a contractual return greater than my contractual obligation I probably should take it. If rates continue to rise then I'd have additional opportunities to cash out these CD's and grab other products.

We'll see whether this offer is out there in March. . .

[sheehs1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Hmmm...I just entered the bank's routing number and my account number and initiated the ACH. I've never done a transfer from that bank before. I wonder why we are getting such different information from different people who are calling them.

I have no idea either.

[Sue J]

I was using the PenFed site to transfer from an outside bank into my PenFed share account and it limited me to $5000. Maybe if I had just initiated the CD and used ACH directly to the CD the limit would not have applied. I'm combining funds from a few different places, so that's why I thought I'd direct it all to the share account first. That's ok, I'm just taking a few days to make multiple transactions.

I already had to call and make a correction. I opened a CD online, expecting to be offered the option to make it a Roth IRA and it never had that option and made it a regular CD. They were very helpful and told me the correction would happen by tomorrow or Friday. That was the only one that will be a Roth IRA, the rest will be regular ones.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Sue J Maybe if I had just initiated the CD and used ACH directly to the CD the limit would not have applied.

Yes - I think that's the trick.

[Debinnov a]

FYI,

I funded my CD's with cashiers checks from two banks. It took about forty-eight hours or so for it to be deducted from my bank account. So not unusual that it is still showing in your account afterwards. FYI

Deb

[audreyh1]

I love ACH!

(as long as someone doesn't use it against me!)

[Free To Canoe]

Got my CD started 2 days ago. I see the process is finally finished. I guess they were backed up with requests. Broke a CD with a pittance yield and go me one of those 5yr, 3% jobbers. Since I was already a member and my funds were already there, it was easy.

I am thankful for this and the other benefits of hanging out at ER.org!

[frank]

just opened two cd's for fairly large amounts and did it online. ach to the cd's easy peasy.
one minute and my account showed I had the two cd's listed.

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Free To Canoe Got my CD started 2 days ago. I see the process is finally finished. I guess they were backed up with requests. Broke a CD with a pittance yield and go me one of those 5yr, 3% jobbers. Since I was already a member and my funds were already there, it was easy. I am thankful for this and the other benefits of hanging out at ER.org!

Same here! Major benefit of this group.

Folks on this forum have been crowing about PenFed for years. And I was planning to open a checking account with debit card and a chip and pin credit card sometime next year anyway.

But this got me off my butt! The funds had been slated for high-quality short to intermediate term bond funds, none of which can beat that 3% rate at the moment.

Hmmm - next time we buy a car we might take a look at their auto loans instead of paying cash for the entire amount?

[powerplay]

I just opened an account with PF by calling them up. It worked great and I then logged on and registered and set up my online access. They also funded the 2 CD's I wanted to open. I was allowed to use a credit card for the donation to military family org and opening account amount. Very different from 8-10 years ago when I tried to open account online but didn't have a debit card for the donation and no other form of payment was accepted at the time.

Thanks to this forum I was motivated to move some money over to PF for these CD's.

[bmcgonig]

Can we do this with tax deferred money? I.e., transfer between Ira accounts?

[sheehs1]

Yep..money ACH swiped out of my accounts today into the CD's I set up. It only took 2 days for the ACH to be effective.

Penfed makes it easy once you have the member account set up.

[Debinnov a]

Can someone tell me how the ACH between banks works? If I want to transfer money from PNC to Penfed, what is the process? That sounds much easier than cashiers check!

[audreyh1]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Debinnov a Can someone tell me how the ACH between banks works? If I want to transfer money from PNC to Penfed, what is the process? That sounds much easier than cashiers check!

It is much easier!

When you go to open a CD, and they ask you how to fund it, you select "transfer funds from another financial institution" and then enter the bank's (ACH) routing number and your account number. These two numbers appear on the bottom left of your checks. That's all PenFed needs.



You don't have to actually do anything at PNC Bank - by giving PenFed the routing and account numbers, PenFed has all it needs to initiate the transfer on your behalf.

ACH is a type of electronic funds transfer (EFT) that usually has low or no fee - depending on who initiates it. More about ACH Automated Clearing House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

[Debinnov a]

Wow, that is too easy! Thanks

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by bmcgonig Can we do this with tax deferred money? I.e., transfer between Ira accounts?

Yes, though it becomes a bit more complicated.

For me, i needed to join one of the qualifying organizations since I didn't otherwise qualify, then set up a PenFed savings account and minimally fund it with a ACH transfer from my bank, then submit an application for an IRA account and an authorization to transfer money from my existing IRA to the PenFed IRA.

In my case, the transfer from Vanguard to PenFed happened yesterday and I think the investments in the CDs will be made later today.

[Ready]

Credit Union West is offering 3.2% APY for IRA transfers of $50K or more, or 3.15% for less than $50K. Might be worth checking out before making a final decision on a PenFed IRA.

[pb4uski]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ready Credit Union West is offering 3.2% APY for IRA transfers of $50K or more, or 3.15% for less than $50K. Might be worth checking out before making a final decision on a PenFed IRA.

And to be clear, this is a 5 year deal as well. See http://www.cuwest.org/docs/default-s....pdf?sfvrsn=31

But I think you need to live, work or worship in Maricopa or Yavapai Counties so I'm not sure how useful it is.

[friar1610]

Quote:

Originally Posted by audreyh1 It is much easier! When you go to open a CD, and they ask you how to fund it, you select "transfer funds from another financial institution" and then enter the bank's (ACH) routing number and your account number. These two numbers appear on the bottom left of your checks. That's all PenFed needs. You don't have to actually do anything at PNC Bank - by giving PenFed the routing and account numbers, PenFed has all it needs to initiate the transfer on your behalf. ACH is a type of electronic funds transfer (EFT) that usually has low or no fee - depending on who initiates it. More about ACH Automated Clearing House - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

After reading this thread I decided to set up a ladder with PenFed CDs using funds in my Vanguard Short-Term Bond Index fund. I currently have no CDs with PenFed and the last time I had some, I bought them by filling out a form (on-line) and subsequently mailing a check to them. When I started the process a few days ago I saw that the only option available now is to transfer funds from another institution. Since I didn't have PenFed set up at Vanguard as one of my "banks" I had to go through that process. Hopefully now I can get the process restarted.

[Ready]

Quote:

Originally Posted by pb4uski And to be clear, this is a 5 year deal as well. See http://www.cuwest.org/docs/default-s....pdf?sfvrsn=31 But I think you need to live, work or worship in Maricopa or Yavapai Counties so I'm not sure how useful it is.

Yikes! I must have read that too quickly. I thought it said I just had to "worship Maricopa county", not "worship in" the county. I figured for 3.2% I"d tell them it's the best county I've ever heard of! This of course complicates matters further.