jackcrawfish said:dandan50 said:swandown said:I'd like to see some confirmation that joining the alumni association will make you eligible to join the credit union.

I'd hate to blow $50 on a wild goose chase.I didn't want to risk the alumni association, so I signed up for an online class ($85 + $10 out of state fee).
However, the rep I talked with on the phone seemed unconcerned about any of it. Do you guys really think they confirm?

Benefit over the alumni assn. is that I found a class that seemed pretty cool. So worse case scenario is I get a (hopefully) decent online class for $95.If y'all want to wait around, I'm testing the ALUMNI membership now. I'll post results/adverse or otherwise as results come in.I've got my beer and I'm here waiting. Keep us posted on what they ask on the application and what your results are! Hope it works out well!

This credit union is going to have 200 new FW members waiting to throw cash at them before they even put their special offer online!

as opposed to outright lying, I streched the truth and listed myself as "Friend of University" (loose definition, I know but I consider them my friend

jackcrawfish said:as opposed to outright lying, I streched the truth and listed myself as "Friend of University" (loose definition, I know but I consider them my friend
Of course, if you want to be anal about this, SECU's field of membership is defined to include student and alumni of U of MD, but it does not technically include "members of the alumni association".

From the scan of the letter it appears $200k is the maximum per account number .

I am planning to put $200k so to increase the insurance on it I will open 2 CDs with $100k each. First CD account will have POD on wife and second CD account will have POD on daughter. Each would be insured upto $200k. Is this the right path?

mnsweeps said:From the scan of the letter it appears $200k is the maximum per account number .

I am planning to put $200k so to increase the insurance on it I will open 2 CDs with $100k each. First CD account will have POD on wife and second CD account will have POD on daughter. Each would be insured upto $200k. Is this the right path?
The CD offer is 200K max per SECU member.

Are you depositing 200K total in SECU? Or 400K?

If 200K, the easiest would be to open a joint account with your wife.

If you want to deposit 400K, you'll need your wife to become a SECU member as well.

MikeR397 said:dugggg said:I would definitely read the fine print of this offer before signing up for college classes or joining any association.

The 5.00% APY is what concerns me. The APY is supposed to encompass all fees and bonuses. The fact that the bonus is separate is odd.

Another odd thing is the fact that the CD term is 7 months, with interest compounded and paid quarterly. At the end of the term, do you have to wait two more months for the last payment?

Now, I know some of you got a similar "deal" last year. If you did, did you confirm that you really got all the interest you had coming? I would hate for someone to jump through these hoops just to end up with 5.00% APY which you can get almost anywhere.

That said, with the lower 2.25% bonus quoted, I calculate $5114 interest over 7 months on $100K for a revised APY of 8.766%.This is a very good point, has it been confirmed that this 2.5% promo is extra to the 5%, or are they somehow just doing fancy advertising and giving half of your total earned interest up front (this letting your principal be a hair bigger up front?). I assume it isn't, but can't hurt to look into.
I can confirm. I opened a 200K CD last year. A 5K bonus dividend was immediately added to my 200K by SECU. All subsequent interest payments were based on a 205K CD. My CD will mature in October. According to the maturity notice, my complete earnings at maturity will be $15,223.70. This will give an effective yield of 7.6%.

The effective yield on the new CD is 9.3% instead of 7.6% because they’ve shorten the term of the CD without lowering the bonus. I hope that wasn’t an oversight on SECU’s part. Last year the CD had a 12 month term.

Can this actually be opened today or do we have to wait until the promo period starts - which isn't until tomorrow?

Last year's promo information by Bankdeals

mh83 said:mnsweeps said:From the scan of the letter it appears $200k is the maximum per account number .

I am planning to put $200k so to increase the insurance on it I will open 2 CDs with $100k each. First CD account will have POD on wife and second CD account will have POD on daughter. Each would be insured upto $200k. Is this the right path?
The CD offer is 200K max per SECU member.

Are you depositing 200K total in SECU? Or 400K?

If 200K, the easiest would be to open a joint account with your wife.

If you want to deposit 400K, you'll need your wife to become a SECU member as well.

But if I put $200k joint with wife I will get insurance only for $200k...I will lose insurance on the interest on top if SECU goes down. My max is 200K and I will open 2 $100k CDs with diff PODs.