Inside Angle To Qualifying for New Credit Union

Ever see a CD or money market rate that you couldn't pass up? Some of my favorite blogs report great credit union (CU) rates; however, the credit union's field of membership is restricted to certain employees or residents of a particular geographic area.

Consider this angle for qualifying for a CU with a geographically constrained field of membershp: 1) Set up a mail box at a local shipping and receiving store (i.e. UPS Store, etc) near the credit union of interest; 2) File a change of address form with the US Postal Service on the mail box you just set up; 3) Apply for the CD or Money Market account with the new credit union; 4) Change your address on record with the credit union shortly after successfully opening up the account; 5) Cancel your mail box at the local shipping and receiving store.

I HAVE NOT YET TRIED THIS. However, I have set up a mail box with a shipping and receiving store completely via the mail before. I'll probably try this when I find a credit union that can beat penfed's best rate (6% CD) by about 20%. A 20% higher yield CD would have a rate of 7.2% and would help offset the time and money invested in qualifying for the new credit union. Of course, somebody trying this with a small amount of money would probably need a much higher rate of return than than the 20% I mentioned; likewise, somebody with a higher amount of money could probably work with a lower marginal gain in yield. Something to consider though...