Talk about the Federal Reserve beginning to back out of the market support position has caused Treasury bill interest rates to double. That in turn is also causing many to wonder when consumer savings rates will finally begin to go up as well. However, in the meantime, CDs are still generally in a trough below a 0.80 percent annual return.

Then along comes Stanford Federal Credit Union offering a jumbo CD with a return between 2 and 2.25 percent annual return. Not only is the interest rate deal far greater than the national average, it is the highest CD offering in the nation for a jumbo CD. Amounts as little as $1,000 can easily earn a locked-in rate of 2.02 percent, and $25,000 and above earns 2.1 percent. The large return is reserved for amounts over $100,000. It’s important to note, however, these rates are reserved for members who either have a checking account that realizes more than $500 in direct deposit monthly or loan outstanding with Stanford. Otherwise, the CD rates offered drop by almost a quarter of a point for non-member CD holders. IRA accounts can purchase CDs as well, but the rates of return barely get above 1.25 percent.

Stanford is a fairly large credit union with over 6,000 different sites and access to 70,000 different ATM locations. The Credit Union was established in 1959, originally for employee members of Stanford University and surrounding facilities. Today, the same institution has over 50,000 members and is headquartered in Palo Alto, California. New members have to be associated with the Stanford community, but they can be employees as well as students. Membership also now includes various Palo Alto organizations and entities, such as the Chamber of Commerce. So the aggregate reach of Credit Union over the years has grown to an incredible size.