[Update January 2022 – Despite the FED’s commitment to three rate hikes this year as well as a rising 10 year treasury yield, Delta Community Credit Union has lowered their fixed rate CDs and variable rate savings accounts by 0.05% APY and 0.03% APY, respectively, since the Fall of last year. See all rates below.]

Delta Community Credit Union was founded in 1940 as a credit union for people working for Delta Air Lines. Today, many Delta employees are still members, but membership has been expanded to select members of the general population and residents of Georgia. There are over 430,000 members of Delta Community Credit Union today.

This credit union offers fairly competitive rates on various deposit accounts with a few more benefits—like ATM cards for MMAs and the option to add teens as joint owners—than you’ll find at other banks and credit unions.

Because this is a credit union, you need to become a member in order to open an account and access these rates. You are eligible to join if you live in a qualifying Georgia community, are currently or formerly employed by a partner corporation (e.g. UPS, PetSmart, Enterprise, Delta Air Lines, etc.), are a member of a partner association, or are related to someone who is a member of Delta Community. View the complete list of membership eligibility requirements. You can manage your accounts online through the online banking portal, in-person at a branch in Georgia, or some combination of both.

Keep reading for our complete review of Delta Community Credit Union deposit products.

Delta Community Credit Union CD Rates + Account Details

This credit union offers standard CDs with lengths from six to 60 months.

To put these yields in perspective, the current national average for 12 and 60 month CDs sit at 0.14% and 0.27% APY, respectively, according to recent FDIC data.

Delta Community Credit Union beats that and many big traditional banks, but these rates aren’t fantastic when you compare them to many digital banks.

Interest compounds monthly and can be credited to the original certificate or to another checking or savings account (even an MMA). You can specify where you want your earnings to be deposited when you open the account or any time after by contacting the credit union.

This certificate of deposit account is more flexible than most. Delta Community Credit Union permits users to add money to their CD accounts after opening, which is not typical of certificate accounts, without penalty. Users are also able to add joint owners and beneficiaries to this account at any time after opening it. Minors are eligible to be added as joint owners.

You need to deposit at least $1,000 into this account when opening and maintain a balance of $1,000 or more in order to earn interest.

All CDs are insured through the NCUA. Delta Community does not offer fixed-rate, specialty, bump-up, or other non-traditional CDs.

Early Withdrawal Penalties

Delta Community has changed its early withdrawal policy since 2017, so CDs opened/renewed before May 2017 incur different early withdrawal penalties than CDs opened later.

Here are the rules for CDs opened or renewed before May 1st, 2017:

• Early withdrawals from terms of six months incur a penalty fee equal to 31 days’ interest
• Early withdrawals from terms of 12 or 24 months incur a penalty fee equal to 90 days’ interest
• Early withdrawals from terms of 36 of 60 months incur a penalty fee equal to 180 days’ interest

And the rules for CDs opened or renewed after May 1st, 2017:

• Early withdrawals from terms of 6 months incur a penalty fee equal to 60 days’ interest
• Early withdrawals from terms of 12 months incur a penalty fee equal to 90 days’ interest
• Early withdrawals from terms of 24 or 36 months incur a penalty fee equal to 180 days’ interest
• Early withdrawals from terms of 60 months incur a penalty fee equal to 270 days’ interest

The current fees are still actually lower than average.

Grace Period

Delta Community Credit Union provides a standard 10-day grace period to withdraw funds from a certificate account upon maturity without penalty. Partial withdrawals are not permitted. The grace period starts the day after your CD reaches maturity. You will be notified 30 days in advance of when your CD is set to mature.

You can specify whether you’d like your account to automatically renew upon maturity or the funds deposited into another account at any time between opening the account and the grace period begins.

Delta Community Credit Union Savings Accounts

There are a number of different savings accounts available through Delta Community: Personal Savings, Youth Savings, IRA Savings, Education Savings, and Health Savings.

Personal Savings Account

The Personal Savings account earns interest at a rate of 0.08%. There are currently no balance tiers, so that’s as good as it gets. This interest rate is only slightly better than the national average rate for a savings account, which sits at 0.06%. It is not hard to find a savings account that pays better than what Delta Community is offering, but you at least don’t need a large balance to earn interest.

You can open this account with as little as $5 and you will earn the 0.08% interest rate as long as you have a positive balance in your account.

The Personal Savings account can be opened by an adult on behalf of a minor as well. The minor must be related to a member by birth, marriage, or adoption.

Once you have opened a Personal Savings account, you have the option of opening one or more Additional Savings accounts for different savings purposes. These accounts do not have minimum opening deposit requirements and earn the same interest rate as your Personal Savings account.

There is no monthly service fee or fee for low balances, but there are a few other fees. For example, you will be charged an inactivity fee of $5 every month if you do not make any transactions into or out of this account in six months. Every returned item will cost you $15 and every non-sufficient funds presentment will cost you $35.

Youth Savings Account

The Youth Savings account is available to children between the ages of 0 and 12. It earns the same interest rate as the Personal Savings account of 0.08% currently. Those younger than six are referred to as “Sandy Savers” and those between 7 and 12 years old are referred to as “Cool Cash Kids.” All new users receive a welcome package. 

A $5 membership deposit is required when you open this account, which you can do at any Delta Community Credit Union location. Any member of the credit union can open a savings account for a child, niece, grandchild, cousin, niece, or nephew.

HSA and Education Savings

An HSA at this credit union earns a rate of between 0.15% and 0.35%.

There is no minimum opening deposit or minimum monthly balance for an HSA.

This credit union also has a Coverdell Education Savings account to members with household incomes of less than $110,000. You can earn up to 0.35% interest on balances over $100,000.

Delta Community Credit Union Checking Accounts

Delta Community Credit Union offers a personal checking account that is available to adult members and teens (who are eligible to become joint account owners). This is technically an interest-bearing account, but the rate is so low this might as well be a traditional non-interest-bearing account.

The national average for an interest checking account sits at just 0.03% APY, so these rates are actually worse than average (which isn’t something we see often) and definitely a lot worse than the best checking accounts out there.

There is no minimum opening deposit requirement or balance requirement to avoid fees. You are only eligible to receive interest on balances over $5,000. 

Interest is compounded and credited monthly to your checking account. 

You can enroll in Courtesy Pay (fees apply) to protect yourself from overdrafting on transactions up to $500. This service is optional.

This account comes with a Visa debit card that is eligible to earn up to one point on every $3 spent when you sign for qualifying transactions instead of using your PIN. You must enroll in Reward Points to access this feature.

Teens who are 16 or 17 years old are eligible to open this account with a member of the credit union as a joint account owner. They will have access to all the same features and benefits as well as the Visa Personal Debit Card. 

Fees

This is a free account that doesn’t charge any maintenance or service fees, but you’ll want to avoid getting charged for the following:

• Overdraft transfer from deposit account: $3
• Overdraft transfer from credit account: $5
• Non-sufficient funds: $35
• Courtesy pay: $35
• Domestic returned deposit item: $15

If your combined account balance across all deposit and borrowing accounts drops below $60 and you have not made transactions into or out of your account in six months, Delta might charge an inactivity fee.

Delta Community Credit Union Money Market Accounts

You can open a money market account with Delta Community Credit Union with $1,000.

The national average rate for a money market account is currently sitting at 0.08%. These rates are pretty competitive, but they’re not the best ones out there right now. You can pretty easily find an account earning up to 0.50%. And because these accounts require a higher balance than average to earn interest, you should shop around a bit before choosing this one

Interest is compounded and credited monthly into the MMA. If you want it paid elsewhere, you can let a representative at the credit union know.

You need to maintain a balance of $1,000 in order to earn interest. Delta does not require a minimum opening deposit and does not charge service or maintenance fees.

This money market account comes with a free ATM card that can be used to make ATM withdrawals only, not POS transactions. You can make up to ten transactions per month with this account. This account can also be used to write checks, though these are not free.

There is also a business money market account available. You can make up to 25 transactions from this account per statement period not including your deposits.

Any positive balance in a business MMAs earn interest, which is compounded and credited monthly.

All Delta money market accounts are federally insured by the NCUA up to $250,000.

Final Thoughts

While Delta Community Credit Union isn’t a bad option for banking, it’s not a great choice if your main goal is to earn interest. Select products at Delta Community Credit Union are worth becoming a member, but we don’t recommend most deposit accounts at this credit union. Most of these products have high balance requirements to earn interest and the rates aren’t worth it.

Steer clear of the low-interest personal checking account and probably the savings account too, but consider the certificate accounts, which offer reasonably competitive rates, if you’re looking for a full-service credit union.