DCU Primary Savings Account review

Who is the DCU Primary Savings Account best for?

Digital Federal Credit Union, or DCU, is an NCUA-insured credit union. DCU has a little over 20 branches in New Hampshire and Massachusetts and was founded in 1979.

Like any other credit union, you must become a member to open its deposit accounts or access its other services.

If you live, work, worship or attend school in Massachusetts near Chelmsford, Lowell, Tewksbury or Worcester, you may already be eligible for a DCU membership. DCU also accepts new members if they’re related to existing members, work near the credit union or have a membership at a partnered association.

If you don’t live or work in MA or NH, you could also get a DCU membership if you make a one-time donation of at least $10 to one of its listed organizations online during the application process.

What we like about DCU Primary Savings Account

The DCU Primary Savings account is low maintenance, requiring no monthly fees, a small $5 opening deposit and no minimum balance requirements.

If you’re not a member of DCU already, keep in mind that if you live outside of its service area or don’t work at one of its listed organizations, you may have to make a one-time $10 donation to an organization to become a member. So, all in all, you might have to put $15 down to get started with the Primary Savings Account.

High APY on first $1,000 saved

If you regularly have a $1,000 or less savings balance, this account might be great for you.

DCU’s Primary Savings earns up to 5.5% APY on your first $1,000 saved. With that in mind, this account could make sense for those who cap their everyday savings at $1,000, those just getting started in building savings or those just starting to build an emergency fund.

Large ATM network

If you don’t live near DCU’s primary service area with branches (Massachusetts or New Hampshire), don’t fret too much, because DCU offers cash deposits and cash access at ATMs with Allpoint, SUM or CO-OP logos. The Allpoint ATM network alone has over 40,000 ATMs in the US.

If you have a DCU debit card, you can make cash deposits, withdrawals or balance inquiries with those ATM networks. DCU also supports mobile check deposits in its banking app.

Where it falls short

The biggest downfall with the DCU Primary Savings account is that your APY drops to 0.05% for balances over $1,000. If you have more than $1,000 saved, you might be better off with another savings account that offers its highest APY on your entire balance, such as UFB Portfolio Savings, the Ally Savings account or SoFi Checking & Savings.

Requires membership

Since DCU is a credit union, you’ll have to jump through the hoop of getting its membership. Luckily, DCU allows pretty much anyone to join, since those outside its service areas can make a one-time $10 donation to one of its partner organizations.

Also worth keeping in mind is that DCU is located in MA and NH. If you don’t live in one of those two states, you probably won’t have access to in-person customer support.

Compare DCU Primary Savings to other top savings accounts

Narrow down top savings accounts by APYs, features and fees. Tick the Compare box on multiple accounts to see their benefits side by side.

1 - 6 of 20

Sort by:Please select

Finder Score (low-high)Finder Score (high-low)Account type (low-high)Account type (high-low)Annual Percentage Yield (APY) (low-high)Annual Percentage Yield (APY) (high-low)

Product	Finder Score	Account type	Annual Percentage Yield (APY)	FDIC or NCUA insured amount	Minimum balance to earn interest	Minimum deposit to open	Bonus offer	Estimated total balance
Promoted Uphold USD Interest Account	Finder score 8.8 Great	Savings app	Up to 4.50%	Up to $2.5 million	$1	$0		$1,045	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Promoted SoFi Checking and Savings	Finder score 9.2 Excellent	Traditional savings,Checking	Up to 3.80%	Up to $250,000	$0	$0	Get up to $300 cash bonus with qualifying direct deposit. Terms apply. This offer is available until January 31, 2026.	$1,038	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Promoted American Express® High Yield Savings Account	Finder score 9.8 Excellent	Traditional savings	3.70%	Up to $250,000	$0	$0		$1,037	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Live Oak Personal Savings	Finder score 9.7 Excellent	Traditional savings	4.20%	Up to $250,000	$0.01	$0		$1,042	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Wealthfront Cash Account	Finder score 9.4 Excellent	Cash management account	4.00%	Up to $8M FDIC insurance	$1	$1		$1,040	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...
Barclays Tiered Savings	Finder score 8.4 Great	Traditional savings	Up to 4.10%	Up to $250,000	$0	$0		$1,041	Go to siteView details Compare	loading Fetching your data...

loading

Prev

1 2 3 4

Next

Customer reviews and ratings

Digital Federal Credit Union isn’t accredited by the Better Business Bureau (BBB), but it does hold the organization’s highest rating. There isn’t a lot of feedback for this mid-sized credit union, and the feedback that is posted on the BBB and Trustpilot isn’t ideal.

Many of the negative reviews on Trustpilot are unique circumstances, such as a complaint about a car loan, another talks about an issue with their escrow account, a few complaints of prepayment penalties or issues with customer service. One common thread we found was a few complaints about long deposit hold times or long waits to hear back from customer service.