Well, the safe deadline is past now. Maybe you can still get the 9.62% rate if you try now, but might get shunted to Nov. 1 or later and miss out. Still means a 6.5% rate for the first 6 months, but...no idea what the next rate would be. Still probably better than a savings account.
You can take the money out after a year, you just lose the last 3 months' interest if you take it out before 5 years. But if the interest rate drops to nothing later on, that's hardly a penalty.