Question In Regards To ABCO Federal Credit Union

Can the DD requirement be fulfilled by an external push from another bank?  Does the 1 financial transaction just be a transfer from the checking account to the savings account?  

There is a monthly fee if you don't use bill payer?

I have an account with ABCO. Yes, an ACH from another bank satisfies the DD. And moving $1 a month from the checking to the savings, and then back the next month satisfies the financial transaction. If you do that, you do nort have to use bill payer. Very simple.

I'm new to them, but this is my understanding of the requirements (after a few discussions with them):

--E-Statements

--10 debit card purchases

--1 Externally-sourced ACH or electronic transaction whether debiting or crediting the account. This includes direct deposit, another bank's withdrawal from or credit into the ABCO acct, credit card or utility payment (originating from that company) , etc. 

--1 Internally-sourced electronic transaction, so you must be logged into your acct online. This includes online transfers between internal accounts (eg, checking to savings/share or vice versa) or Bill Pay transactions originating from ABCO's Bill Pay.

To clarify the $4.95 "non-usage" Bill Pay fee:

a) IF you do NOT sign up for Bill Pay, there is no non-usage fee. Thus, you'd fulfill the 1 internally-sourced transaction with a monthly online transfer between your accounts.

b) IF you DO sign up, you must use it a min. 1 transaction per month to maintain it (for the Premiere/rca Checking; every other month for other accts). Apparently, the credit union pays for the service but makes it free usage for members.  So if you sign up and don't use it, they still have to pay on your behalf. Hence, the fee.  If you sign up and want to opt out, you can call the Bill Pay service - Online Resource @ 877-760-6004 - to get removed from the service and thus avoid the $4.95 non-usage fee.

The Bill Pay transaction can mean paying a bill or just sending money to another account (recurring or manually). In fact, this is how to do interbank transfers TO another bank.  Although there is an Interbank Transfer option called "External Transfers HQ",  it costs a $1.50 per transaction ($8.95 for overnight).  If you instead send money using Bill Pay, there's no fee and it arrives as quickly (2 days) - just be sure there's an electronic connection capability between ABCO and the other financial institution. You'd then only need to use "External Transfers HQ" and pay the $1.50 to transfer FROM somewhere. But hopefully the other bank can do likewise and pay your ABCO acct from their Bill Pay.  Or use a COOP branch to deposit the funds, which will post that day - assuming your rca likely has enough in it earning the interest to cover any hold on the deposit.

"External Transfers HQ" is part of "Money HQ" (links on the Bill Pay site), which are available for those willing to pay fees to manage all accounts from one central location.