Alliant Credit Union Ups Savings Account Rate

In the past ten months, Alliant Credit Union (Alliant) has raised the rate on its Savings account five times, adding a total of 30 bps. The sixth rate increase occurred yesterday, upping the Savings account to 1.45% APY. Three of these six rate increases followed a Fed rate hike.

What I wrote in my April blog post applies to Alliant’s recent Savings account rate increases:

While not an outstanding rate increase by any stretch of the imagination,
given the size of Alliant, the new APY needed to be acknowledged.

Alliant’s Savings account can be opened with a minimum $5 deposit, but a daily average minimum $100 balance must be maintained to earned the stated APY. There is no monthly service fee for the Savings account, but there is a $1 fee for each paper statement requested. While there is no debit card associated with the Savings account, Alliant does provide a convenience card only for transactions at an Alliant network ATM.

Lackluster CDs

Alliant also raised all of its CD rates (15 bps on short-term and 10 bps on long-term), but the new rates just aren’t that competitive. To put these rates into perspective, none of Alliant’s CDs qualify for inclusion in the latest CD Rates Summary.

Other Alliant Benefits

Sometimes it’s not only about the numbers, as demonstrated by these comments by DA readers concerning Alliant.

What continues to distinguish Alliant is their consistency. Rates are always decent and devoid of gimmicks, service is always reliable. – Sylvia

All of these [Alliant] promises came to fruition. Brand loyalty is a lost art with many institutions, financial or otherwise. Alliant has brand loyalty nailed. – Bozo

But I bank with them, and have for years, primarily because of their absolutely world class overnight ACH service. – Kaight

ACH Tranfers

In September 2015, Alliant began offering same-day funds availability for incoming ACH transfer that have been initiated from other financial institutions. According to Alliant’s Money Transfer FAQs,

If you initiate a Same-Day ACH transfer to Alliant before 1:45pm CT on Monday from an account at another financial institution, funds will post to your Alliant account by 5:00 pm CT on Monday afternoon.

Same-day outbound ACH transactions are not yet available.

If you initiate an ACH transfer through Alliant online banking before 12:00 pm (noon) CT on Monday from your Alliant account, the funds will be drawn on or around 12:00 om (Noon) CT on Monday and will post to your other financial institution’s account on Tuesday morning.

Thanks to DA readers, Sylvia and ichaelm, for their Forum posts about the Savings account rate increase.

Availability

Headquartered in Chicago, Alliant Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) provides a way for almost anyone to join.

Easy Membership: Any member of Foster Care to Success (FCS), regardless of residency or employment status, is eligible for membership. Individuals can join FCS with a one-time $10 donation and Alliant's website provides a link to FCS to facilitate joining.

Residency: Individuals who live or work in 20 Chicagoland communities are eligible to join.

Employment: Employees and retirees of hundreds of Qualifying Companies also qualify.

Affiliation: Members of 37 different organizations are also eligible for membership.

Relationship: Immediate family members of current Alliant members are welcome to apply.

Complete details about joining Alliant can be found on the Join Us page.

Joining Alliant and/or opening a Savings account can be done online, via mail (application available for download,) by phone, or in person at any of 12 branches located in California (5), Colorado, Illinois (3), Texas (2), and Virginia.

Note: As Alliant was originally the United Airlines Employees Credit Union, several of the branches are located in airport terminals and are not accessible by the general public.

Credit Union Overview

Alliant Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A+" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 2.45% (excellent), based on September 30, 2017 data. In the past year, Alliant has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $695 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 8.77%. Please refer to our financial overview of Alliant Credit Union (NCUA Charter # 67955) for more details.

Ten years after United Airlines was founded, a small group of the company’s employees came together to organize a credit union in October 1935. At the end of the first year, the newly established United Airlines Employees’ Credit Union had 146 members and $5,088 in assets. The FOM was opened to organizations outside the airline industry in 2003, and since that time, Alliant has grown to become the eighth largest credit union in the country, with more than 385,300 members and assets in excess of $10 billion.

How the Savings Account Compares

When compared to the 207 Personal Savings accounts tracked by DepositAccounts.com that are available nationally, Alliant Credit Union’s Savings account APY currently ranks sixth. To put it another way, there are eleven other financial institutions (mainly internet banks) that are currently offering a higher APY.

The above rates are accurate as of 2/2/2018.

To look for the best Savings account rates, both nationwide and state specific, please refer to our Savings Rates Table page.