Alliant Credit Union Offers $100 Bonus On New Savings Account

Now through March 31, 2021, Alliant Credit Union (Alliant) is offering a $100 bonus when opening a new The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account. In the past, I wouldn’t have paid much attention to a $100 bonus, but bonuses are more attractive now that rates on liquid accounts and CDs are so low.

According to the landing page,

Deposit at least $100 a month—for 12 consecutive months—into The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account. Not only will you earn the current interest rate of 0.55% APY, but after those 12 consecutive months, you’ll also get a $100 bonus!

According to the fine print on the landing page,

Existing Alliant members, customers who are a joint owner on an Alliant savings account, and former Alliant members who closed an Alliant savings account within 180 days of applying for the new account are not eligible.

The first $100 must be transferred and/or deposited within 30 days of account opening, and each calendar month after the first $100 transfer/deposit, funds need to post to the account by the last day of the month.

Account must remain open and in good standing, maintain an average daily minimum balance of $100, and the balance at the end of the 12-calendar-month period must be $1,200 or more in order to receive the $100 bonus deposit.

Accounts will be reviewed 12 months from the date of the first transfer/deposit to determine eligibility. If all requirements have been met after 12 months, please allow 4 weeks for the $100 bonus deposit to post to your account.

Limit one offer per new Alliant member.

Must be 18 or older at time of account opening and a legal U.S. Resident or U.S. Person (including a U.S. Resident Alien) to be eligible.

Many thanks to the DA reader who emailed me news about Alliant’s $100 bonus and to DA reader, Rickny, for his Forum post.

Beneficiaries

Alliant members can add beneficiaries through the Alliant Online Banking platform. Alliant’s website also has a Beneficiary Add/Delete Form, which

will supersede any previous beneficiary designation you may have on record with Alliant and any accommodations you have made in your Will for the disposition of your Alliant accounts.

Beneficiaries may be an individual or a Trust.

Up to five beneficiaries can be added/deleted per each individual form. The completed form can be returned in-person, by mail, or by fax.

Trusts

Alliant also provides detailed information on its website concerning just about everything you need to know about Trusts, including exactly what documentation is required to open a living trust with Alliant.

ACH Tranfers

More than five years ago, 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,

With same-day ACH, all ACH transfers sent from your originating financial institution by 1:45pm CT will post by 5:00pm the same day!

The limit for same-day ACH transfers is $25,000 per day. This is the same limit that Alliant has for all ACH transfers.

Same-day outbound ACH transactions are still not available.

Availability

Headquartered in Chicago, Alliant Credit Union’s field of membership (FOM) provides a way for almost any U.S. citizen/resident alien to join.

Easy Membership: Any member of Foster Care to Success (FCS), regardless of residency or employment status, is eligible for membership. According to an Alliant representative, “Alliant will make a $5 support payment to FCS on the applicant’s behalf,” with Alliant's online application providing 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: Anyone related by blood or law, or a domestic partner of a current Alliant member are welcome to apply.

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

Joining Alliant and applying for the $100 bonus can be done online or by calling 800.328.1935 and mentioning the “Suze Orman’s The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account promotion.”

Alliant participates in the CO-OP ATM network, but not the Shared Branch network.

Credit Union Overview

Alliant Credit Union has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas Ratio of 4.01% (excellent), based on September 30, 2020 data. In the past year, Alliant has increased its total non-brokered deposits by $936.86 million, an excellent annual growth rate of 9.51%. 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 ninth largest credit union in the country, with nearly 540,000 members and assets in excess of $13 billion.

Bottom Line

This is a relatively easy bonus that doesn’t require too much time or effort, particularly if you set up a monthly automatic deposit. To quote the landing page once again,

To earn $100 in interest in one 12-month period at the 0.55% annual percentage yield (APY) compounding monthly, member would need to have $18,170 on deposit for 12 months.

The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account’s 0.55% APY is actually higher than the current average rate (0.51% APY) for online savings accounts and higher than the current national average rate (0.15% APY) for savings accounts.

If you don’t qualify for The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account promotion, check out DA’s extensive list of the best savings and checking account bonus offers.