Altra Federal Credit Union

Good Overall, Dislike Interest-Rate Swings In High Interest Checking

Joined this credit union in 2018 from a friend's recommendation and was not disappointed based on their high-interest checking accounts.

Easy to join even if outside field of membership requirements. The donation for $5 or so isn't so bad since you'll more than make up for it with interest rates on your balance.

Downsides are:

1. If you use this account to save money, they make it a little annoying to move money out. Outbound external transfers cost $5 each, but they offer "Altra Pay", which is their brand of "Payzur P2P" payments. You can do these for free in any amount up to $1000 per 24-hour period. They also participate in the credit union co-op shared branching/ATM. You can withdraw up to $500 from your debit card per day. Or just walk into the branch of another participating credit union to withdraw or deposit money without getting hit by fees like you would at the ATM.

2. Their interest rates are less stable compared to other big Midwestern credit unions such as Evansville Teachers FCU or Lake Michigan Credit Union. Altra used to only have A+ checking until 2019, when they came up with A+ platinum checking. The A+ checking makes you do 20 transactions. They don't have minimum required transaction amounts so if you want to do $0.50 gift card reloads on Amazon, pump tiny amounts of gas or find a store willing to do penny transactions, the account can still yield ~2% annually. Also slightly annoyed they are offering promotional rates for new members to join A+ platinum checking. Wish they'd prioritize current members first because dedicated savers like us are the ones who recommend friends and family to join. If they cut their interest rate on deposits, they should also cut the required transaction limit too. Otherwise it feels like a bit of a money grab.

3. Last time I checked, they don't offer personal checks for free outside of the first 8 they provide when signing up for a new account.