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Alliant Credit Union Promotes High Interest Checking Bonus
Last week, a longtime DA reader emailed me concerning Alliant Credit Union’s High Rate Checking account $50 bonus. Typically, I wouldn’t give a $50 bonus much more than a fleeting glance, but the DA reader made a valid point: if you’re looking to just score a large bonus and move on, this promotion isn’t for you.
On the other hand, if you’re looking for a checking account for long-term use that has no monthly fees, a decent interest rate with few requirements, and ATM fee refunds, this might be the account for you. The $50 bonus is just icing on the cake.
High Rate Checking Details
- 0.65% APY paid on entire balance – no minimum or maximum balance levels
- ATM fees – reimbursements up to $20 per month
- No monthly fees
- To apply for the $50 bonus, use promo code CHEK12A when applying
Availability
Headquartered in Chicago, Alliant Credit Union (Alliance CU) offers a variety of ways to join.
Easy Membership: Any member of Foster Care to Success (FCS), regardless of residency or employment status. Individuals can join FCS with a one-time $10 donation and Alliant CU's website provides a link to FCS to facilitate joining.
Residency: Individuals who live, work or worship in 20 Chicagoland communities.
Employment: Employees and retirees of hundreds of Qualifying Companies.
Affiliation: Members of 40 different organizations.
Complete details about joining Alliant CU can be found on the Membership Eligibility page.
Joining Alliant CU 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.
N.B. As Alliant CU 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 (NCUA Charter # 67955) has an overall health grade of "A" at DepositAccounts.com, with a Texas ratio of 3.67% (excellent), based on December 31, 2015 data. In the past year, Alliant Credit Union has increased its total deposits by $502.32 Million, an excellent annual growth rate of 7.44%. Please refer to our financial overview of Alliant Credit Union 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 field of membership was opened to organizations outside the airline industry in 2003, and since then has expanded to become the 7th largest credit union in the country, with more than 299,000 members and assets in excess of $8.6 Billion.
To search for nationwide Checking account rates and Checking account rates in your state, please refer to the Personal Checking Account rates section of DepositAccounts.com or our new Rates Map page.
I have a savings and checking account at Alliant, and, at least for now, have chosen to keep my ATM-only card and do transfers online or with their tellerphone service.
That's a minor nitpick though that I'm hoping they will change.
But Alliant is a great credit union that everyone should join -- and even though I have a checking account at my local credit union, I have both a savings and checking account at Alliant as well.
They're a really good outfit -- everything is easy, and they have toll-free 24hr customer support, and are part of CO-OP, so finding an ATM (even for deposits) is easy.
I did have a bad experience trying to use their CO-OP system and was told they discontinued the program several years ago and it is only active for those that were eligible at the time of it being discontinued.