Those of you who have come to appreciate Alliant Credit Union’s nifty next-day ACH transfer service may be in for a rude surprise, particularly if you’re trying to transfer externally funds from a maturing jumbo CD there. Earlier this month, Alliant put up a new website, advertising that it would offer “the same great services.” It then sent a secure email to members stating that, without giving any specifics that I could find, effective immediately, there’d be new daily and monthly ACH transfer limits for its next-day EFT service. I found out this morning—trying to transfer funds ultimately intended to go into a real estate purchase escrow account from a maturing CD—that my daily limit had been slashed from $100k to $25k. I’ve been an Alliant member since 2010. It’s still a great service, but a little more warning—with some specifics—would have been helpful to me.
The supervisor confirmed:
(1) the daily limit on outgoing ACH transfer limits was lowered from $100K to $25K for all members. Notifications were sent to members whose transfer activity occasionally approached the $100K threshhold. My outgoing transfers are more modest amounts, so no communication for me.
(2) the daily limit on incoming ACH transfers remains unchanged at $25K.
I agree that Alliant could have done a better job in providing specific and timely notification of the changes to members. No one likes surprises like this, especially when time may be of the essence. I hope you were able to move your funds successfully so as not to impede your real estate transaction.
My reply to her was that as a member, I should be able to rely on what a CSR tells me and it should be transparent to me whether I am talking with a member of the Alliant team or their vendor. I also pointed out that this was not an isolated incident insofar as being provide incorrect information by an associate at Alliant, and I don't contact them more than once a year -if that. Of course, we all make mistakes, but when I am given a patently incorrect answer (denial that such communication was sent out) it leaves me with a poor perception of Alliant Credit Union and leads me to question the competence of the organization.
I MUST SAY, I still am surprised that people still buy that lie from Alliant that it speeded up its ACH times by setting the noon (central time) deadline for setting up the transaction. Before they set that deadline, they accomplished next day delivery if you got the transaction in by the end of the day! I did NOT appreciate that. Alliant is NOT fast with ACH, it is one of the slowest.
I'm sure there are places out there that take two or more days. But all the ones I've ever dealt with get it to the receiving institution overnight as long as I get the transaction in by the end of the day. As long as it is put in the ACH that evening, it is delivered overnight -- any other delay is the sending bank sitting it on the side instead of sending it.
Alliant requires I get the transaction in by 10 a.m. my time, or it is delayed a day. If I can't get it done by 10 a.m. (West Coast is even earlier than Chicago), I lose an entire day! They will just sit it on the side and process the next day instead. That is NOT speedy service! And now, they want to restrict it even more for next day service -- even as the ACH is speeding up its system so things can be delivered same day just like a fed funds wire.
In the end, Alliant is not fast, they are one of the slowest for ACH transfers -- but their marketing people lied and fooled people! And now they're restricting it even more!
Another trivial, but irritating, aspect of this is that, to move the entire account balance of my $50k CD, I'm forced to perform three ACH transfers--2 for the principal and one for the interest at maturity. Because I use a savings account, not a checking account, to sweep up principal and interest at Alliant, that counts as three strikes against my monthly remote transfer limit of 6,
Oh, well, I guess other senior citizens have much more serious financial issues than I do. Plus, I still have my health.