Just another benefit of having accounts at credit unions rather than at banks:
I have just learned of a free service offered for credit union accounts when your credit union is part of the shared branch system, handled by the Credit Union Service Center. Most, but not all, credit unions participate in this shared branch system. (Alliant Credit Union, one of the majors, does NOT participate in the shared branch system.)
You can call the Credit Union Service Center, at 866-692-8669, and have money transferred IMMEDIATELY from your account with one credit union to your similarly registered account at another credit union, provided they both are in the shared branch system.
This service is free -- and clearly faster than a bank-to-bank transfer using the ACH, which generally takes at least a day or two, and lost interest for that time.
The customer service rep told me there is a maximum transfer limit of $5,000 per transaction by phone -- but she said you can make as many transfers in a day as you want, although my senses tell me that might be problematic.
I note, you also can go into a shared branch and do the same kind of CU-to-CU transfer and avoid that $5,000 Credit Union Service Center limit -- although any particular credit union might add its own limits. (I just did that at a shared branch yesterday to open a new CD, and the CU where I had my funds had a $10,000 limit, but the shared branch called them and got the limit waived -- at least partly because I was there in person with ID. That is, the shared branch I used was neither the CU where I had my funds nor where I was moving them.
I had already been aware you can go into a shared branch and use it for transactions on your account, but I had no idea you could use it to make immediate CU-to-CU transfers, nor that there was a phone number you could call to do it and not even have to make the trip into the branch.
