Alliant Credit Union

Finance
405

Appreciate your reply very much. Thank you for posting such a valuable data point.

It’s only my opinion, but I believe under the circumstance you were entitled to a warning which, if ignored . . . . well . . . . then it’s on you and you deal with the consequences. Alliant would probably argue that ignorance of a rule is no excuse. Still feel like your were, at least to some extent, entrapped. Pretty certain others would disagree.

My own spending? So far so good. But your story illustrates nothing whatsoever can be taken for granted. Nothing.

406

been in the MS biz for about 5 years… nothing surprises me and Im thankful I still get 3% with them on groceries…so far. But I use all my (3amex) 5% cards + the 6% amex too. and all the 5% cats on chase/Disc. BTW the Chase 5% on gas and Walgreens starts tomorrow… my 7/11 stores code as gas even tho they dont sell gas. Years ago I checked it out with a purchase of coffee. Still the same. Buy 3 on each freedom card ans a quick 75.00 -fees=60.00. Just have to have a liquidation route.

407

Interest rate on Alliant savings has jumped to 1.70% APY.

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408

The T&C also state that gift card purchases are not eligible for cashback. They didnt arbitrarily deny you anything, you got away with it for 3 months before they started enforcing the terms. And since gift cards are the only thing GCM sells, there’s no bluffing that they’re wrong about your purchases. Actually, their reaction was one of the more measured and reasonable courses of AA we’ve seen over the years, typically you wake up in the morning to find your account closed.

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409

Just received a curious “change in terms” letter for the Alliant Cashback Visa Signature Credit Card:

Section 12 (Returns and Adjustments) of the credit card agreement is being amended, in part to the following: “A merchant credit from a return or adjustment after a statement is issued will not count as a payment unless the credit satisfies the entire statement balance. When the credit is less than the statement balance it will not be applied until the next statement cycle. As a result you are still required to make at least the minimum monthly payment or pay the full statement balance if you wish to avoid interest.”

Consider the following two scenarios:

Scenario 1:

date event amount current balance
8/14 statement balance $500.00
8/16 merchant credit ($100.00) $400.00
8/18 payment received ($400.00) $0.00
9/14 interest charge? $x $x
9/14 statement balance $x

Scenario 2:

date event amount current balance
8/14 statement balance $500.00
8/15 purchase $50.00 $550.00
8/16 merchant credit ($100.00) $450.00
8/18 payment received ($400.00) $50.00
9/14 interest charge? $x $50.00+$x
9/14 statement balance $50.00+$x
If I understand the change in terms correctly, both of those scenarios will result in the credit card holder incurring an interest charge (“$x”) for the $100.00 that was not paid off. Is that everyone else’s understanding? If so, these terms are deceptive and unfriendly, and I believe no other major card issuer uses this method.
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410

Just got a letter from Alliant today. Looks like they are closing most of their branches. Everything but two in Chicago will be closed. One of the ones in Chicago is restricted to United employees anyway…

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411

All my credit cards seem to handle it this way. A rewards credit or a refund is not counted as a payment for an issued statement. Amex handles it this way.

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412

I agree. All it’s saying is that any return credit will not count towards your minimum payment due. Unless your minimum due is all that was due on your last statement. What it’s preventing is you having a $100 minimum payment, then going to Walmart and buying something for $100 and immediately returning it for a $100 credit, thus “paying” the minimum payment for the month without actually forking over a penny.

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413

Here’s the list of branches closing:

I can’t say I’m all that surprised. There’s no need for them to operate branches given their ATM network and fee refunds. I’d assume this will save them a significant chunk of change by consolidating operations into a single state, which hopefully will be returned to customers.

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414

My guess is that if your ledger balance on any given day between closing date and payment due date drops to 0 you don’t have to worry about interest charges.

415

That may well be what they mean, but that’s not what they wrote. They wrote: “credit … will not count as a payment” and “you are still required … to pay the full statement balance if you wish to avoid interest”.

I certainly hope so.

416

Yep.

417

I’ve been stung by it on amex once–CS waived the stupid fee and agreed it was dumb and counter-intuitive.

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418

Only you skipped the first part of what you quoted:

If you have a $1,000 statement balance, make a $400 payment, and have a $200 return, you will incur interest charges. As most anyone would expect.

If you have $1000 statement balance, make a $800 payment, and have a $200 return, the credit is “satisfying the entire statement balance” and therefor not subjecting you to interest charges.

They’d say the same thing about any payment that doesnt pay off the entire statement balance, which is also “not applied until the next statement cycle” and subjects you to interest charges on that amount until it is applied/posts.

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419

Nitpicker extraordinaire here. What if you have a $1000 statement balance, have a $200 return, and then make an $800 payment? According to their wording, the $200 return did not satisfy the entire statement balance, and thus interest will be charged.

420

I can concur that Amex uses this same practice and I believe most all other issuers do too. If you are receiving cashback rewards as a credit on your account you still need to make sure to send the payment in full for that applied billing cycle, less you risk paying interest because the cashback rewards credit is not considered a “payment”. This is just safe standard practice that I have been doing for years.

I’m not certain about standard practice with returns credit though. I just make sure to make the full payment due at end of billing cycle to pay my account in full and not risk incurring interest. If you end up with a credit the next month, no biggie as most cards will still see use the following month or eventually.

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421

I am confused and not thinking entirely straight. It is regarding the Alliant credit cards. I have the high rewards card currently at 3% soon to descend to 2.5%, still a wonderful reward. That is my only Alliant CC right now.

I need additional rewards credit and have been searching hard for 2% cards. There are some, but not all that many. One that keeps coming up is the Alliant 2% rewards card with no annual fee. That is a very attractive deal to me, except I already have the other Alliant card. Here is where I’m unclear:

Does it make any sense for me to apply for the 2% Alliant card? Do the two Alliant cards interact with one another, to where if I’m granted credit on a new one it will detract from the credit line of the other card, future increases I mean.

I guess I’m also asking if anyone already has both of these high rewards Alliant cards and how is that working out for you?

Note:

This is not a post about 2% rewards cards in general. I’m only needing to know about the two Alliant cards and how they might interact, if at all. I already have several other, non-Alliant, 2% cards and do not need suggestions in that realm. This is strictly about Alliant’s cards and about the advisability of applying for that second Alliant card.

ETA

OK, I just re-read that and it is pretty muddled. Like I said, I’m confused. Let me try another way:

If Alliant only grants just so much credit then I’m better off leaving the 2% card alone (i.e., not applying) and trying to increase the line on my 2.5% Alliant card instead. Better to have whatever credit they’re willing to offer me applied to the card with the higher reward.

But OTOH if I can apply for and receive extra Alliant credit, at 2% reward, without hurting my 2.5% situation, then that would be the way for me to go.

So I’m looking for opinions as to the best approach, especially if they are based on your own experience with Alliant.

422

I dont know anyone with 2 Alliant credit cards, so all I can suggest is trying and seeing what happens. But I will say that I’d guess that you could apply for the 2.5% card again, and get the same results (whatever that may be) as you’ll get applying for the 2% card. I could be wrong (Alliant isnt exactly a “normal” card issuer), and you might not get the 3% promo again, but very few issuers will approve multiple cards yet deny multiples of one specific card.

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423

You can switch the Signature Card to the Rewards card but you can’t have both.

It’s one card per member total; one card per member account.
(Per most recent conversations with a rep and a loan officer.)

This is wonderful! Your life has been simplified.

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424

Many thanks to glitch99 and to Argyll. Yes, that does simplify things considerably. I’ll just forget about the Alliant 2% card and focus instead on extending my credit line with their 2.5% card. I’ve already been granted one extension. Guess I’ll have to wait another six months from that event to apply again.