With the sudden closures, has anyone noticed how far back your statements go with Alliant? If you were soon to be cut off, you might want to save as far back as you can go to avoid the cost of obtaining statements if needed in the future.
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I have had ETFCU for the last year for the 3.3% checking account. They have paid the 3.3% interest like clockwork and have maintained their rate as many others have dropped. However, I am not sure about using them as a main checking account. They don’t offer free checks and I don’t believe they offer high speed ACH transfers. They may participate in shared branching but not guaranteed(Alliant does not). I would probably use Ally if Alliant no longer was an option.
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I opened the ETFCU account based on zzz’s reports. It’s true they don’t provide free checks, but I ordered checks from a third party (around $8 from ChecksUnlimited) and ETFCU accepted them without issues.
ETFCU’s ACH system is as speedy as Alliant – the ACH is overnight, both push and pull. But it is limited to $5000 only I believe.
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Sure, you’re “protected” against fraudulant activity. And it is these type of account’s intended purpose.
But I’m not so sure how wise it is to use an account with a significant balance as your daily transaction account. Seems like it is begging for potential issues, even if it’s mostly just a lot of aggrivation.
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Well it’s really not that hard to be smart and protect yourself with the ETFCU account. I simply sign into the app and unlock my card to do my Amazon transactions and then re-lock it when I’m done. Easy peasy! Even with my main checking account, I only ever use the debit card to withdraw or deposit cash at an ATM and do the same thing - unlock and then re-lock. Now for people who use their checking account/debit card the way the banks hope people will, I would agree that people are stupid and leave themselves wide open to potential fraud and just because you’re “protected” doesn’t mean it’s necessarily easy when it happens.
Apparently Ken has gotten involved in the Alliant shutdown fracas. DoC readers have noted:
Readers mentioned the Alliant account closing issue to Ken Tumin at Deposit Accounts. Ken wrote today: “I’ve contacted my Alliant contact about this issue, and he said that they will have a response in the next few days. I’ll be sure to post on what they say.”
Edited to add - here is the link: Financial News Stories (depositaccounts.com)
I am going to assume some of Fragile Deal’s more “colorful” members post over there, because I can put names to posts over there, even though the usernames don’t match…
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This is very helpful, thanks scanchain. That $5k limit eliminates ETFCU for me.
I think I am now leaning towards the Fidelity cash management account. My employer deposits stock awards here on my behalf and has a fairly good deal with them. They throw in free incoming/outgoing wires regardless of balance on top of the other benefits available to standard accounts (free checks, no ATM fees, etc).
In my experience, ACH transfers to Alliant are same-day which also makes it an excellent hub account with a 100k daily limit.
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I also have a Fidelity CM account. Never really thought of Fidelity as a hub. I keep a modest amount of $cash in my account.
I opened the acct quite a few years ago. I liked Fidelity because if I needed a Direct Deposit to open an account, Fidelity would count. I haven’t needed a DD with %interest rates for new accts not worth the effort any longer.
Think I’ll check on Fidelity. 
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I have the Fidelity CMA. ACH transfers are slow and the put holds on money that’s pulled in using their system. Would not recommend as a hub.
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Unfortunately, this is the norm. There aren’t too many options that do not hold ACH pulls. If anyone can list some, that’d be great.
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I don’t experience many banks that actually place holds on funds being pulled by ACH. For example, PNC and TD, two local banks I use, do not place any sort of hold on funds pulled using their service, however their service is slow(3 days). With Fidelity, I’ve not only experienced slow ACH service(3 days), but also a hold after the 3 day transfer completes for several additional business days.
Ally seems to be on par with Alliant in terms of ACH speed, high ACH daily/monthly limits, linked high interest savings(laughable what is high interest these days), free checks etc. I am not sure how many external banks you can link with Ally(I have about 30 linked at Alliant so that would be important to me but maybe not to everyone).
Discover’s transfers are not slow after there is a history, but they put holds on ACH pulls. Those holds range from 1 - 3 days, and I haven’t figured out their methodology for calculating the hold. To be fair, I haven’t really tried to figure it out.
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That $5k limit is really too bad. Otherwise I think that would be a good match for my needs.
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Data point: I initiated a pull from Fidelity on 3/23 around 9pm PT. The money was out of my Alliant account around noon PT on 3/24 and the money is fully available at Fidelity on 3/25. Given the 9pm request, this is next-day.
I am going to try a transfer this morning to see if it goes through tomorrow. If it does… then this is perfect for me.
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I imagine most of us would need at least the 30 linked accts (like you have at Alliant) before there would be a real interest in changing hub accts.
I think Fidelity CMA might work for me also. How many linked accts will Fidelity allow?
Dollar amount might matter, too. They may release a few hundred dollars, but hold a $20k transfer. Or some kind of aggrigate limit that prompts the hold some have mentioned.
Yes I think my transfers were 5k plus that were held. I don’t remember exactly how much. It would be welcome news if they’ve changed things and what @sullim4 has experienced is an across the board new normal for them with ACH transfers. At a minimum, it sounds like they’ve transitioned to next day ACH now.
The transfer was $2500.
I can play around with larger transfers. I do know that I’ve transferred tens of thousands via a push, and that works without a problem, but we know that already.
I’ve been meaning to invest some cash that’s been sitting in my Alliant savings anyway. I’ll try a 25k transfer in a few days.
I currently have 15 ACH links in my Fidelity account. I don’t believe there is a limit.
However, linking a bank to Fidelity is not as simple as Alliant. Most of the time, I am required to upload a statement or a check or deposit slip as proof of account ownership. And it take a few days for Fidelity to activate the link.
From my past experience, Fidelity puts a few days hold on a pull. But I haven’t tried that recently.
Fidelity does same-day ACH now (for amounts less than $100k). The following is my experience.
If you submit before 8am ET, the transfer is completed by 1pm ET.
If you submit before 12pm ET, the transfer is completed before end of business, same day.
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