So they require a picture? Or do they profile based on language … or pronunciation?
You’re about to be racially profiled. 
On surname
Well, to be fair, it seems like it happens after the annual meeting - e.g. they need approval of 2/3rds of whomever shows up to that thing and votes in order for the expulsions to proceed. I don’t think it happens at random intervals - the data points seem to indicate that this time of year is when the axe falls. If you haven’t gotten a notice to this point, you’re in the clear.
In terms of the CD thing, my retired parents have quite a bit tied up there at high rates. They are not “hustlers” like many of us are (myself included). They do their everyday banking at a different local credit union, and have had no issues with Alliant putting their membership in jeopardy.
I never received any notice about their annual meeting, which is concerning for different reasons. I certainly want to attend next year if there is a virtual option, if only out of curiosity.
Again, this, plus the temporary CC point devaluation, plus the Weiss health ratings slipping, plus the new CEO, equals a lot of uncertainty for Alliant.
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That’s the elephant in the room. There is zero evidence anywhere that an annual meeting was even scheduled, let alone minutes showing that it occured and such a vote was included on the agenda. I’d think that a vote on your membership status is something that’d require specific advance notice, even separate from notice of the meeting itself.
I’m pretty certain a court would reverse this action on procedural grounds. Problem is, what is there to gain from raising hell over it? If you have high-rate CDs there’s even more grounds to pursue, but even then, will the required squeeze be worth the resulting juice?
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I remember, way back, when you talked about this new CEO taking over Alliant CU. Fantastic info you posted to all of us. I’ll have to admit, I wondered at the time, does shin know what he is talking about.
You’ve made me a believer! 
I’ve been with Alliant for so many years & have trusted doing business there. I’ll continue & be on the lookout, hoping I am not bamboozled.
Your concern led me to do some digging. Alliant is an Illinois-chartered credit union. According to Illinois’ regulations:
Section 3: Notice of all meetings must be given by the Secretary of the credit union at least 7 days before the day of such meeting, by handing a written or printed notice to each member of the credit union, by mailing a notice to the member at his address as listed on the books and records of the credit union, or by posting a notice of the meeting in three conspicuous places, including the office of the credit union, providing that the credit union maintains an office that is readily accessible to members and wherein regular business hours are maintained.
If they took the last option of posting the meeting notice in a ‘conspicuous place’, e.g. their office, that’s super shady, in my opinion. A tiny fraction of their members, less than 1%, would visit their locations in person, particularly during the pandemic. They surely know this and would appear to desire operating under a shroud of secrecy instead of functioning as the member-owned institution that they are.
Perhaps members should band together and get this board of directors booted out.
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I followed your digging, and dug up this as well:
(205 ILCS 305/15) (from Ch. 17, par. 4416)
Sec. 15. Membership defined.
(1)
(2)
(3) Any member may be expelled by a 2/3 vote of the members present at any regular or special meeting called to consider the matter, but only after an opportunity has been given to the member to be heard.
This is the exact Illinois law they reference in the letter, justifying their ability to kick someone out. Of course they left out the ‘opportunity to be heard’ part.
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Yep, I noticed that too.
I think it’s time to shop for a new credit union for everyday checking. ETFCU’s in the lead for me right now but if there are others I am all ears. I’d prefer a credit union to an online bank, e.g. Ally, as I don’t like to carry cash and like to deposit it when I do happen to get it. That makes deposit-accepting CU ATMs and shared banking a handy benefit to have.
You can overpay your taxes with credit cards, then take a paper I-Bond as refund. So, in a way, yes, but it’s not free anymore.
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).