Thank you for expressing this. While not for the purposes you mention, I found another benefit.
I have a CD maturing in June, that I plan to dump into my GTE add-on CD. The rate is essentially the same. However, with my forthcoming exit from Alliant, I have been unsure how I will be able to transfer the funds quickly.
So I’m making a penalty-free withdrawal from that CD 3 months early, so that I can abuse Alliant’s quick ACH transfers to move the money to GTE.
I didn’t know you got one of those dreaded Alliant letters. Makes me step back & wonder how many of us here have been kicked out of Alliant.
Go for it, use Alliant as soon as possible. 
What did you do to get kicked out of Alliant?
And now a brief warning.
I have an add-on CD at NFCU maturing in July. NFCU’s website talks about waiving early withdrawal fees, so I figured I’d consolidate that with GTE now, rather than wait.
So I sent a message asking if they’re still waiving penalties, because if they are I’d like to close there CD. They replied (paraphrasing) “No, we are not automatically waiving fees any longer, we’ve closed your CD and charged a $310 early withdrawal penalty.”
Ignoring the fact that this CD hasn’t earned $250 total over the year it’s been open, my request was clearly about waiving the penalty, not a request to close the account.
So, it can hurt to ask. Make sure you are clear, and then make sure again.
Resolution yet to be determined.
Sometimes making a request in an e-mail can be disastrous. As you stated here.
My experience with e-mail request is not good. Now I make a call, even though, waiting to speak with an agent can be extreme. I usually do a better job telling my story rather than writing. That’s just me. 
Ouch! Looking forward to hearing the resolution
In this case I’m glad there’s a “paper trail”, so there’s no disputing what was asked.
Never did it that way. Too much room for misunderstanding. I always telephone the financial institution . . . using a LAND LINE. 
But not you alone, pattyb53. 
Do you also record every conversation? There’s still room for mistakes and misunderstanding, but now there’s no paper or audio trail if you don’t record it.
Nope. And never have encountered a problem. Not a single time. “Be certain not to close the account”, spoken on a clear line, has worked for me in every instance. 
A quick phone call and they reversed yesterday’s transaction. I think she looked at the messages, immediately saw it shouldnt have happened, then it took 10 minutes for her to get the right people to unwind it. But my waiting on hold was for the resolution, not arguing the issue.
Funny thing (kind of) is, the penalty they charged was for all the remaining interest the CD is going to earn. Since I’m moving the money from this 2.25% to my GTE add-on at 3.3%, I’d still come out ahead paying the penalty and probably would’ve decided to bite that bullet had they given me the option. So I kind of shot myself in the foot for little more than principle.
24 hours ago, I could’ve make that same statement about secure messaging…
Glad to hear that the issue was resolved.
But are you sure the penalty is only for all the remaining interest the CD is going to earn, i.e. you get to keep all the interest you have earned so far? This does not make sense as I wouldn’t consider this as an EWP.
An EWP would be that you not only will not get the remaining interest the CD is going to earn, you also have to pay another $310.
That’s what their number reverse-calculated to be.
That is exactly what was done. I always thought it was a look back period, being penalized equal to the last 6 months of earned interest, but apparently it is equal to what you would’ve earned over the next 6 months.
Something doesn’t seem right, unless this was a (huge) step up cd, or you more than doubled the principle (add-on CD?). Either that, or I misunderstood your comments:
1 full year earned <250
6 months would earn 310
rate is 2.25%
Yes, this was an add-on CD I’ve added money to over the last 6 months. I wanted some near-term liquidity, waiting until this summer to decide to tie it up for the remainder of the 5year GTE term.
The following was posted by Ken Tumin earlier this week on his DA dot com website:
Even though the banking industry is in a much better position now than it was in 2008, the pandemic is stressing the financial system. Weak banks and credit unions will have a higher chance of failing over the next year. Thus, this is the time to be extra careful that your deposits are within the FDIC and NCUA limits.
I would add to that as follows:
It is a time to be certain your deposits which ostensibly are backed by NCUA or FDIC insurance, actually do carry such insurance in reality.
As of this morning Weiss Ratings has made available credit union ratings based on Q4 2020 financial data, the most recent available. Here is a link to the Weiss page:
Link to the Weiss Ratings page
GTE Financial appears only very slightly the worse for wear, if at all, and has maintained its “C+” rating.
Freedom Credit Union is holding its own with an “A” rating
The rating of PSECU is unchanged at “B+”.
Bottom line, most of the financial institutions I follow appear to be holding their own after a solid three quarters plus of pandemic. We will know more come mid to late June.
Today my Keesler HIMMA + rate dropped from 1.45% to 1.40%. 
Hi Shinobi,
Thanks for the link to the Weiss page. Checked it out for the first time. Interesting.
Too bad it is no longer able to join Keesler for me but I sure am glad for PSECU add-on CD. Thanks to you!