Did your CU application require proof of USDAA membership? Actually I see some answers above that say you don’t actually need to join. My guess is that this CU benefit is actually for USDAA employees, not randos who created (or claimed to create) a free account on usdaa[.]com.
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“I am an employee or MEMBER of an Advancial partner organization.”
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I spoke to Customer Service and a loan officer. Balance transfers are 0% for 12 months no fee as long as there’s no existing or pending balance transfer. Not just the first 12 months but ongoing.
Thanks for pointing this out! It makes it worth keeping as a permanent card.
NFCU used to have repeat no-fee balance transfers at 0%, the only card I knew that did this for existing cardholders, but they haven’t done so for several years.
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I agree that it’s frustrating. How hard would it be to have one more question in the opening of the CD? That maturity question could be pre-filled with the bank’s preferred default but at least it’d be there for people who want to override the default.
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I like Advancial, Alliant and Nasa. They all give you the ability online to change the maturity option any time you want before maturity.
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As does Navy Federal.
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I joined Advancial today. They allow the initial deposit with a credit card. There was no limit so I considered charging $20K ($500 in rewards!) but didn’t want to take the chance it might go as a cash advance and they might have a holding period for initial deposits. So just $5.
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A tip - lower your cash advance limits and try the higher initial deposit. If it codes as cash advance and exceeds the lower limit, it will reject the charge. It’s an easy way to verify that spend like this codes as expected.
Reading the data points on doctor of credit, it seems like Chase is a bit more loosey goosey with letting these through as regular charges, while Citi and US Bank tend to be stricter about coding it as a cash advance. I recently did $10k through another credit union with a Chase card without an issue.
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Thanks. Good idea. Maybe next time.
Hughes FCU offers 17mo CD Specials – Jumbo CD at 5.65% APY ($99K minimum) and Mini-Jumbo CD at 5.60% APY ($50K minimum).
Easy membership requirement with a $10 donation to any of three Tucson area non-profits (Friends of the Oro Valley Public Library, Friends of the Pima County Public Library, or Friends of Green Valley Library) which qualifies for membership eligibility, regardless of where you live.
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I’ve successfully done the Shinobi strategy I mentioned in my second January 11th post. Basically, it’s to buy $5K 1 year CDs from GTE and use the Citi Double Cash credit card to fund (or other similar cashback card that will count it as a purchase and not a cash advance).
It’s 5.12% plus the 2% cashback from the card, but it’s really better than 7.12% because you get the 2% in a short period of time. In addition, you don’t have to pay off the card for as long as almost two months (if you time it optimally with your statement), so you can double dip on interest in the interim.
I’ve bought three of them a month apart with Citi Double Cash. They all counted as purchases. The first went right through. The second, GTE asked me to send a photo of my Citi card. The third was “referred” for a few days and then went through. I don’t know if I’ll keep pushing my luck.
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Scanchain, by maturity option you mean to have the matured amount be deposited in your share account or send a check or renew? Thanks!
I know they all have renew or transfer to savings (or checking). Not sure if the “by check” option is available at all 3.
I did BluPeak Credit union myself - 3mo, 9 mo and 12mo CD’s between 4% and 5%, $1500 max CC - to hit a sign up bonus on the Chase Ink Cash.I basically got $900 cashback for buying 3 CDs earning competitive yields plus some other expenses.
Also opened a savings and money market account with them on CC, but wasn’t working towards a signup bonus so it was far less impressive.
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How do you join BluPeak?
Donate $5 to KPBS?
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Thanks. Can you pay with a credit card for all CDs?
What do you have to do to join and maintain a membership?
Their Fee schedule says $5 for BluPeak membership but not whether it requires an account opened or if there are any fees.
You would have to see what the application currently allows. You could fund up to $1500 per account application when I did, so you need to do each account separately if you want to pay with CC. At least that was what it allowed when I did.
I don’t understand your 2nd question. I donated $5 KPBS. They didn’t ask for proof. I would assume you just need a BluPeak share account with whatever the minimum balance is to “maintain membership”.
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Thanks for the info.
I called. They said they no longer accept credit cards for funding CDs.
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Why would you call?!?!? Never call.
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In my experience, calling has assured me of the best rates, best rewards, best bonuses and allowed me to discover details and tendencies of the institution which proved very useful.
With Amex, I’ve been given a bonus just for calling or complaining about something. Usually $10-$20. Or had an annual fee waived or reduce. One time I got a credit limit increase without them doing an inquiry because I asked them not to.
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