It’s a valid concern and you are smart to raise this as a possible problem.
I’ve been doing this now for two and one half years with all sorts of cards and at multiple financial institutions. I’ve not run into the CA dilemma. But it can happen and it could happen to me. Your best bets to avoid this danger:
Try to set your CA limit to a very low number
Failing that, run a test specific as to both financial institution and card. For your test buy the smallest CD that is permitted and watch closely what happens.
INOVA Federal Credit Union offers membership to any U.S. citizen or resident by joining either the Elkhart River Restoration Association or Tru Direction. Employees/members of more than 500 Select Employee Groups also qualify for membership. Immediate family/household members of current INOVA members are also eligible.
I completed the application. It looks like there’s a $10 fee to join if you don’t meet qualifications through location, employment or membership with an affiliated group. My application didn’t finalize because I have my credit locked. We’ll see if they reach out to me on Monday like the app said they would. There is a recent comment on Ken’s page for Inova of someone who was denied membership for being out of state.
The cost to join True Direction is $5. I didnt see them listed on the pull-down list of affiliated groups (which is a mess, so I could easily have missed it). But if it is there, I wonder if there’s an advantage to selecting True Direction from the list, rather than selecting that you wish to join on the Inova page?
My app was completed, and I was told I’d be contacted to finish joining. My credit card was pinged 3 times, with authorizations for the $5 savings, $10 True Direction/joining fee, and $485 for checking charges ($500 max allowed).
In the FatWallet days, I wouldnt expect a response on Monday because someone’s going to get to work and have a heart attack due to all the new member applications submitted over the weekend. But I dont think we have that level of following here.
There was a pull of some sort, because I needed to answer those wonderful 4 identity verification questions - ya’ know, about the loan I never opened, the job I never had, and how old I’ll be in 5 years (cause apparently fraudsters cant do math?). The one asking to select the correct last 4 digits of my checking account gave me pause, because 1) there’s no way I could check every one of my account numbers to potentially match the last 4 digits, and 2) I didnt think there was a database of checking account numbers to begin with - so I just picked none of the above and it was apparently correct.
I did not get any email confirmation or anything, an app number and the pending CC charges are all I have.
It is worth mentioning that this “Shield” checking account has a $5 monthly fee that seems to be unavoidable. Not that meaningful if taking advantage of the 3% interest rate, but if your purpose is CD funding, it’s not an account to sockdrawer and forget about.
It appears Inova did not kick me out after all. I misunderstood. What they did instead was to close one of my accounts, not at all at my request and against my wishes. The account they closed was unrelated, insofar as I know, to anything having to do with certificates of deposit. Truth is, I have no clue what they were thinking.
Before I got turned down, two separate Inova representatives on two separate calls days apart, indicated I could open a CD with my CC. It was only after (apparently) checking notes which had been placed on my account two years ago that I was denied. So this was a personal denial especially for me. Sucks.
Am considering resigning my membership with hope that some time in future I might be able to reapply and obtain an entirely new membership to which those old notes would not be attached. Or else maybe I need to contact the NCUA because clearly I am being treated differently than other Inova members. And since I never broke any of their rules, never even closed a CD early, there is no valid reason for them to be singling me out as they are.
When opening a savings account at any CU you happen to be joining, always open with $1 more than the required minimum. This will allow you easily to set up your ACH links without concern about overdrawing the account. Thus, for example, if $5 is the minimum requirement, you open instead for $6.
I got an e-mail today on my Inova FCU membership requesting ID photo. I waiting for a phone call to complete the process.
My question before I proceed. This was a hustle machine for you. The idea is to purchase those short term CD’s using your credit card. Was the idea to use that cc often & make 2%+ over & over?
You mentioned $5000 max on the cc.
By the way the e-mail I received this morning shows a new location of Inova FCU in Berkeley, CA. That’s where the contact for me will be.
Continuing on. I just got a call back. Interesting question they ask me. They could see that I had several Banks & CU accounts listed for me on the credit report. I don’t know if this is going to be someplace for me. Too many questions. With what they did to you, leads me to wonder???
Yes. That is what I did back in 2018. It went on for five or six months. I was buying a one month CD perhaps on average every two or three days. Of course I was operating multiple reward credit cards at that time, not just my Citi DC card alone.
If $5,000 sounds like a small CD, consider if you’re making 24% APY on that CD that it would take a $30,000 CD at 4% to provide you equal annual income. Add to that that your income on the $5000 CD is tax free, while your income on a conventional 4% CD is taxable. Then finally ask yourself where today you are going to be able to buy a 4% APY CD in the first place!!
Agreed. I think that is overly intrusive. Also I have no experience whatsoever dealing with Inova FCU in California. All of my dealings have been in Indiana. No exceptions.
This thread was started owing to my dealings with Inova. You can go back to my very earliest posts here, now knowing Inova was behind everything I wrote. In those days Inova refused to accept Visa cards, which was all I had. I started this thread, back in the spring of 2018, trying to identify MasterCard rewards credit cards so I could increase my business at Inova.
What a mess!!! My Inova FCU acct was opened yesterday.
I opened Shield Checking $15k 3% 8 debit transactions (no money yet). This morning I find out there is a $5 monthly fee, regardless of keeping $15k in acct. I told them to close that acct. But NO, I must submit a closing form, signed by notary. I’ve spent 2 hrs this morning with agent then suprvisor…
So now I must go into town to get form signed by Notary. That will cost at leat $10+.
Live & learn.
I still have Inova FCU acct & will see if I can do anything with it.
Yes, that is all you need. I never opened an RCA (rewards checking account) at Inova . . . . or anywhere else. And I never suggested anyone else do so. Too much hassle . . . . . especially in a pandemic.
A nice feature of the little side hustle documented on this thread is that everything can be accomplished in the comfort of your home. And in a pandemic, that matters.
Yes. I got a call yesterday, was asked the same series of questions, and told I’d get a call back with final approval. Havent gotten that call yet.
The $5 fee equates to about .4% on a $15k balance, so it still yields ~2.6%APY. I’ll have to have only about $6,000 in it for the fee to reduce it to a 2% APY. And even that’s better than what some of my cash is sitting at right now. If the rate drops I’ll re-evaluate, but for now it’s a great option even with the monthly fee - you just cant sock-drawer the account. (And to note, I suspect the fee will scare off a lot of people like yourself, which will only make the rate more durable.)
Of course, I could still get a call telling me I’ve been declined membership, too.
Yes, now that my anger as ceased, I should have kept the acct. Just returned from getting the form signed by notary $15. So that would have taken care of 3 months fee.
The outcome for this Inova FCU account has changed again.
It happens that they just open a new branch office in Berkeley, CA. The rep that helped me open my account just called to confirm everything “all set”. I told him my story about closing the Shield Checking & I wished that I hadn’t done so. He said, no problem & just opened another with a different #. The debit card with new number is on the way.
Because of my stupidity I lost $15 for the notary. But it’s done & over for now.
We got to talking about his new office just opening in Berkeley. Seems he actually lives about 40 miles from me & takes the AmTrac to Berkeley. Small world.
