topic Re: BECU 1 year review in Personal Finance

BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 17:06:07 GMT

I have been with BECU for about 1 year now and I really like them. I don't have any credit products with them because they don't offer any SUB. Later this year I may consider obtaining a CC with them for the sole purpose of establishing a credit history with a credit union and as a back up if I get fed up with BofA and decide to close my oldest accounts.

Here is what I really appreciate about BECU.

Fee Schedule: "As a not-for-profit credit union we are committed to offering fewer-to-no fees."

https://www.becu.org/~/media/Files/PDF/9115.pdf

Fee schedule is less than 1 page long
No dormant account fee
No inactivity fee
Overdraft fee is only $25 and by default only towards electronic payments
Overdraft is by default turned off for debit card and you have to opt in
Otherwise this credit union has standard excessive transaction, research fees and wire transfer fees and that is it!

High Yield Check and Savings

Most credit unions offer high yield checking with a lot of strings, you have to do x amount of transaction, signatures, etc. BECU has flat 4% on Checking and 6% on savings which come out to be 5% on first $1,000. This is 2nd best rate to DECU in my opionion.

Mobile Banking

BECU mobile app shines with smooth auto log in. You click on the app and you are in your account. You can't say the same thing about PenFed, Lake Michigan, First Tech, Fort Knox, SDFCU, PSECU. Each of these apps is determined to throw at you a pop out window "for security reasons you have been logged out," which is completely useless and breaks automatic log in via facial recognition.

Fully functional Zelle

I have Bank of America and US Bank checking accounts. I have two personal emails and a phone number. I set up BECU with the phone number and the reminder with my two emails. I am able to instantly transfer funds between the 3 of them without any issues. Some credit unions like NFCU and First Tech also have Zelle support. But otherwise a lot of credit unions don't offer such support.

ACH Transfers

Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.

ATM Refunds

$6.00 ATM refund per month Alliant and Ally bank offer $15-20 per month. But some credit unions such as PenFed and First Tech don't offer such services.

BECU also refunds international ATMs. Same amount. To my knowledge this is the only credit union that does so.

No Foreign Transaction Fee:

This one is very unique. No foreign currency conversion fee and no foreign transaction fee. The fee assessed by the merchant gets refunded within 3 business days. This is on par with Charles Shwab. This maybe one of the very few institutions that does that. Chase Shapphire banking might be another one but you need 75 or 100k in their accounts. From what I read somewhere Fidelity Gold Debit card doesn't it as well but I'm not too familiar with them.

CO-OP Network

BECU is part of Co-Op network of branches. Neither PenFed or Alliant are part of such. This makes it easier to deposit cash.

Credit Cards

1.5% cash back not the best but not useless. And it is not a point system which value can change at any moment. There is also 8.4% low rate visa. Not the lowest APR out there but pretty good. Especially that my federal student loan is at 7.5%. PenFed has 2% cash back but you have to keep $500 in their account earning close to 0% interest or do DD. PSECU, requires DD to earn 2%. I think on SDFCU has flat out 2% cash back card without strings attached.

Fully Featured Bill Pay

Electronic delivery of payments. I know some credit unions will actually print out a check and mail it. BECU does everything electronically. When I was member of Alliant, I had issues with that. I am not sure if this has been updated. PenFed like BECU had electronic delivery of payments. First Tech as well. Lake Michigan actually took it one step closer and offered free direct deposit service.

Customer Service

I called multiple times about various issues. Never get an attitude and CSR is always very helpful.

LOC with no fees

Personal line of credit with fixed APR. No fees whatsoever for overdraft transfers. Really worry free checking.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Guyatthebeach — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 16:18:06 GMT

Green456,

I agree with you on BECU! They are an excellent credit union. I haven't had a negative experience with them yet, and doubt that I will ever have one. They have customer service that is better than NFCU in my opinion. When I joined, I had a challenge joining because I'm out of their Washington state footprint and wanted to verify my address. I sent the documents over twice and they still had an issue. They actually called me and we were able to rectify it over the phone. The whole time everyone I encountered was extremely nice and friendly.

I plan on using them for their rates on savings. I doubt I will ever get a credit card with them, because I have better cards elsewhere. I may use them for a mortgage. I have two friends that used them for mortgages and they had great rates and no issues.

Guyatthebeach

Re: BECU 1 year review

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 17:10:21 GMT

Nice rundown!

I liked BECU and wish their review process was a bit smoother. The $500/$500 split for 6% would have been perfect for me versus the $1K in savings only at DCU and I agree that their mobile app was quite nice (only NFCU's app is nicer among the CU apps I have seen) plus their loan repricing program is something that only they do and is something that really shows that they're there for their members.

DCU does have a free ACH transfer service by the way. You have to use their People Pay option and switch email/phone number to deposit to bank account. It says 1-3 days, I haven't gotten around to testing it yet to see how long it takes but I would imagine it would usually be 1 day.

Re: BECU 1 year review

AllZero — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 18:05:40 GMT

Thank you for the review.

Similar to BoA, BECU offers free TU 8 score.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:05:09 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
Nice rundown!

I liked BECU and wish their review process was a bit smoother. The $500/$500 split for 6% would have been perfect for me versus the $1K in savings only at DCU and I agree that their mobile app was quite nice (only NFCU's app is nicer among the CU apps I have seen) plus their loan repricing program is something that only they do and is something that really shows that they're there for their members.

DCU does have a free ACH transfer service by the way. You have to use their People Pay option and switch email/phone number to deposit to bank account. It says 1-3 days, I haven't gotten around to testing it yet to see how long it takes but I would imagine it would usually be 1 day.

Is it actually ACH service or something similar to Zelle?

Re: BECU 1 year review

Anonymous — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:36:00 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Nice rundown!

I liked BECU and wish their review process was a bit smoother. The $500/$500 split for 6% would have been perfect for me versus the $1K in savings only at DCU and I agree that their mobile app was quite nice (only NFCU's app is nicer among the CU apps I have seen) plus their loan repricing program is something that only they do and is something that really shows that they're there for their members.

DCU does have a free ACH transfer service by the way. You have to use their People Pay option and switch email/phone number to deposit to bank account. It says 1-3 days, I haven't gotten around to testing it yet to see how long it takes but I would imagine it would usually be 1 day.
Is it actually ACH service or something similar to Zelle?

It's actual ACH if you choose the deposit to bank account option.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:49:38 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
@Green456 wrote:
@Anonymous wrote:
Nice rundown!

I liked BECU and wish their review process was a bit smoother. The $500/$500 split for 6% would have been perfect for me versus the $1K in savings only at DCU and I agree that their mobile app was quite nice (only NFCU's app is nicer among the CU apps I have seen) plus their loan repricing program is something that only they do and is something that really shows that they're there for their members.

DCU does have a free ACH transfer service by the way. You have to use their People Pay option and switch email/phone number to deposit to bank account. It says 1-3 days, I haven't gotten around to testing it yet to see how long it takes but I would imagine it would usually be 1 day.
Is it actually ACH service or something similar to Zelle?
It's actual ACH if you choose the deposit to bank account option.

Good to know. I thought for some reason that DCU only allowed ACH pulls and not push. I should probably open DCU account in the future. Their 6.17% interest seems nice to have. I updated my review btw.

Re: BECU 1 year review

AllZero — Sat, 29 Feb 2020 22:56:57 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
Credit Cards
1.5% cash back not the best but not useless. And it is not a point system which value can change at any moment. There is also 8.4% low rate visa. Not the lowest APR out there but pretty good. Especially that my federal student loan is at 7.5%. PenFed has 2% cash back but you have to keep $500 in their account earning close to 0% interest or do DD. PSECU, requires DD to earn 2%. I think on SDFCU has flat out 2% cash back card without strings attached.

The Low Rate Visa is great if you want no rewards and low APR. It offers $0% intro APR for 12 months on purchases and BT. No BT fees. No cash advance fees. No FTF.

https://www.becu.org/everyday-banking/credit-card/visa

In addition, I was half way done with a BT and got an invitation for another BT.

Re: BECU 1 year review

toothgrind3r — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 00:18:42 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
ACH Transfers
Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.

Is that a default thing? Like, if I sent up a transfer at noon on Monday it'll be in my other account Tuesday morning no matter what, all the time? Or do I have to do anything special?

And does that count for push and pull? Assuming just pull?

(sorry that all sounds dumb, I don't know much about how ACH transfers work aside from assuming that it always takes about 3 days)

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 00:29:33 GMT

@toothgrind3r wrote:
@Green456 wrote:
ACH Transfers
Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.
Is that a default thing? Like, if I sent up a transfer at noon on Monday it'll be in my other account Tuesday morning no matter what, all the time? Or do I have to do anything special?
And does that count for push and pull? Assuming just pull?

(sorry that all sounds dumb, I don't know much about how ACH transfers work aside from assuming that it always takes about 3 days)

It is not default. By default BECU has 2 Buisness Days but right below there is an option for Next Buisness Day. So yes if you do a push or pull on Monday, the money will be there on Tuesday. Of course there is a cut off time for Monday. And yeah most banks take 3 buisness days and some even longer. So this is not a dumb question.

Re: BECU 1 year review

TheFIGuy — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 02:50:37 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
I have been with BECU for about 1 year now and I really like them. I don't have any credit products with them because they don't offer any SUB. Later this year I may consider obtaining a CC with them for the sole purpose of establishing a credit history with a credit union and as a back up if I get fed up with BofA and decide to close my oldest accounts.

Here is what I really appreciate about BECU.

Fee Schedule: "As a not-for-profit credit union we are committed to offering fewer-to-no fees."
https://www.becu.org/~/media/Files/PDF/9115.pdf
Fee schedule is less than 1 page long
No dormant account fee
No inactivity fee
Overdraft fee is only $25 and by default only towards electronic payments
Overdraft is by default turned off for debit card and you have to opt in
Otherwise this credit union has standard excessive transaction, research fees and wire transfer fees and that is it!

High Yield Check and Savings
Most credit unions offer high yield checking with a lot of strings, you have to do x amount of transaction, signatures, etc. BECU has flat 4% on Checking and 6% on savings which come out to be 5% on first $1,000. This is 2nd best rate to DECU in my opionion.

Mobile Banking
BECU mobile app shines with smooth auto log in. You click on the app and you are in your account. You can't say the same thing about PenFed, Lake Michigan, First Tech, Fort Knox, SDFCU, PSECU. Each of these apps is determined to throw at you a pop out window "for security reasons you have been logged out," which is completely useless and breaks automatic log in via facial recognition.

Fully functional Zelle
I have Bank of America and US Bank checking accounts. I have two personal emails and a phone number. I set up BECU with the phone number and the reminder with my two emails. I am able to instantly transfer funds between the 3 of them without any issues. Some credit unions like NFCU and First Tech also have Zelle support. But otherwise a lot of credit unions don't offer such support.

ACH Transfers
Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.

Credit Cards
1.5% cash back not the best but not useless. And it is not a point system which value can change at any moment. There is also 8.4% low rate visa. Not the lowest APR out there but pretty good. Especially that my federal student loan is at 7.5%. PenFed has 2% cash back but you have to keep $500 in their account earning close to 0% interest or do DD. PSECU, requires DD to earn 2%. I think on SDFCU has flat out 2% cash back card without strings attached.

Fully Featured Bill Pay
Electronic delivery of payments. I know some credit unions will actually print out a check and mail it. BECU does everything electronically. When I was member of Alliant, I had issues with that. I am not sure if this has been updated. PenFed like BECU had electronic delivery of payments. First Tech as well. Lake Michigan actually took it one step closer and offered free direct deposit service.

Customer Service
I called multiple times about various issues. Never get an attitude and CSR is always very helpful.

@Green456 Crazy it's been (1) Year already... I remember us talking about signing up like it was yesterday. The only reason I cannot get into this bank is the internal CC payments. Like at least give me the NFCU way of paying a specific amount from an external financial institution—(EFI). Not being able to pay directly from an EFI is pretty limited to my personality. If they could solve that, I would be more willing to jump aboard.

Also, they shut down the BECU Mix forums... Or I just cannot find it anymore.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 03:05:43 GMT

@TheFIGuy wrote:
@Green456 wrote:
I have been with BECU for about 1 year now and I really like them. I don't have any credit products with them because they don't offer any SUB. Later this year I may consider obtaining a CC with them for the sole purpose of establishing a credit history with a credit union and as a back up if I get fed up with BofA and decide to close my oldest accounts.

Here is what I really appreciate about BECU.

Fee Schedule: "As a not-for-profit credit union we are committed to offering fewer-to-no fees."
https://www.becu.org/~/media/Files/PDF/9115.pdf
Fee schedule is less than 1 page long
No dormant account fee
No inactivity fee
Overdraft fee is only $25 and by default only towards electronic payments
Overdraft is by default turned off for debit card and you have to opt in
Otherwise this credit union has standard excessive transaction, research fees and wire transfer fees and that is it!

High Yield Check and Savings
Most credit unions offer high yield checking with a lot of strings, you have to do x amount of transaction, signatures, etc. BECU has flat 4% on Checking and 6% on savings which come out to be 5% on first $1,000. This is 2nd best rate to DECU in my opionion.

Mobile Banking
BECU mobile app shines with smooth auto log in. You click on the app and you are in your account. You can't say the same thing about PenFed, Lake Michigan, First Tech, Fort Knox, SDFCU, PSECU. Each of these apps is determined to throw at you a pop out window "for security reasons you have been logged out," which is completely useless and breaks automatic log in via facial recognition.

Fully functional Zelle
I have Bank of America and US Bank checking accounts. I have two personal emails and a phone number. I set up BECU with the phone number and the reminder with my two emails. I am able to instantly transfer funds between the 3 of them without any issues. Some credit unions like NFCU and First Tech also have Zelle support. But otherwise a lot of credit unions don't offer such support.

ACH Transfers
Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.

Credit Cards
1.5% cash back not the best but not useless. And it is not a point system which value can change at any moment. There is also 8.4% low rate visa. Not the lowest APR out there but pretty good. Especially that my federal student loan is at 7.5%. PenFed has 2% cash back but you have to keep $500 in their account earning close to 0% interest or do DD. PSECU, requires DD to earn 2%. I think on SDFCU has flat out 2% cash back card without strings attached.

Fully Featured Bill Pay
Electronic delivery of payments. I know some credit unions will actually print out a check and mail it. BECU does everything electronically. When I was member of Alliant, I had issues with that. I am not sure if this has been updated. PenFed like BECU had electronic delivery of payments. First Tech as well. Lake Michigan actually took it one step closer and offered free direct deposit service.

Customer Service
I called multiple times about various issues. Never get an attitude and CSR is always very helpful.

@Green456 Crazy it's been (1) Year already... I remember us talking about signing up like it was yesterday. The only reason I cannot get into this bank is the internal CC payments. Like at least give me the NFCU way of paying a specific amount from an external financial institution—(EFI). Not being able to pay directly from an EFI is pretty limited to my personality. If they could solve that, I would be more willing to jump aboard.

Also, they shut down the BECU Mix forums... Or I just cannot find it anymore.

Yup it has been just about 1 year. You are right, BECU credit cards do not support ebills and you cannot pay from external bank. I found this to be true for a lot of credit unions unfortunetly. This is also why I don't use credit cards from credit unions as my main drivers.

Re: BECU 1 year review

blindambition — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 03:14:08 GMT

@Green456 wrote:
I have been with BECU for about 1 year now and I really like them. I don't have any credit products with them because they don't offer any SUB. Later this year I may consider obtaining a CC with them for the sole purpose of establishing a credit history with a credit union and as a back up if I get fed up with BofA and decide to close my oldest accounts.

Here is what I really appreciate about BECU.

Fee Schedule: "As a not-for-profit credit union we are committed to offering fewer-to-no fees."
https://www.becu.org/~/media/Files/PDF/9115.pdf
Fee schedule is less than 1 page long
No dormant account fee
No inactivity fee
Overdraft fee is only $25 and by default only towards electronic payments
Overdraft is by default turned off for debit card and you have to opt in
Otherwise this credit union has standard excessive transaction, research fees and wire transfer fees and that is it!

High Yield Check and Savings
Most credit unions offer high yield checking with a lot of strings, you have to do x amount of transaction, signatures, etc. BECU has flat 4% on Checking and 6% on savings which come out to be 5% on first $1,000. This is 2nd best rate to DECU in my opionion.

Mobile Banking
BECU mobile app shines with smooth auto log in. You click on the app and you are in your account. You can't say the same thing about PenFed, Lake Michigan, First Tech, Fort Knox, SDFCU, PSECU. Each of these apps is determined to throw at you a pop out window "for security reasons you have been logged out," which is completely useless and breaks automatic log in via facial recognition.

Fully functional Zelle
I have Bank of America and US Bank checking accounts. I have two personal emails and a phone number. I set up BECU with the phone number and the reminder with my two emails. I am able to instantly transfer funds between the 3 of them without any issues. Some credit unions like NFCU and First Tech also have Zelle support. But otherwise a lot of credit unions don't offer such support.

ACH Transfers
Next day transfer for free. I think only Alliant offers such service.

Credit Cards
1.5% cash back not the best but not useless. And it is not a point system which value can change at any moment. There is also 8.4% low rate visa. Not the lowest APR out there but pretty good. Especially that my federal student loan is at 7.5%. PenFed has 2% cash back but you have to keep $500 in their account earning close to 0% interest or do DD. PSECU, requires DD to earn 2%. I think on SDFCU has flat out 2% cash back card without strings attached.

Fully Featured Bill Pay
Electronic delivery of payments. I know some credit unions will actually print out a check and mail it. BECU does everything electronically. When I was member of Alliant, I had issues with that. I am not sure if this has been updated. PenFed like BECU had electronic delivery of payments. First Tech as well. Lake Michigan actually took it one step closer and offered free direct deposit service.

Customer Service
I called multiple times about various issues. Never get an attitude and CSR is always very helpful.

CU don't always offer SUB. One of the main benefits of a CU CC is low interest rate. Always nice to have in Arsenal. Your post makes them look tempting though.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 13:02:14 GMT

CU don't always offer SUB. One of the main benefits of a CU CC is low interest rate. Always nice to have in Arsenal. Your post makes them look tempting though.

Yeah I'm kind of split between the two cards. I don't have a single low APR card. So I should probably get that one next.

Re: BECU 1 year review

issac2x — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 16:29:15 GMT

Thanks for the review @Green456. I just wanted to add that even though Alliant and Penfed are not part of the Co-op branch network they are part of the Co-op ATM network so while you can't use a participating CUs branch you can use their ATMs for withdrawals and cash deposits.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Sun, 01 Mar 2020 17:35:47 GMT

@issac2x wrote:
Thanks for the review @Green456. I just wanted to add that even though Alliant and Penfed are not part of the Co-op branch network they are part of the Co-op ATM network so while you can't use a participating CUs branch you can use their ATMs for withdrawals and cash deposits.

Thanks. I updated the review.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Tue, 03 Mar 2020 20:50:03 GMT

Update:

I just messaged BECU. It looks like they also refund international ATMs, same amount $6 per month. I think this is the only credit union that does that. Ally and Alliant only refund ATMs in United States.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Green456 — Wed, 04 Mar 2020 16:40:24 GMT

Update 3/4/20:

Looks like foreign currency conversion fee and foreign transaction fees are also refunded within 3 business days.

This is very unique, I don't know of any credit union that does that. Chuck Schwab will do it as well.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Anonymous — Thu, 05 Mar 2020 06:46:48 GMT

This credit union has become my favorite banking institution.

My suggestion if you're concered about wasting a hard pull if they block your out of state app then join (its a soft pull) and wait 30 days before you app credit prodcuts.

Re: BECU 1 year review

Anonymous — Tue, 10 Mar 2020 09:48:06 GMT

I use BECU. They are one of the few places that have what is in my opinion a "proper" line of credit.

Namely, you can link the line of credit to your checking account. If you spend more than your checking balance it pulls in $100 increments from your line of credit and you avoid any overdraft (and no overdraft fee). You just pay interest for each day you had a balance on the LoC, and the interest rate is much lower than on typical credit cards (8.9% in my case).

This gives me a lot of peace of mind, knowing that even if I screw up my arithmetic the account will never bounce a check or fail to pay a credit card. I have all my credit cards set up to automatically pay full balance from that account, and I don't have to obsess over whether I've got enough money in the account to cover. I actually rarely use the line of credit, in the five years I've had the account I've drawn on it probably only a couple of times, and in every case quickly paid it down.

That also means that I can move most of my cash savings to a high interest savings account, that is a 2-3 day ACH transfer away from my checking account, but earning a much higher interest rate. I can move money from the high interest savings account to my checking account to cover a large bill, and if the large bill comes out before the ACH comes in, that's OK--it'll use the LoC for a day.