topic Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help in General Credit Topics

Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 15:43:57 GMT

I opened an Alliant Credit Union savings account last week and transfered $600. I was contacted by a represenative on Monday who wanted to help however she could. I explained my purpose: a $500 shared secured loan. She said she could help, but it could only be for 12 months. I said okay. She called back shortly and said there was a temporary hold on funds because the account was brand new. It would take three days. I said no problem.

This morning I noticed that the funds were available, so I applied for the loan online. I just prefer to do it that way rather than over the phone. Also, I found I was able to select a longer term, so I selected 48 months. Then I called the represenative to let her know, so that she didn't do any unnecessary work.

She said she could still work the loan. I assumed (perhaps wrongly?) that this meant that someone would have to review it on that end anyway, and it might as well be her. I said thanks, and asked her to contact me via email (as I'm often not in a place where I can talk about such things on my cell phone -- email is more convenient).

A short time later, I got an email from her showing terms for a loan, this time with a 12 month term, and asking me "if this looks good?" She says she'll send (I assume email) "the documents" after my response.

My questions:

1. Does Alliant limit $500 loans to 12 months terms?

2. When you apply for a loan online with Alliant, do you need to fill out an return additional documents? Or is she canceling that applicaiton and initiating a new one (perhaps so she gets credit for it)?

I don't fault her if she's just trying to be helpful, or even if she's hustling to get ahead. But I don't want to sacrifice my preference to do things online using automated means.

Thanks in advance for your help!

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 16:38:05 GMT

Send her this link from their site. You want the 48 month loan secured by savings account. The 12 month loan has no monthly payments and is due at the end. You are not the first person who has had to educate their staff:

https://www.alliantcreditunion.org/borrow/get-a-credit-union-personal-loan#compare

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 17:08:15 GMT

Thanks!

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 22:53:35 GMT

I love this:

"You are not the first person who has had to educate their staff."

That will apply to conversations you will have with customer service reps from many companies over the next 30 years. Get used to it now.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Wed, 27 Jan 2016 23:32:06 GMT

I know I have read of others on here who have gotten share secured loans for longer than 12 months. I believe I have seen 48 months. Maybe they require a larger minimum loan amount than $500? It seems strange.

I would not take 12 month share secured. You want one for the longest possible term and lowest possible amount. $500 for 48 months is ideal.

I believe State Dept FCU also offers these loans, as well as DCU and probably Nasa Fed and Penfed. All of these credit unions can be joined by anyone -- usually by joining some organization for 10 bucks. DCU does do a hard pull for membership, so be aware of that. The rest are soft pulls for membership. You do need to have a clear Chexsystems report.

Also most local credit unions offer these share secured loans. Are there any decent sized CU's in your area? Here in Seattle, BECU does them (I have one for four years).

The interest rate should be no more than 3% or so.

I may call Alliant tomorrow and try to understand why they are telling you something different than the website offers.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 00:53:09 GMT

I pulled the plug on the loan (I mentioned that in another thread, too). And at this point I feel good about not getting it. I don't have any pressing need for it, so I think I'm probably just as well off not messing around with (just to try to squeeze a few more points out of my FICO scores).

Thanks so much for your help, CH-7-Rebuilding!

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Thu, 28 Jan 2016 01:03:18 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
I know I have read of others on here who have gotten share secured loans for longer than 12 months. I believe I have seen 48 months. Maybe they require a larger minimum loan amount than $500? It seems strange.

I would not take 12 month share secured. You want one for the longest possible term and lowest possible amount. $500 for 48 months is ideal.

I believe State Dept FCU also offers these loans, as well as DCU and probably Nasa Fed and Penfed. All of these credit unions can be joined by anyone -- usually by joining some organization for 10 bucks. DCU does do a hard pull for membership, so be aware of that. The rest are soft pulls for membership. You do need to have a clear Chexsystems report.

Also most local credit unions offer these share secured loans. Are there any decent sized CU's in your area? Here in Seattle, BECU does them (I have one for four years).

The interest rate should be no more than 3% or so.

I may call Alliant tomorrow and try to understand why they are telling you something different than the website offers.

Cool! I didn't know that.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

JBjunior — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 07:08:13 GMT

Just in case anyone finds this thread, I just opened the loan and they gave me the option for anywhere up to 60 months. I went with 48 and $500. I applied for it online and I opened the accounted yesterday and got the loan today. I did have to sign some documents with it.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 15:37:57 GMT

@JBjunior wrote:
Just in case anyone finds this thread, I just opened the loan and they gave me the option for anywhere up to 60 months. I went with 48 and $500. I applied for it online and I opened the accounted yesterday and got the loan today. I did have to sign some documents with it.

I'm glad to hear this. I am thinking there was some kind of miscommunication between OP and Alliant.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 19:16:05 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
I'm glad to hear this. I am thinking there was some kind of miscommunication between OP and Alliant.

As the OP, I'm thinking the same thing! I tried to get her to understand what loan I was looking for. I sent her the link to their site that you gave me. I told her which loan in which column on the table on the site.

I suspect she got the wrong loan product plugged into her software and then couldn't make it do what I was asking her to do. So she kept insisting it couldn't be done. Oh well, probably just as well.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 20:09:31 GMT

When I saw JBjunior's reply, and his success with the same loan yesterday, I decided to contact Alliant. I'm not sure I'll proceed with the loan even if they I do offer it at this point. But I kind of wanted to get some clarification. Here's the message I sent via their contact form online:

On 1/27/2016, I applied online for a Savings Short Secured Loan for $500 with a 48-month term.

[Represenative's name] contacted me to see if I needed help with anything relating to my new Alliant membership, and I told her about the loan. She offered to "work it" for me. She got back to me a short time later via email, and asked me to confirm the terms. But she had changed the term length to 12 months, so I responded that I preferred 48 months. I emphasized that I wanted a "Savings Secured Short" loan. I also gave her a link to Alliant's webpage, and I pointed out where on the webpage this loan was offered for up to 48 months.

She responded that she checked with the underwriter, and 12 months was the most they would approve for $500.

I responded that since the loan and the terms I applied for weren't available, I had decided not to pursue the loan with Alliant.

Then this morning, I was told my another Alliant member that he had just yesterday received the exact loan I was looking for: $500 for 48 months.

If the loan isn't available or if I somehow don't qualify for those terms, that's okay. But I'm not convinced that's the case. Could you clarify the situation for me?

We'll see...

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Fri, 29 Jan 2016 21:35:26 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
When I saw JBjunior's reply, and his success with the same loan yesterday, I decided to contact Alliant. I'm not sure I'll proceed with the loan even if they I do offer it at this point. But I kind of wanted to get some clarification. Here's the message I sent via their contact form online:

On 1/27/2016, I applied online for a Savings Short Secured Loan for $500 with a 48-month term.

[Represenative's name] contacted me to see if I needed help with anything relating to my new Alliant membership, and I told her about the loan. She offered to "work it" for me. She got back to me a short time later via email, and asked me to confirm the terms. But she had changed the term length to 12 months, so I responded that I preferred 48 months. I emphasized that I wanted a "Savings Secured Short" loan. I also gave her a link to Alliant's webpage, and I pointed out where on the webpage this loan was offered for up to 48 months.

She responded that she checked with the underwriter, and 12 months was the most they would approve for $500.

I responded that since the loan and the terms I applied for weren't available, I had decided not to pursue the loan with Alliant.

Then this morning, I was told my another Alliant member that he had just yesterday received the exact loan I was looking for: $500 for 48 months.

If the loan isn't available or if I somehow don't qualify for those terms, that's okay. But I'm not convinced that's the case. Could you clarify the situation for me?

We'll see...

Please be sure to report back! I am helping a good friend start his chapter 7 rebuild and this is part of my plan for him!

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 19:26:25 GMT

I got a message back this morning asking me to call. And then before I got around to it, they called me. It was a very pleasant conversation (although it might not have been as pleasant if I'd have been more concerned about getting this loan).

She aknowledged that there are inconsistencies in what different Alliant loan officers will approve. She apologized for the confusion, but she never offered to make the loan with those terms ($500 for 48 months), and I didn't press her to do so.

I suspect that they'd just as soon not make these loans. And if you get a loan officer involved too early (as happened to me), you might run into trouble. But if you use the automated online application, by the time someone actually looks at it, it's probably easier for them to just let it happen than to fight with the member over it.

When the first representative called me, she didn't know about the loan yet (actually, I hadn't even applied yet at that point). She was just making a courtesy call to a new member. I told her about my loan plans, and she got involved. If your friend gets a call like that, CH-7, I would recommend not saying anything about the loan, I proceeding online as far as that will take him. At least that's what I would do if I had it to do over again.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 21:17:34 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I got a message back this morning asking me to call. And then before I got around to it, they called me. It was a very pleasant conversation (although it might not have been as pleasant if I'd have been more concerned about getting this loan).

She aknowledged that there are inconsistencies in what different Alliant loan officers will approve. She apologized for the confusion, but she never offered to make the loan with those terms ($500 for 48 months), and I didn't press her to do so.

I suspect that they'd just as soon not make these loans. And if you get a loan officer involved too early (as happened to me), you might run into trouble. But if you use the automated online application, by the time someone actually looks at it, it's probably easier for them to just let it happen than to fight with the member over it.

When the first representative called me, she didn't know about the loan yet (actually, I hadn't even applied yet at that point). She was just making a courtesy call to a new member. I told her about my loan plans, and she got involved. If your friend gets a call like that, CH-7, I would recommend not saying anything about the loan, I proceeding online as far as that will take him. At least that's what I would do if I had it to do over again.

Plip has made a real interesting contribution to this thread, as he has been doing a lot lately. The truth is that a $500 five-year Share Secure loan may not be a product that really benefits Alliant much -- especially when one adds the "pay off most of the principal off" touch to it.

Although the approach suggested so often here (Alliant, $500 SS loan, five years, pay it down early) is 100% legal and 100% within what the bank explicitly offers, there's also a sense it is also what the DoC blogger describes as: "skirting financial institutions rules to maximize our profit."

Here is a wise recent article from DoC about this subject entitled "Don't Call The Bank." He's not writing about loans, but the big idea is the same.

http://www.doctorofcredit.com/dont-call-the-bank/

PS. In the world of tournament bridge (the card game) there's a parallel idea. At any time in the auction, you or your partner have the right to halt the auction and ask the other partnership to explain what their bidding means. But, if you think they might be unaware of what their bidding really means, "giving them a call" just alerts them to their own confusion. It may be better to say nothing - and allow their ignorance to benefit you.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

CH-7-Mission-Accomplished — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 22:31:38 GMT

Did they do an HP for the loan? I'm a member and can't remember if they did an HP for membership even. I would be very unhappy if they did an HP and then did not honor their advertised program.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 22:31:53 GMT

Thanks, CreditGuyInDixie. I'm glad I learned something from my naive blundering that I was able to pass along.

The woman I spoke with implied very strongly that if I just increased the amount it wouldn't be a problem. In fact, when I explained in general terms what my goals were, she suggested that larger payments would probably do more to achieve that. That's logical, but based on what I've read here, probably not the case. And we didn't discuss what that higher amount might be to get a 48 month term.

If anyone else tries this and runs into this problem, one option would be to try a larger amount. That, of course, requires that you have a larger amount to use, but you only need it during the application process. Once you get the loan, you have equivalent amount of money back in your pocket.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Mon, 01 Feb 2016 22:36:48 GMT

@CH-7-Mission-Accomplished wrote:
Did they do an HP for the loan? I'm a member and can't remember if they did an HP for membership even. I would be very unhappy if they did an HP and then did not honor their advertised program.

No, that's one thing I was very clear about with the first woman I spoke with. And she assured me that they didn't do HP for secured loans. Also, I'm not sure we even got to the point where she would have pulled credit because we were still discussing the term. And if they did do a HP, I think I'd have gotten the alert by now.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 01:24:51 GMT

I've been reading all these secured loan threads for some time now, and go back and forth as to whether it's worth it to pursue one.

Six months ago, I didn't even know such loans existed. When I first read about them, they struck me as nothing more than Fico tricks. They would seem to be more trouble than they are worth to the financial institution. I suppose they are offered mostly to attract customers with the hope of future, more lucrative business.

I'm a member of Alliant, and would like for them to see me as a valuable customer -not a nuisance. I think this way in all my business interactions. I also put a lot of thought into how things will look, on paper, to an actual underwriter. Would they look at it as someone gaming the system, or someone who is really concerned about their scores and looking to do the right thing? Maybe they wouldn't care either way. I sure don't know, so I'll read on for now.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

jamie123 — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 02:29:07 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
I've been reading all these secured loan threads for some time now, and go back and forth as to whether it's worth it to pursue one.

Six months ago, I didn't even know such loans existed. When I first read about them, they struck me as nothing more than Fico tricks. They would seem to be more trouble than they are worth to the financial institution. I suppose they are offered mostly to attract customers with the hope of future, more lucrative business.

I'm a member of Alliant, and would like for them to see me as a valuable customer -not a nuisance. I think this way in all my business interactions. I also put a lot of thought into how things will look, on paper, to an actual underwriter. Would they look at it as someone gaming the system, or someone who is really concerned about their scores and looking to do the right thing? Maybe they wouldn't care either way. I sure don't know, so I'll read on for now.

We are not gaming the system. We are playing by the rules with these installment loans. Just think of how many gotcha rules that FICO has built into the system that screws most consumers. A good one that comes to mind is that it is a MUST to have 1 card report a small balance and all the others $0. If you weren't a member on this forum you would be completely oblivious to this and would naturally believe that paying all your cards to $0 would get you the highest scores. The difference for me between one card reporting a small balance and all cards reporting $0 is 18 points. That point difference could easily kick me into a higher interest rate loan, and you know what? No lender ever educated me on that fact.

If you don't have an open installment loan on your reports, this $500 share secured loan can raise your score somewhere in the neighborhood of 10 to 30 points. It also gives you installment loan history which is sometimes a qualification to get the lowest interest rates on a loan.

Re: Alliant Credit Union Loan Help

Anonymous — Tue, 02 Feb 2016 04:36:10 GMT

If I thought for sure I'd get 20 points out of it, I'd give it a go, even i I could only get it for a shorter term- I don't have many other options to increase my mediocre scores given how recent all my accounts are. But there's no way to know in an individual case. Fico is set up to be puposely byzantine, unfortuantely for us.