5% Utilities including Cable/Cell Phone/Internet - Vantage West

[morgacj2004]

Thanks I will wait and apply for the US Bank Card in April. Seems like that would be a much easier application proccess.

[dlister70]

Vantage West denied my application for a savings account again.  This time I'm sure I answered all the questions correctly, but it still said they were unable to verify my identity and would have to do it manually.  Even with all the supporting documents I uploaded, I was still denied.

I'm glad that US Bank will start doing utilities, although it doesn't look like cable/internet is included like VW does.  I still applied for a Cash + after I read that they'd start doing utilities, and the approval came through today right before the VW denial.  I have to wait for the card to come to see what the limit is, but I'm happy that I'll at least be able to put some of my utilities on a 5% card.

[Anonymous]

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wrote:

Vantage West denied my application for a savings account again.  This time I'm sure I answered all the questions correctly, but it still said they were unable to verify my identity and would have to do it manually.  Even with all the supporting documents I uploaded, I was still denied.

I'm glad that US Bank will start doing utilities, although it doesn't look like cable/internet is included like VW does.  I still applied for a Cash + after I read that they'd start doing utilities, and the approval came through today right before the VW denial.  I have to wait for the card to come to see what the limit is, but I'm happy that I'll at least be able to put some of my utilities on a 5% card.

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I’m curious, how long from application to approval?

[dlister70]

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wrote:

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wrote:

Vantage West denied my application for a savings account again.  This time I'm sure I answered all the questions correctly, but it still said they were unable to verify my identity and would have to do it manually.  Even with all the supporting documents I uploaded, I was still denied.

I'm glad that US Bank will start doing utilities, although it doesn't look like cable/internet is included like VW does.  I still applied for a Cash + after I read that they'd start doing utilities, and the approval came through today right before the VW denial.  I have to wait for the card to come to see what the limit is, but I'm happy that I'll at least be able to put some of my utilities on a 5% card.

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I’m curious, how long from application to approval?

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I applied on Monday night, checked the automated line Wednesday and it was still pending.  Checked again this afternoon (Thursday) and got the congratulations.  So 2.5 - 3 days from app to approval.

[minski]

Any further data points on no longer accepting out of state applications? 

[SouthJamaica]

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@DaveInAZwrote:

As a Vantage West customer who lives in AZ, I should alert MyFico'ers to one quirk about VW credit cards which is annoying to me. Their statement cycle is the last day of the month, a consolidated statement for banking accounts, credit cards, etc. But for credit cards they report to the CRAs on the 5th of the month, reporting whatever your balance is that day, not the balance on the end of the month statement.

A while back I thought I was being clever by having an insurance bill that charges on the 3rd of the month charged to my VW Visa card, that way I'd have nearly a month to pay it & have a $0 report. My Visa statement was $0 at the end of the month, insurance bill showed as pending on the 3rd, cleared on the 4th, and on the 5th VW reported that as my balance.

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I'm glad you said that, because I was really wondering if I was losing my mind or something. I too thought that the end of the month statement balance would be reported, instead was surprised to see balance from the 4th or 5th being reported.  Is it definitely always the 5th?

[Anonymous]

You actually do have to pick your category for each quarter, it doesn't automatically roll over from what I can tell. But you can pick all of your categories for the whole calendar year at any time, so I guess you only have to pick categories once a year. I'm leaving it open myself, if I had picked utilities all year I'd kinda be pissed now cuz it's coming up on the us bank cash+.
I became a VW member (I live in Texas) and opened the Connect Rewards card in December. I principally got it for utilities, but since US Bank is adding utilities to cash+ and chase ink covers tv/internet/cell, I'm actually gonna use Connect Rewards for charity at least one quarter and probably for amazon pretty frequently since I was denied the Amazon prime visa. From what I've seen this card is pretty much the best one for charitable donations, and I think it's best to donate when the charities are getting large matches like for every dollar you spend they get 10 extra from grants etc.

[TheBoondocks]

So I just tried to rerun my credit to get the card but they said they updated the guidelines for out of state, that they no longer accept applications. And I even donated to the bicycle, man it's really messed up how they did me, to those that got the card, you guys are very lucky. It's all good tho, not really tripping.

[DaveInAZ]

For those out of state who were luck enough to get the Vantage West Connect Rewards CC w/5% rewards on the category you chose, now that you're a member you might consider opening a VW Rewards Checking account for a $200 bonus:

https://vantagewest.org/getrewarded/?utm_source=promo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=checking&mkt_tok...

How to Qualify

Open a new Rewards Checking or Rewards Plus Checking account
Setup Direct Deposit on your account (minimum $500).
Have at least one debit transaction within 60 days.

- You want the Rewards Checking, not the Rewards Plus as either will get you the bonus, but for Rewards Checking you just need a $1k average daily balance to avoid a $5 monthly fee, for Rewards Plus you need a average daily balance of $3k to avoid a monthly fee.

- The "Direct Deposit" of $500 is a bit misleading. The disclosures (at the bottom of the page) says only "Direct deposit must be from source other than income tax return", so I asked a rep if an ACH deposit from an account at another bank would count and she said "yes".

- The debit can be anything, a debit card or just an external bank account pulling $X.xx from VW.

- The account has to remain open for at least 6 months or you forfeit the bonus.

I'm in their geographic area and have banked with VW since 12/2015 when they sent me a mailer with pre-approval for their "regular" Visa CC. I had their basic free checking and they emailed me this offer to upgrade it to Rewards Checking with the $200 bonus. I checked with  rep and was told if she just upgraded my checking there would be no SP on EX or HP on Chex. If you just opened a share savings account and open a new checking account you can expect a SP review on EX and an inquiry HP on Chex. If you have the basic free checking and want to upgrade PM me and I can give you the email of an excellent VW rep who will handle the for you.

I'm not big on having $1k sitting in a checking account earning no interest just to avoid a monthly fee. But when I thought about it, I have $1k sitting in my DCU savings earning 5% interest. But that's only $50/yr., the VW $200 bonus is worth 4 years of 5% interest on $1k.

I upgraded my free checking to Rewards checking in late March, did a $550 ACH deposit from my Chase checking, had a CC pull a payment from my new Rewards checking, and got my $200 bonus today.

[Anonymous]

Has anyone who live and work outside of Arizona tried to join this credit union recently?  I just joined the Greater Arizon Bicycle Association but the Vantage West rep still told me I do not qualify.  He said the GABA only expands eligibility to the entire state of AZ but not outside of AZ.