CU Options

[RootDet]

Hi All,

Looking to join another credit union to help round out my options. Right now I am too heavy in certain FI's and just feel like I should spread out a bit more. I am looking for a CU that would not be super conservative, as a side note I ben turned down recently by NASA (before covid) purely due to my available revolving credit.  Right now one thing I do not have is a true Chip + Pin

Some thoughts I had were:

First Tech - I do like the look of the credit card and the line could go up to 100k. Although I hear they are conservative and not like navy

AOD - A good 3% CB card with Low APR could be a nice fit. 

BECU

UNFCU 

Any thoughts? I tend to like building relationships and one item that has me interested is a CU with a future mortgage potential. 

[coldfusion]

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@RootDet wrote:

Hi All,

Looking to join another credit union to help round out my options. Right now I am too heavy in certain FI's and just feel like I should spread out a bit more. I am looking for a CU that would not be super conservative, as a side note I ben turned down recently by NASA (before covid) purely due to my available revolving credit.  Right now one thing I do not have is a true Chip + Pin

Some thoughts I had were:

First Tech - I do like the look of the credit card and the line could go up to 100k. Although I hear they are conservative and not like navy

AOD - A good 3% CB card with Low APR could be a nice fit. 

BECU

UNFCU 

Any thoughts? I tend to like building relationships and one item that has me interested is a CU with a future mortgage potential. 

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If you're looking for a true pin priority card then UNFCU should be on your short list.   I know that they offer mortages and mortgage preapprovals but I've never sniffed around that particular product line.   Their online banking site is a bit spartan and archaic but functional. 

They're a little bit of a unicorn when it comes to cards but you have enough cards with relatively high CL that odds of approval with them IMO are pretty high and my experience was that they aren't particularly inquiry-sensitive either.  Their Elite card has a mininum $15K SL.

First Tech is much like NASA in that they tend to reject applicants with existing large aggregate credit limits (more than about $250K).

[RootDet]

@coldfusion Thank you. I will cross First Tech off the list, even though I like the card design. 

[Anonymous]

I do like First Tech Fed.  They aren't my primary credit union, but are serving as a backup.  I got the Odyssey card a while ago as I had a job with travel that I could self pay and then reimburse, making that card a good deal.  Since a job change, I use it for dining and vacations.  It has a high limit.

They are local to me, and I do recall walking into a branch, funding a savings account and joining, then applying for the card, all in one trip and with success.

If my other two 2% cards (Citi DC, Fidelity) and category cards (Chase Freedom, Discover, Citi Dividend) nerf features, First Tech Fed's Rewards card would be my go to for those categories.

I'm hoping their cards soon become tappable as well as Chip+Pin, although Chip+Pin only functions overseas where that's primary, but quickly going secondary to tapping.

[blindambition]

AOD is a solid CU with excellent customer service. The true crown is the 3% Visa, but some competitive rates on products. Some specific products are said to be geofenced.

[UpperNwGuy]

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@Anonymous wrote:

I'm hoping their cards soon become tappable as well as Chip+Pin, although Chip+Pin only functions overseas where that's primary, but quickly going secondary to tapping.

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When you say the Chip+PIN only works overseas, are you saying that it can be bypassed on most US payment machines by hitting cancel?  That's what I've observed with my UNFCU card.  What good is the PIN if it can be bypassed?

How does tapping work overseas?  Do you still need to input your PIN, or is it just like the US where you tap and you're done?

[JNA1]

I am a member of NFCU, AOD, Grow, and my local CU - but my favorite CU so far is Alliant I like their app best and the ability to do pull payments/deposits directly from my bank checking account. They have some great rates on a lot of products, and are often ranked as one of the top CU’s in the country. The have a Signature Visa 2.5% card, but it has a $95 AF. They also have a flat 2% card that has no AF.

[RootDet]

Up to recently i was using alliant as a place to park cash due to the high APY. of course, now there is no good place to park cash.  Had the alliant card back in 2012, but I closed it and don't remember why.

[creditfan]

sdfcu you should be looking at too

true chip n pin and 2% for everything 

[notmyrealname23]

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@RootDet wrote:

Hi All,

Looking to join another credit union to help round out my options. Right now I am too heavy in certain FI's and just feel like I should spread out a bit more. I am looking for a CU that would not be super conservative, as a side note I ben turned down recently by NASA (before covid) purely due to my available revolving credit.  Right now one thing I do not have is a true Chip + Pin

Some thoughts I had were:

First Tech - I do like the look of the credit card and the line could go up to 100k. Although I hear they are conservative and not like navy

AOD - A good 3% CB card with Low APR could be a nice fit. 

BECU

UNFCU 

Any thoughts? I tend to like building relationships and one item that has me interested is a CU with a future mortgage potential. 

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My DP experience with FirstTech: I got secured cards with Discover and FirstTech at the same time in January 2019 as part of my credit rebuild post-Ch 13 ($500 lines). I've banked with FirstTech for 20+ years. Told they could look at me later.

Came back to my local branch in July, by which point I had unsecured lines with Capital One, Petal, Fidelity Visa to the tune of five digits total, with the first number being crooked, so a $500 credit limit is kind of "LOL, you're useless since a $100 charge will lower my credit score if it posts on a statement" at that point. Asked if they could unsecure the line as a long time customer (I don't have bounced checks, I've used them for two car loans, which got paid off in full way before the bankruptcy).

I was told "we won't unsecure you until your chapter 13 falls off in early 2021, we checked with the back office, that's our final answer."

"Great, you can cancel my secured card and give me my deposit earning 0.02% annual interest back."

Seriously, if I get treated better by Discover (who extended a $5k unsecured CL in early 2020, no existing relationship before that secured card a year earlier) than a credit union I've banked with for the majority of my adult life, why am I even bothering?