Consumers Credit Union (IL) data points?

[heyryan]

I'm thinking of switching to CCU's high interest checking (https://www.myconsumers.org/personal/checking/free-rewards-checking.html) since 4.59% is a pretty sweet deal. In order to get that extra 1.5% though, you need to have one of their credit cards and spend $1000/mo on it. So, I'm soliciting feedback from anyone who uses them for checking, credit card, or both. For the credit card, how are they with SLs, new account sensitivity, etc?

I signed my parents up for the checking account over the holidays, and their customer service is extremely friendly and helpful, so that's alredy a bonus point for them!

[galahad15]

The 4.59% checking account APY is very nice, but in mho, there are too many hoops to jump through every month to get the best rate...too many monthly details to have to manage, for me to want to open a checking account with those kinds of requirements...

[heyryan]

---

@galahad15 wrote:

The 4.59% checking account APY is very nice, but in mho, there are too many hoops to jump through every month to get the best rate...too many monthly details to have to manage, for me to want to open a checking account with those kinds of requirements...

---

My dad said the same thing when I suggested it to him, but I broke it down like this:

1) DD or ACH: Easy - they switch their social security, I'd just change my payroll

2) E-statements: Easy - most places do them automatically now anyway

3) Access online banking once a month: Easy - both of us look a couple times a week anyway

4) 12 debit card purchases/mo: Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, and you're not losing much on the credit card side. Unlike some other high interest accounts I've seen w/ debit requirements, there's not a $$ minimum, just a transaction count. They actually have a nice section in online banking to track your status:

Overall, the extra couple hundred bucks a year is worth it for a little extra effort for me. More just curious how the CC experience will be....

[Anonymous]

I've been tempted too but haven't got round to it yet.   With "enough" on deposit, it's clearly worthwhile, the $1000 credit card spend only loses a smallish amount compared to a 2% card, and the debit requirement isn't huge.   Just not sure how much discipline it takes to make sure all is met every month (e.g. making sure the $1000 posts)

[Anonymous]

heyryan wrote:

12 debit card purchases per month:  Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, 

humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

This is more of a pain to do in practice than you realize. I've tried this a few times and decided it wasn't worth it. It sounds easier on paper than it is to do it over and over at the store, every month, for multiple times. Not worth all of the time you have to put in.

[Anonymous]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@heyryan wrote:

12 debit card purchases per month:  Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, 

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

This is more of a pain to do in practice than you realize. I've tried this a few times and decided it wasn't worth it. It sounds easier on paper than it is to do it over and over at the store, every month, for multiple times. Not worth all of the time you have to put in.

---

For some it may be worth it, for others not, depending on lots of factors.  If you have $20K in the account, the extra interest over a 1% account is about $700 a year.  People here chase a lot less....

[heyryan]

---

longtimelurker wrote

---

---

For some it may be worth it, for others not, depending on lots of factors.  If you have $20K in the account, the extra interest over a 1% account is about $700 a year.  People here chase a lot less....

---

Exactly

What I'm really looking for is experience people have w/ their CC product. The data points on here and creditpulls is a little limited/out of date.

[Revelate]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@heyryan wrote:

12 debit card purchases per month:  Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, 

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

This is more of a pain to do in practice than you realize. I've tried this a few times and decided it wasn't worth it. It sounds easier on paper than it is to do it over and over at the store, every month, for multiple times. Not worth all of the time you have to put in.

---

For some it may be worth it, for others not, depending on lots of factors.  If you have $20K in the account, the extra interest over a 1% account is about $700 a year.  People here chase a lot less....

---

Except with money shuffling being a thing on this forum, jumping through less hoops for more than $700 if you have $20k in cash assets laying around would seem to be the more optimal route.

[Anonymous]

---

@Revelate wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@heyryan wrote:

12 debit card purchases per month:  Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, 

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

This is more of a pain to do in practice than you realize. I've tried this a few times and decided it wasn't worth it. It sounds easier on paper than it is to do it over and over at the store, every month, for multiple times. Not worth all of the time you have to put in.

---

For some it may be worth it, for others not, depending on lots of factors.  If you have $20K in the account, the extra interest over a 1% account is about $700 a year.  People here chase a lot less....

---

Except with money shuffling being a thing on this forum, jumping through less hoops for more than $700 if you have $20k in cash assets laying around would seem to be the more optimal route.

---

Depends on risk tolerance.  4.5%+ risk free might be worth a small amount of work for some. 

[sillykitty1]

---

@Anonymous wrote:

@heyryan wrote:

12 debit card purchases per month:  Less easy. Both of us use rewards cards for everything, but here's the advice I gave him. Go through the self checkout at the grocery store. Break down the cart into 3 or 4 sections, and you have 1/4-1/3 of your requirement done in one trip, 

@humuhumunukunukuapua'a wrote:

This is more of a pain to do in practice than you realize. I've tried this a few times and decided it wasn't worth it. It sounds easier on paper than it is to do it over and over at the store, every month, for multiple times. Not worth all of the time you have to put in.

---

I agree with the highlighted.  At this point for me $700 annual isn't worth the 12 deit transactions per month.  Once Serve went away as an option for this, I stopped chasting that high APY.  

As far as expereince getting the cc, my expereince is 2 years old, but since this isn't a progressive CU, I doubt anything has changed.

My stats at the time:

AAOA: 6 yrs

EX: 736   TU: 764   EQ:?

Util: 6%

INQ: EX: 9   TU: 6   EQ:5

I asked them to match my highest CL at the time at $20K, and they did.

Here is a thread about a denial, and I have the details of my approval process in the thread.

http://ficoforums.myfico.com/t5/Credit-Card-Applications/Consumers-CU-denied-with-778-FICO/m-p/3745439#M28789