Patelco vs Alliant vs USAA

[creditninja9000]

Hi everyone,

I've tried changing banks a couple of times and I'm just not happy with my experiences. I getting rid of Chase and looking to join a Credit Union. I actually was wondering if anyone could give me any advice on which to choose, I'm also considering PenFed......

If anyone has cards with any of these CUs I was also looking to find out if and which of the VISA cards have the Extended Warranty benefits same for Amex in the case of USAA and PenFed. Thanks for any feedback.

[smallfry]

If you are military you might be better off all things considered with USAA. 

[creditninja9000]

Forgot to mention I am non-military. So USAA is at the bottom of the list but who knows one day they may change policies to include civilians for other products.

[smallfry]

Patelco has dropped down the list of favored credit unions the past year or so. 

[creditninja9000]

Yeah, I actually opened accounts with Alliant and Patelco already and generally service has already been subpar. Employees seem like they don't know what to do sometimes or how to handle a situation or customer. My Patelco account got put on hold until they verified my identity by having me fax (and fax or mail only) a copy of my ID. It took three calls to finally get someone to tell me this. With Alliant I had to call a few times to verifiy my account number for setting up my DD before the fourth rep I spoke to finally explained how I could find them on SkyBranch. I'm on the phone with PenFed now and the website failed to accept my application. The rep so far has been extremely pleasent, informative and confident in her role. We were able to complete the entire process over the phone instead of sending back to the site.

[creditninja9000]

I'm also wondering if anyone can tell me if any of the credit unions use electronic transfers for bill pay. So far USAA is the only one with 2 days....the others all day like 3-5 or 5-7 so I'm assuming they mail checks.

[creditninja9000]

Well so far Alliant looks like the winner. eDeposit Plus with Alliant to scan deposits is a big plus for me, I would be worried about delayed mail and reversing funds and accumulated fees. I also discovered that although they designated mailed checks when I added payees, these all converted to electronic payments when I sent a test payment to find out how long it would take them to be received and posted. And it looks like if you make the payment by 10pm, they post the next day! I'm pretty amazed so far. The only thing is I wish they would give me a Visa card, I would like to pay down my balances on my other recent cards and close them out and make Alliant the only place I bank, and keep my Chase account to supplement. I actually don't want to/plan to apply for credit for a few years after this now.They also get points for having a partnership for deposits and some bank branches, like US Bank (they've been great to me with the card I got the summer before I started college years ago).

If they won't do it though, I guess I will just have to do without them for credit.

So far Patelco has been an utter failure lol. I haven't received a single piece of mail from them or know my account number, or anything. I think Alliant is definitely a winner by comparison.

I also sent test payments from my PenFed account, we will see what happens with them. Does anyone have any input on their recent experiences with Alliant or PenFed? I just want to make sure I make the right decisions. I'm thinking about test PenFed out until about the 6 month mark when they remove all the restrictions.

[happy0510]

I have been a very happy Alliant customer since Aug 09.  I didn't qualify for their CC card at the time cause of a major baddie and only 1 cc showing.  The rep told me to build a little more history and I will be approved.  I opened 2 more CC's in Sept in order to show this history.  I will apply after I get my mortgage.

Also, I use Skybranch. LOVE IT!! I have edeposit as we have no DD here at my old fashioned job.  They give you instant credit for your check and all you do is mail it in.  Very nice!! 

[Anonymous]

mekmek86, just to add something here...

Alliant recently changed their cutoff time for transferring funds between institutions (bank to bank).  It's now Noon, CDT. 

What that means is that your funds move a bit faster.  In my case, I transferred some cash out of Alliant to another bank around 11:30 A.M. their time on Tuesday, and the funds were in the other bank on Wednesday morning.  I was amazed, it usually took at least 2 days before.

Nice to know, just in case...

[creditninja9000]

Thats great to know, I wish I had a way into NCFU my uncle and grandfather were in the military but I don't think either of them have/had memberships. Anyone else know a way in? Or what are your thoughts on NCFU too.