@CCrew wrote:I'm not sure the 6 month rule is set in stone, or whether they have other things in play.
DP: had a car loan with them and 2x savings accounts, one personal and one joint. Car loan paid off a year ago, other accounts near 5 years old. Recently got one of their CC's and did an ACH over from an already linked account to the PenFed joint savings coming from another bank that was historically used to pay the car loan. Figured I'd throw them some business. So basically nothing but moving money from/to accounts roughly 5 years old.
Darned if they didn't hold updating the balance for 5 days after the ACH completed.
It's 6 months for brand new members to the CU, not if you get like a new credit card account with them.
@CCrew wrote:
@OmarGB9 wrote:It's 6 months for brand new members to the CU, not if you get like a new credit card account with them.
Well, like I said. They did a 5 day hold on a transfer on a 5yo account, so it's not just 6 months. I ACH money around often; that's a huge outlier.
Was it a large sum of money being transferred?
@Absolution16 wrote:I am just in the process of joining their membership, and I was thinking about putting up the minimum $5 in savings and $25 for free checking, let them sit there for 6 months, AND THEN, possibly use them as main bank.
I have been with Ally Bank for about 10 years now. No complaints so far. The only thing that I am missing out by using Ally is the ability to deposit cash. That won't change with PenFed either, but it seemed, after digging through their articles and terms/conditions, once the 6-month probationary period is over, I would get more forms of incoming funds available the same day, as well as the benefit for 2% general cashback card with no AF/FTF.
Ally makes the first $300 available the next business day after online check deposit, whereas PenFed seems to initially make only $225 available, but on the day of the deposit. The rest becomes available on the 3rd day, same for both. But then, if I didn't misinterpret, after the 6 months, PenFed seems to make regular check deposit amount available the same day upto $3,000. Correct me if I am wrong.
But as @CCrew pointed out, if PenFed is putting a hold for a member like him that's been with them for 5 years, then I really don't know why I even need to bother with an institution that seems so hostile and unfriendly, considering they are a credit union. I thought CUs were supposed to be friendlier and easier to do business, small or big, with their members.
Just wanted to clarify: for the 2% you mentioned, while the free checking account *does* qualify for the 2%, note that you must first establish "honors advantage status" by maintaining either a minimum of $500 monthly in the free account OR have monthly recurring direct deposits of at least $500. @Absolution16
@CCrew I think your DP is indeed a huge outlier. Don't think I've heard of that happening to anyone else with a well-seasoned membership.
You may use the bill pay services from the other banks to pay for your PenFed CC and it definitely works faster 
.
Some large banks might have also similar or even worse internal rules. If someone opens a new checking account in WF, clarification of each check deposit may take ~2-3 weeks, I guess in the first year. I did the check mobile deposit once and after seeing this very long delay, I decided to work with the other banks and close my WF checking. ~2-3 weeks of wait time is a way long beyond any kinds of clarification, not sure what they want to clarify and it cannot get bypassed, since I checked it over the phone with two levels of supervisors.
Fico8: EX~EQ~TU~810 (12 month goal~840).