Checking at LMCU or Consumers CU (IL)

minski · ‎11-29-2017

Lately, I've been thinking that I want to earn more than 0.68% interest on the cash I hold in my checking account with Alliant (and 1.30% APY on savings account with GS) and that perhaps jumping through hoops might even be doable (buy coffee at work and Amazon gift card route). I'm looking at LMCU vs Consumers CU, and would like input from others who have been faced with a similar decision. How did you decide on LMCU vs Consumers? What made you decide on one vs the other?

LMCU - 3% on up to $15,000

Requirements: 1) Direct deposit 2) Minimum 10 debit card purchases per month 3) Minimum 4 log ins to home banking per month 4) e-statements

Consumers CU (IL) - 3.09% APY on up to $10,000; 3.59% to $15,000; 4.59% to $20,000

Requirements: 1) One direct deposit OR one ACH debit OR pay one bill via bill pay 2) Minimum 12 debit card purchases per month without PIN use 3) One log in to online banking per month 4) eDocuments; $500 spend in credit union credit card purchases for 3.59%; $1000 spend for 4.59%

I was leaning toward LMCU because of the higher balance I can earn 3% interest on and 2 less debit card purchase requirements, but feeling a bit doubtful I'd remember to log in a minimum of 4 times a month to the online banking. Query - does it have to be full direct deposit or can it be an ACH transfer from another account? Do the debit card purchases need to go through as credit? Be PIN-less?

On the other hand, maybe in the future I might be willing to get a credit union visa in the future and try to meet the spend to earn higher interest rate on a higher balance. However, when I consider my current level of spending, I think that I could earn more with my current crop of credit cards as my spend is mostly category (5% cash back on gas and eating out). I do like the fact that they only require one login per month but don't like the fact that minimum debit card purchases is 12.

It may likely became my main hub for paying bills and such. I'd keep the maximum that will earn the higher interest and then transfer the excess over to another location. I was also thinking that perhaps I might eventually do both of them. But I also don't want to have multiple bank accounts; I already have Fidelity CM, Alliant Checking/Savings, PenFed Savings, NavyFed Checking/Savings, DCU Savings, BoA Savings, and GS Savings, and have plans on opening Chase Checking/Savings for the banking bonus some time next year once I am able to meet the requirements. I hope to be able to substitute direct deposit with ACH transfer, maybe.

Anonymous · ‎11-29-2017

I have been banking with Consumers Cu IL since april 2017 and i have been very happy with their service so far. I have been earning good interest on my money in rewards checking account with them . From time to time they send great offers for their visa credit cards that works very well with earning 4.59% interest on the rewards checking. This month they sent me 35$ promotion for spending 1000$ using their visa signatute cash rebate. It helped me also meet the 1000$ spend requirement for getting 4.59% apy on my rewards checking.

They gave me cash rebate card @ 12.99% , 6500 SL and an auto loan refinance of 14600 @ 2.49. Just 2 months after being a member.

Very happy with the CU. When you apply you may have to give them a follow up call to finish verification process and get your app approved for membership.

heyryan · ‎11-30-2017

@Anonymous wrote:
I have been banking with Consumers Cu IL since april 2017 and i have been very happy with their service so far. I have been earning good interest on my money in rewards checking account with them . From time to time they send great offers for their visa credit cards that works very well with earning 4.59% interest on the rewards checking. This month they sent me 35$ promotion for spending 1000$ using their visa signatute cash rebate. It helped me also meet the 1000$ spend requirement for getting 4.59% apy on my rewards checking.
@They gave me cash rebate card @ 12.99% , 6500 SL and an auto loan refinance of 14600 @ 2.49. Just 2 months after being a member.

Very happy with the CU. When you apply you may have to give them a follow up call to finish verification process and get your app approved for membership.

I'll second the "very happy" with Consumers sentiment. I've had no issues with the interest being paid, my cash rebate on the card, etc. Also, a couple months ago they did a round of unsolicited CLIs that doubled a lot of people's cards, which was a pleasant surprise. As DeepKC mentioned, I also got the spend bonus on my credit card (mine was $25 for $1000), so they do have some nice offers throughout the year. The other thing that seems to set CCU apart from LMCU is if you read through old threads, LMCU sounds much more conservative and difficult to deal with than CCU. I don't have any personal experience with LMCU, but I was steered away from them and towards CCU because of threads on here and other discussion boards.

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Anonymous · ‎11-30-2017

heyryan, Even though the promo is for 25$ for spending 1000 , i confirmed with them that it will be on top of the 1,2 ,3% rewards . So on a general category it will be 25 +1% =35$ for 1000$ and if you use it for grocery or restaurants it will be more!.

Congrats on your awesome CLI increases.

Btw OP, you can load amazon gc by running cu debit card as credit and meet the 12 debit transactions.

minski · ‎12-01-2017

Thank you both for your input.

By conservative, do you mean credit wise? Or are they hard to get even a checking account with? I don't care about credit cards with these two credit unions or ease of CLI (I don't chase after CLI). I have more than enough, and mostly have category spend covered by US Bank Cash+ (dining out, cell phone, and Amazon) and PenFed Cash Rewards (gas). The issue with CCU is the $500/$1000 spend per month on their credit card for a higher APY for a higher balance. I don't have groceries spend and gas will go to my PenFed card for 5% cash back. I have very little general spend expenses and will struggle to meet the $500/$1000 organically unless I pull from one of my 5% cash back categories which will just earn 1% cash back on the CCU cash back card.

As such I am leaning toward LMCU. The 3% APY up to $15,000 would work for me. They require just slightly less debit card transactions. I'll have to work to remember to log on 4 times a month, though. I do have concerns about transfers - don't they have a problem with transferring money out? Having to arrange pulls from my other accounts will be annoying but I'll deal with it.

Unless anyone has heard of Signature FCU? I've tried a search but nothing pulls up for me although I seem to recall a topic or two about this credit union. The search only finds signature, fcu, signature visa, etc... Signature FCU is a SP compared to LMCU and CCU HP so that's a draw, and is 3% APY up to $15,000 as well.

heyryan · ‎12-02-2017

@minski wrote:

Unless anyone has heard of Signature FCU? I've tried a search but nothing pulls up for me although I seem to recall a topic or two about this credit union. The search only finds signature, fcu, signature visa, etc... Signature FCU is a SP compared to LMCU and CCU HP so that's a draw, and is 3% APY up to $15,000 as well.

I also have an account with Signature FCU. I use them as my daily/bill pay account, and then I use CCU more as a savings account. Couple of things to note with Signature:

They're a much smaller CU, and DoC recently did a post on them, so I think they got a little inundated with applications. I don't think they're going the route of Langley or OCCU, but just be aware you might get some extra scrutiny if you join them. I had a rather interesting interaction with them after I opened the account, but overall they seem nice to deal with.
They're somewhat Chex inquiry sensitive, so if you have opened many bank accounts this year, I'd wait 3-6 months w/o any more before applying to SFCU.
I don't know about LMCU, but one thing I like with CCU is that they also rebate ATM fees. I don't use them often, but when I do, it's nice that I have the option SFCU doesn't give you that if you choose the high interest rate.
The SP over a HP was a great selling point as well! If you ever do want credit products from them, they use EQ Beacon score, and I think they said 730 would get the best rates.

That's really all I can think of! Good luck in your choice Let us know who you decide to go with!

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minski · ‎12-02-2017

Thank you!

I am aware that Signature might be swamped as I learned about their 3% APY Checking from the same DoC article. Hopefully there won't be too great a scrutiny. I don't like having to talk over phones especially since I work night shift and sleep during the day most of the time.

I sent an application in to Signature early this morning. I may consider LMCU and CCU at a later date.

Does Signature have restrictions on transferring cash in and out? Which one is the Beacon score? I may consider a personal loan some years down the line, and if grad schools are eligible for their student loans I may look into those as well.

heyryan · ‎12-04-2017

@minski wrote:
Thank you!

I am aware that Signature might be swamped as I learned about their 3% APY Checking from the same DoC article. Hopefully there won't be too great a scrutiny. I don't like having to talk over phones especially since I work night shift and sleep during the day most of the time.

I sent an application in to Signature early this morning. I may consider LMCU and CCU at a later date.

Does Signature have restrictions on transferring cash in and out? Which one is the Beacon score? I may consider a personal loan some years down the line, and if grad schools are eligible for their student loans I may look into those as well.

You can't do ACH transfers on their side (they call them FI to FI), mobile deposit, or shared branching for 30 days. I just called them to get them enabled, but I applied for my account on 11/2, but it wasn't opened until 11/6, so I have to wait a couple more days.

The Beacon score is also called EQ05 I think. (I think if you buy the MyFico EQ report, they list it as a mortgage score) It's the same model DCU gives you every month. It must weigh things like new accounts very differently from the 08 & 09 scores - my Beacon score is 726 and my 08 is 795.

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minski · ‎12-12-2017

@heyryan:

By odd interaction, do you mean their verification call? Exactly one week since I submitted the requested documents and they called me less than half an hour ago requesting verification. It was a couple questions extremely specific to my work. Like, what??!! Do they actually call your workplace to verify that you work there or do they somehow verify through other methods? I am a bit unsettled by the thought of either. In any case, they said they've approved me. Was very pleasant, otherwise.

minski · ‎12-15-2017

So, not terribly impressed with the online banking thing so far.

Last night I tried to enroll in online banking. This required creating a username. I followed the rules for setting a username PRECISELY but I kept getting an error that told me to follow the username rules. Tonight, it let me set the username BUT gave me a temp password which I did not have the foresight to jot down. I thought I saw mention of being sent the password to my email. In any case, I am required to change the password so I tried that. The PASSWORD failed because apparently it didn't like having more than one (or is it two?) letters/digits in the password. So now I can't change the password because I haven't an idea of what the temp password was and the email still hasn't been received. It looks like my alternative is to call in. I HATE phone calls.

At this point I am just like **bleep**.