I believe I have found a suitable SSL alternative to Alliant. Security Service Federal Credit Union (SSFCU) offers an SSL that is compatible with the SSL Technique previously described. Membership at SSFCU is open to anyone living in Colorado, Texas, or Utah, as well as to the family of existing members. I'm a member, and I speak from first-hand experience using the SSL Technique with this credit union.
SSFCU's terms for SSLs are as follows:
$250 - $4,000: 36 months
$4,000 - $10,000: 60 months
$10,000 - $500,000: 120 months
The APR is 3% above the share dividend-earning rate.
When paying the loan online, you're given an option of how you want the payment to be applied. Click the first radio button that says, "Minimum amount due: $X.XX (Due on xx/xx/xxxx)." You'll need to make repeated payments of the minimum amount due. Every time you make such a payment, the due date for the next payment gets pushed back a month. It'll take you a few minutes to make all those small deposits, but it's worth it. I did more than a year's worth before coming back here to post about it.
One thing to note is that funds applied to the SSL do not get released immediately. Rather, they get released the following Monday, Wednesday, and Friday after the loan payment (excluding holidays).
SSFCU did not do a hard pull at any time in this process. They ran me through ChexSystem, but otherwise didn't pull to open my account, nor to create the SSL.
As an aside, they don't pull credit when applying for a secured credit card with them, either. They don't advertise this on their website, but members get their choice of three different secured credit cards, all with no annual fees. I went with the Power Cash Back World Mastercard (1.5% cashback, $100 bonus after spending $500 in 90 days). The min/max amount of their secured cards is $500-5,000.
Hope this helps.
