Alliant Credit Union is an online credit union with lenient membership requirements, high savings APYs, lending products and minimal account fees. If you’re seeking competitive rates and don’t mind limited branch access, this credit union might be right for you.
Best for: Those who prefer not-for-profit institutions and online banking.
Alliant is an online credit union, so you’ll have to be comfortable managing your accounts online, and you must become a member to access its products.
Fortunately, Alliant has more lenient membership requirements than the typical credit union, and there are no membership fees. You can become a member in the following ways:
Alliant is a credit union, and its deposit accounts are federally insured up to $250,000 through the NCUA. Compared to most credit unions, Alliant is much easier to join, as the typical credit union only opens membership to people who live, work or worship near its service area.
Alliant stands out for offering high APYs on its savings accounts and certificates of deposit (CDs). It’s likely able to offer high APYs because it’s an online institution with fewer overhead costs than traditional institutions that maintain physical branches. Also, as a nonprofit organization, Alliant can pass on even more savings to its members.
Alliant has significantly more pluses than minuses.
There isn’t much to gripe about with Alliant, but keep these downsides in mind.
There are two Alliant checking accounts, and one is for teenagers.
Alliant offers multiple savings account options, including specialty accounts, that offer optional ATM cards.
Alliant offers some of the best CDs in the current market, which it just calls “certificates.” There are multiple terms to choose from, as well as jumbo CDs with slightly higher rates. All terms feature no maximum deposit amount and significantly higher rates than national averages.
It also has a very low early withdrawal penalty of up to 90 days of earned interest, where your fee equals the number of days your CD is open up to the 90-day maximum.
Alliant’s regular CDs require a $1,000 minimum deposit, which is standard among other banks and credit unions. Its jumbo CDs require at least $75,000.
| Term | APY | Minimum deposit |
|---|---|---|
3-month | 3.1% | $1,000 |
3-month jumbo | 3.1% | $75,000 |
6-month | 4.1% | $1,000 |
6-month jumbo | 4.1% | $75,000 |
12-month | 4% | $1,000 |
12-month jumbo | 4.05% | $75,000 |
18-month | 3.8% | $1,000 |
18-month jumbo | 3.85% | $75,000 |
24-month | 3.7% | $1,000 |
24-month jumbo | 3.8% | $75,000 |
36-month | 3.65% | $1,000 |
36-month jumbo | 3.75% | $75,000 |
48-month | 3.65% | $1,000 |
48-month jumbo | 3.7% | $75,000 |
60-month | 3.65% | $1,000 |
60-month jumbo | 3.7% | $75,000 |
Alongside banking products, Alliant also has these products on deck:
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
How we picked theseThe Finder Score crunches over 300 checking accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's monthly fees, overdraft fees, opening deposit, customer support options, ATM network and features — this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of checking accounts against what we consider is the best option: no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, a large ATM network of 50,000 or more, additional features outside of typical banking services, and the optional perk of earning interest. Accounts that are nearly free to maintain and use are scored the highest, while accounts with costly fees and few features are scored the lowest.
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
How we picked theseThe Finder Score crunches over 250 savings accounts from hundreds of financial institutions. It takes into account the product's interest rate, fees, opening deposit and features - this gives you a simple score out of 10.
To provide a Score, Finder’s banking experts analyze hundreds of savings accounts against FDIC-reported national averages as a baseline. Accounts with rates well over the national average are scored the highest, while accounts with rates well below are scored low.
We currently don't have that product, but here are others to consider:
How we picked theseThe Finder Score analyzes hundreds of CDs from more than 100 institutions. It takes into account the product's interest rate for available terms and opening deposit requirements - this gives you a simple score out of 10.
Different banks and credit unions offer CDs for various lengths of time, ranging from as short as seven days to as long as 20 years. For our ratings, we consider the term lengths that the FDIC uses in its monthly updates on national rates.
If a bank or credit union doesn’t offer a CD for a specific term used by the FDIC, we don’t penalize it: Instead, we simply don’t rate it. Each of the standard term lengths has its own APY rating based on the FDIC’s average rates.
Alliant receives mixed customer feedback, but it’s sparse since it’s a mid-size online credit union. It has an A+ rating, is accredited with the Better Business Bureau (BBB) and has received fewer than 200 customer complaints in the last few years. For context, most banks and credit unions tend to have hundreds or even thousands of complaints.
On Trustpilot, there are fewer than 100 reviews. Most are negative, which isn’t surprising for a financial institution, and the complaints are fairly typical. Customers mention issues with mortgage transfers, loan applications, collections and deposit hold times. Happy customers note great lending rates and decent credit cards. A few specifically highlight the monthly ATM reimbursements for using out-of-network ATMs.
On Reddit, we get a fuller picture of customer feedback. Long-term customers report being with the credit union for years with few issues, praise the lack of monthly fees and high APYs and generally describe it as a place with clear and simple account offerings.
Featuring no monthly fees, see how Alliant Credit Union stacks up to other teen checking accounts.
A kid-centered savings account with ATM access for children under age 12, but parents must be a member.