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.
Pros
High savings APYs
No membership fees
Lenient membership requirements
Various deposit and lending products
Cons
No physical branches
No business accounts
Is Alliant right for you?
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:
Be a current or retired employee of one of Alliant’s partners.
Be an immediate family member of a current Alliant member.
Live or work in one of the communities near the Alliant headquarters in Chicago.
Join the Alliant Credit Union Foundation, where Alliant will make a one-time $5 donation on your behalf.
How Alliant stacks up
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.
Where it shines
Alliant has significantly more pluses than minuses.
Optional ATM cards. Savings accounts don’t come with debit cards, but they sometimes offer ATM cards. Alliant’s savings accounts offer an optional ATM card for accessing your cash via ATM.
Kids banking. Specialty accounts aren’t super common, but Alliant stands out for its unique offerings, such as the Alliant Kids Savings account and teen checking.
No membership fees. You don’t have to pay membership fees when you become a member.
Few fees. Most of Alliant’s accounts have no monthly fees, and if they do, there are often ways to waive them.
Various lending options. Alliant offers auto loans, personal loans, mortgages, credit cards, RV loans and more.
Large ATM network. Alliant’s ATM network is over 80,000, offering fee-free transactions. You can also locate ATMs in the Alliant app.
ATM reimbursements. Along with its extensive no-fee ATM network, the Alliant checking accounts offer up to $20 in monthly out-of-network ATM reimbursements.
Investing. Alliant offers multiple IRA types, trust accounts and retirement and investment services.
Where it falls short
There isn’t much to gripe about with Alliant, but keep these downsides in mind.
No physical branches. If you prefer in-person banking, Alliant doesn’t have any brick-and-mortar branches.
Longer setup. Since Alliant is a credit union, you must become a member, which is an extra step compared to a regular bank.
Alliant’s checking accounts
There are two Alliant checking accounts, and one is for teenagers.
Alliant High-Rate Checking. An interest-bearing checking account with no monthly fees, no overdraft fees, no balance requirements, up to $20 in monthly out-of-network ATM reimbursements and the ability to earn up to 0.25% APY on your balance. To earn interest, you need to enroll in e-statements and set up at least one monthly electronic deposit, such as payroll or mobile check deposit.
Teen Checking. Very similar to the High-Rate Checking account, this interest-bearing account is designed for ages 13 to 17 and offers the same features and perks. To open the account, the teen’s parent or guardian must be an Alliant member and a joint owner of the account. Like the High-Rate Checking, it can earn 0.25% APY if you opt into e-statements and set up a monthly electronic deposit. Parents have full access to the account and can set up transaction alerts.
Alliant savings accounts
Alliant offers multiple savings account options, including specialty accounts, that offer optional ATM cards.
Alliant savings account. Offering up to 3.1% APY and no monthly fee if you opt into e-statements. There’s a small $5 minimum balance requirement to keep the account open, and you need a $100 minimum balance to earn APY.
Supplemental Savings Account. Offering the same 3.1% APY as its regular savings account, the Supplemental account allows you to nickname it based on what you’re saving for, and you can open up to 19 separate accounts. You can also waive the monthly fee with e-statements, there’s a minimum balance requirement of $5 and you need a balance of $100 to earn APY.
Alliant Kids Savings Account. It won a Finder Award for its high 3.1% APY, easy waivable $1 monthly fee and wide age acceptance.
Alliant Credit Union CDs
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
Other Alliant products and services
Alongside banking products, Alliant also has these products on deck:
IRAs. Alliant offers traditional IRAs, Roth IRAs and SEP IRAs.
Investment services. Alliant offers investment services through LPL Financial and affiliates.
Trust accounts. Designed to save money for your family and avoid probate and estate taxes, these accounts have no maximum limit and are available with Alliant’s savings account offerings.
Credit cards. Alliant offers the Visa Signature Cashback Card and the Visa Platinum Credit Card, both with no annual fees.
Home loans. Apply for a mortgage or home equity line of credit online.
Vehicle loans. Alliant has auto loans, a car-buying service, RV loans and even specialty Tesla loans.
Personal loans. Alliant’s personal loans are solid, with amounts ranging from $1,000 to $100,000, terms of up to 5 years, no prepayment penalties and no collateral required.
The 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.
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What is the Finder Score?
The 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.
The 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.
Bethany Hickey is the banking editor and personal finance expert at Finder, specializing in banking, lending, insurance, and crypto.
Bethany’s expertise in personal finance has garnered recognition from esteemed media outlets, such as Nasdaq, MSN, Yahoo Finance, GOBankingRates, SuperMoney, AOL and Newsweek. Her articles offer practical financial strategies to Americans, empowering them to make decisions that meet their financial goals. Her past work includes articles on generational spending and saving habits, lending, budgeting and managing debt.
Before joining Finder, she was a content manager where she wrote hundreds of articles and news pieces on auto financing and credit repair for CarsDirect, Auto Credit Express and The Car Connection, among others.
Bethany holds a BA in English from the University of Michigan-Flint, and was poetry editor for the university’s Qua Literary and Fine Arts Magazine. See full bio
Bethany's expertise
Bethany has written 446 Finder guides across topics including:
A kid-centered savings account with ATM access for children under age 12, but parents must be a member.
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