Alliant Credit Union

Been with them for 10 years now and must say, they are the best bank. They don’t charge monthly service fees if you opt for estatements, you can use any ATMs free of charge at any 7 – 11 locations and their customer service is always great whenever I call in about my accounts. I love that my mobile check deposits are available immediately for use, rather than waiting a couple days (like with Chase). Their savings account are awesome too, paying higher interest to you than most other banks. Go to their website for exact APY rates.
They’ve only a handful of locations, unfortunately, but their mobile app is so on point that I seldom need to seek an actual location. Maybe for car or home loan, something major like that.
As for this particular LA location, it’s not consistently friendly, I don’t know why. The building security is friendlier than the bank employees! They’re kinda sleepy and jaded. Some visits are better than others but they get the job done. Free parking in the garage and an ATM machine located there also.

when green goes mean. Alliant recently sent a letter to my 92 year old mother who has a substantial deposit with them. the letter indicated that unless she went the estatement route she would be charged $ 1 per month for a paper statement. ok, not terrible, except they REQUIRE that the estatement selection be done online ONLY. she called them as she did not have an online account — THEY WOULD NOT ACCEPT HER SELECTION OVER THE PHONE. She tried to set up an online account — again a 92 year old woman in failing health — and i intervened only after her stress level hit 10. I called and got the same answer — only on line otherwise a $ 12 a year charge for paper. did Alliant‘s management not comprehend that a good percentage of their depositors may be elderly and not all be computer literate??? how hard would it be to provide the option of calling in the estatement selection? they caused a great deal of stress for someone whose life is already full of obstacles. wake up Alliant.

This credit union is a hidden gem in LA! They offer one of the lowest, if not the lowest 72 months auto loan rate and perhaps for the 60 months as well, currently at 1.74% with great credit. Ana and Julie were very helpful, friendly, informative, and most importantly very patient with the current customer being helped even though there was a short wait due to being short staffed (for that day). But the customers and staff interacted like family, a rarity these days! Check them out if you get the chance, I think you’ll save in one form or another. But my advice is to at least get a pre-​approval prior to getting a car. This will work in your favor during car sales negotiations unless you get a great price and zero interest. Btw, there is no cash transaction, just strictly pure great attentive services and solutions to your needs!
Update: Besides the $ 5 they credit you with for a savings account, I also received $ 100 for a vehicle financing promotion. I didn’t even know. How awesome is that?!

Show me someone that gives this Bank less than 4 stars and I will show you someone that does not know how to manage their finances properly.
We don’t give out 5 stars easily but after testing them for over 2 months from a Savings, Web and Operational perspective, they are clearly as good as it gets in Banking in the United States and you are doing a financial disservice to yourself if you don’t start saving with them. Wish that I had discovered them years ago.
Summary Details:
–They pay the highest liquid saving rate of any branch bank or credit union. Their liquid saving account is 6x !! more than Citibank or Bank of America or Chase or most other banks. Let me state that again: 6 X MORE. You only need a min $ 100 in saving to get that interest. They have no fees to open your account and No Maintenance Fees to maintain it, no matter how low the balance. Let me state that again: NO FEES ON ACCOUNTS regardless of balance! Checks are free too. ATM card is free. Bank is customer oriented and anti-​fee oriented.
–They have a larger FREE ATM network than any bank. Let me state that again: They have a far larger FREE ATM network than any bank. It is impressive – and they have ATM’s all over the USA in places you go all the time like gas stations and drug stores and convenience stores. You can look up their ATM’s with their smartphone app or online.
–They do not charge to transfer funds in or out! Bank of America charges a fee for all transfers and Citi limits it to $ 3000 a pop. Not sure on Chase.
–You can open your account online or in the branch if you are close. Takes a few weeks, and you will have your ATM and checks and you are set to go. You can manage your account online and they have many alerts you can set to get daily email monitoring if you like. They have an application for Android and I-​phone that works well too. If you have a problem you can always drive to the branch or call on the phone.
–Their HSA (Health Saving Account) is one of the very few in the USA to charge NO Maintenance Fees regardless of balance! Let me state that again: No Maintenance Fees regardless of the balance on HSA. You never want to have an HSA with a fee because funds in this account are for medical expenses only, and balances can fluctuate – you can’t control. You cannot afford to have important medical funds reduced by fees either. Alliant HSA also comes free with HSA checks and Debit card.
–Funds are insured to the same limits as a Bank.
–Low Low Low auto loan rates.
–Very good customer service has been by experience thus far on the phone, web and in the branch.
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Downsides:
–They do not have cash or take cash in the branch – use the ATM’s.
–They only have a few Branches in the USA, but this is why they are able to cut off the fees and give you high interest than the Bank. Do you think those bank branches on every corner don’t cost the banks?
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What should you do?
The Banks are literally going to run me down for giving this tip away:
If you psychologically just can’t cut and run to the credit union do this:
Go ahead and open a savings account (and a checking too if you like) to start with Alliant online or in the branch. Deposit a couple of hundred. (This El Segundo branch has free validated parking). Wait to get the Checks and the ATM card from Alliant. Set up the inter-​institution ACH free transfer on the Alliant web page so you can transfer funds from your bank to Alliant for free. Then call your bank and ask them how much you must maintain in savings there to avoid fees – usually its 1500.00? Leave that amount in and a maybe a few hundred as a float, and transfer the rest or as much as you are comfortable with to start to Alliant. You now just made 6X more on your money in that swift move and you can still go to the Bank for cash matters and chit chat with the old tellers.
This is a no brainer folks.
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Let’s face it, your bank branch teller is laughing at you with the fees they charge and poor interest rates. Let’s end this comedy show today and get your savings money working harder. If you currently have an HSA with fees – move it over to Alliant ASAP.

this review is not necessarily for this branch, but for alliant credit union in general. I was a bank of america customer for pretty much my whole life but once they came our with a new set of requirements you had to meet to avoid paying any monthly fees I was done with them. On the advice of a coworker I moved all my accounts over to Alliant.
First big issue I had with them was it took a month for the cashiers check I got from B of A to clear. Alliant purposely held the check for that month for reasons that to this day are unknown to me. After I passed that 30 days everything seemed to be going fine until my checks were stolen and I had to open all new accounts to avoid any malicious activity with my checks. The first thing these idiots did is tell me that I would continue to have access to my account, as I had all my online bill pays setup in there and I need to that info so I could transfer that data over to my new account. That was an outright lie. they shut down my account and it took having to call them and ask for a supervisor before I could get anything done. their first line of support is pretty much capable of doing nothing. Having to close my checking account and open a new one almost caused me to have a stroke due to their incompetence.
Other then the god awful customer service everything else seems to be ok. I kind of regret leaving B of A cause their service is top notch and they can actually accomplish what you need done without having to scream and yell at them.

I signed up with Alliant CU about 6 months ago and I love it! I couldn’t deal with BofA and their surprise fees and rules anymore! I’ve never been to my local branch, since it’s a little far for me, but honestly I never feel the need to go. I can withdraw & deposit money/​checks easily through the ATMs or even deposit checks online with their e-​deposit service. And ATMs are all over the place, including at 7−11s, since you can use any Co-​Op network ATM. The website has a good «ATM Finder» that’s super helpful, too. And I really love that when I deposit $/​checks, they credit it to my account immediately. Customers service is great too, always a live person to chat with.
My only gripe is that the ATMs are a little behind the times when it comes to depositing (probably true for most CUs). I miss being able to just stick $/​checks directly in the ATM without using an envelope. Not a huge deal though, and I’m sure this will change soon. Overall, I give it 4.5 stars — way better than BofA.
Quit your big bank & switch to a Credit Union!

ive come in here a few times to go over rates on new accounts. i see their promotions online, but end up having to back online to message them, instead of talking to live reps. But whatever… i think ill stick to BofA.

I don’t know exactly if this was the branch my account was originated, but it’s close enough for the purposes of this review.
A couple of years ago, I worked in a call center and a rep from Alliant came in and offered savings accounts to us. No fees, minimums, etc (hey, kinda sounds like that other bank with the orange ball that you might see as a banner ad on Unilocal). So I signed up and it was fine.
I ended up losing my job, so I emptied and closed my account online. Their website wasn’t really user-​friendly and had several drop down menus that required a surgeon’s grace, or else you’d select a menu you didn’t want. Now, almost a year and a half later, they’re still sending me statements with my account still showing a $ 0 balance.
Now, most banks or credit unions will close your account after a period of no account activity (ING DIRECT did this to me when I did deposit funds for 6 months). So, either my ‘close my account’ request online didn’t process, or Alliant is just really stupid.
Guys, get a clue and stop wasting money on paper and postage for an account that hasn’t been active in over a year.