In the FAQ & Discussion about the Daughter of the Mother thread,

Katoo said:
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I see in the fee schedule for Alliant. Under Account Basics:

Manually Paid Checks and ACH Items..............(effective 5/1/08)$29
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Here's the answer to my email asking what "manually paid" things are:

"When an item does not post electronically and we have to manually process the item is when members would be subject to manually processing fee.

Some examples of situations where a check or an ACH item is manually paid are as follows: when an ACH item is keyed in wrong or set up improperly with either wrong account number or share, when the MICR line (the printed numbers on the bottom of a check) cannot be read electronically, and when a check is called in verbally and a wrong account number is provided."

yep...i can confirm that too...hard pull from Equifax....though well worth it for this great CU......

By the way, having done extensive "field testing" (lol) personally, i can give you the exact breakdown on how to avoid any atm fees from Alliant....

Based on reading the fee schedule, most people (and probably most of the Csrs at Alliant) would probably get the impression that you can only do a total of 8 transactions per month at an atm, before the $1 Alliant fee kicks in...

It is actually far more flexible then that!

If you have both Checking and Share Savings with Alliant (as i do) this is what you can do (with no fees) at an atm....

8 free balance inquiries from Checking each month
8 free cash withdrawals from Checking each month
8 free transfers from Savings to Checking each month

8 free balance inquiries from Savings each month
8 free cash withdrawals from Savings each month
8 free transfers from Checking to Savings each month

**These are per ACCOUNT...not per card..each ACCOUNT is treated totally SEPERATELY even though linked to the same card
Also, the Balance Check that may print out at an atm along with your Cash Withdrawal does NOT count toward the Balance Inquiries you do each month!

You can do the Balance Inquiries and transfers at ANY atm...but when making a Cash withdrawal (which is where you would get hit with a fee from the OTHER ATM, if you do it at an ALLPOINT/COOP/ALLIANCE ONE/CU24 atm, NO FEE AT ALL!

So with all this free atm flexibility...plus the the excellent Online Banking, Bill Pay, Customer Service and outstanding Share Savings Rate, and terrific free atm coverage at 75,000 atms nationwide....it's an outstanding banking package....

I don't think this has been mentioned yet in THIS thread: One potential disadvantage of Alliant's great savings account and overall service (about the only demerit I can find once the account is open) is that there is no way to ACH more than $10,000 out of the account in one day, even pulling via another institution's system. That's pretty unusual. And remember that they have the typical 6 withdrawal a month limit, so it's not as if you could even ACH out $70,000 over a period of seven days (unless it straddled the statement date).

But you can withdraw any amount in person if you're near a branch (or maybe an affiliated CU...I'm not sure). Or, they will send you a no-fee check for any available amount (regular check, not Cashier's). I assume you could also wire funds out, but their wire fee is pretty high.

Anyway, this is one thing to keep in mind if you think you might have a sudden need to withdraw more than $10k (or are one of those compulsive rate-chasers that craig10x says Alliant doesn't want ). That said, I doubt the mail would take more than a day or two longer than ACH, anyway.

Two other watchouts, although they are very minor (especially #2): (1) When verifying an account for use with their ACH system, they do one withdrawal that matches the verification deposit. So take that into consideration if you're nearing the monthly withdrawal-frequency limit on the other account. (2) There is a $10/yr inactivity fee for any year in which there are no deposits or withdrawals.

As craig10x, there is no limit to the number of transfers from checking. I'd also like to add that you are limited to 6 transfers a month from savings - this includes transfers from savings to checking; however, if this type of transfer is done at an atm it doesn't count toward the transfer limit (I do this at an alliant atm so I don't know if it works at all affiliate atms). Lastly, I have never had a problem transferring more than 10k from checking...in the past month, I've had Fidelity pull money from my checking account in amounts of 20k and 25k.

thanks ndogg...there you go dejanu...

You are right SweetCash, I just read over their electronics disclosure, and the $10,000 (actually $9,999.00) daily limit applies to Alliant's own ACH system, not to other banks ach systems....and as ndogg confirmed, you CAN pull out as much as you want, using another bank/cu's ach system....

Ndogg, i have done transfers from savings to checking at outside bank's atms (i don't live in Alliants branch areas) and they don't count toward the monthly 6....though i am not sure if all outside atms will let one transfer very large amounts like that..probably many will...i will have to check it out when i get a chance and i will post back on it....

But either way, one can simply move what they need to from savings to checking on their Online Banking, and then pull it all out at one time, using an outside source....

SweetCash said:What stops me from withdrawing a large amount (i.e. $50K) from an Alliant Savings account, if I initiate an ACH transfer from another bank?

Nothing, actually.....the only reason why i mentioned transferring to checking first is because i always set up outside ach systems to my Checking accounts....but you are correct, if you have your Savings at Alliant linked to an outside ACH at another bank or cu, no reason why you couldn't pull it directly from the savings....

Oh, and dejanu, probably many have gotten the misconception about pulling more then $10,000 from Alliant (from outside) because of some Csr's confusion about the issue (these type of things, and even the atm business that i cleared up in my previous post can best be accurately determined by "field testing" as we do here on fw and then let everyone else know!...lol)....

Maybe it's time for me to change the moniker from "tired member" to "greedy member", but is there something else to the Alliant CU deal other than one of the greatest interest rates and an EQ inquiry?

A telephone CS person was quite explicit about the fact that I could NOT transfer more than $10,000 per day from my Alliant Savings to another institution, even if the transfer was a pull initiated by the other bank. I wasn't too surprised, because the reason I checked is that someone had warned about this in another forum, based on his pre-account-opening query to CS. Nonetheless, I double-checked with the CSR to ensure she hadn't misunderstood the question, or I hadn't misunderstood the response. She even offered up that there is no such restriction on pushes from other banks (that one I already knew from experience). Since (per the CSR) I couldn't use another bank's ACH system to pull out more than $10,000 in one day, I asked what alternate method(s) I could use. That's when she said I could always have them cut me a check.

Has anyone else here actually asked CSR the question about a daily dollar limit on pulls via another bank? If not, how about another FW poster giving it a try and reporting back? Naturally, you'll need to be sure they understand you're not referring to a SkyBranch withdrawal. I've already bugged 'em enough with a long string of questions! I do note that the account agreement document discusses the $10,000 limit ($9,999.99, actually) ONLY in the SkyBranch section. That said, I've seen bank documentation inaccuracies (sometimes significant) on more than a few occasions.

Regardless, if a $10k/day limit on PULLED ACH withdrawals really does exist, based on today's posts we now know that it's a moot point if you also have Alliant checking.

dejanu, i will e-mail my favorite csr at Alliant tonight (he should answer me in the morning) and i will ask him about the pulls from an outside source....my guy is good, he always gets the right answers for me....and i will post when i find out...

Though it should be clear that you can pull more then $10,000 from Alliant Checking, since NDogg has pointed out that he's done so from fidelity's ach system.....

One should have Alliant Checking with the Share Savings, because it makes the accounts more versatile...even if you don't do your main banking with them, as i do.....

you're welcome, dejanu

Just got my reply (told you he would answer in the morning...actually, i have often e-mailed Alliant during the business day, and got a reply within an HOUR or so!)...

Turns out your CSR was misinformed....your CSR was correct as far as Alliant's ACH system is concerned, but Alliant is not
concerned about other institution's ach systems because THEY are responsible for the Pushes and Pulls THEY make, as my CSR
explained in his reply (here is the paste-in):

The ACH policy that applies is that of the financial institution that originates the ACH transaction (whether push or pull). Afterall, it is the financial institution that originates the transaction that would incur the loss if something goes wrong or fraud is committed.

So, dejanu, there you go...using another bank's ach system you can pull or push into Alliant as much as you like into either your Checking or Savings Account (subject to the limits of that other ach system, of course)......

I think Alliant puts those limits on their own system because they appear to be VERY security concious....which is probably the reason for the hard pull, $10,000 ach limit, and "security challenge question" you often will get when signing into the Online Banking....

PS: of course, keep in mind that the "6 ach rule" still applies even when you're pulling from another institution (counts toward your monthly "6") when you do it from savings....

Another good reason to have the checking as well as the savings!