Alliant has a credit card which earns 3% cash back the first year and 2.5% in subsequent years. It has a $59 annual fee which is waived the first year. And it has no foreign transaction fees.
Iinitially, it was only available by calling in or only to some members. For the past week or so, me and many others have been seeing the card available in our Alliant logins, and a press contact has confirmed with Milestomemories that it’s now available to all.
You still need to be an Alliant member to get the card. Joining Alliant is easy with a $10 donation to Foster Care to Success. Reader Dp7 says you can join for free by becoming a member of the Freelancers Union. Becoming a member is sometimes quick and sometimes takes a couple days for approval.
Once you have an online login, you can find the application link on the bottom-right of your home screen. Go to: Apply for a New Account > Credit Card Applications > Credit Card > Visa Signature.
Another option is to product change a different Alliant card into the Visa Signature card. You can even get $100 bonus by applying for the Platinum card.
The big question is whether the 3% signup bonus will be available for product changed cards; that 3% rewards offer is similar to a signup bonus for the Visa Signature card, and is likely only for those who apply directly. Assuming you plan on spending $20k+ throughout the first year, you’d do better signing up directly and get the 3% rate.
Has anyone used this card to buy crypto on Coinbase? If so, did it count as a purchase or cash advance? The 3% cash back can help mitigate fees in order to get crypto instantly.
You can just do an ACH transfer of funds for *free* directly to GDAX (Coinbase’s exchange), so no need to incur Coinbase’s fees.
So, it’s been nearly a year, what are folks planning regarding the annual fee? I was thinking of trying to downgrade back to the no-fee, 1% card.
For the time being, I can pay my daycare bills via credit card for no fee (woot!), but that only goes through the summer. I previously used by Citi Double Cash (2%) so, I’m only getting an extra one percent. Not sure the $59/yr will be worth that 1%.
The downgrade option is a 2% no-fee card, exactly like Citi DC.
The card is 2.5% after first year, so you’d only get 0.5% over a Citi DC for $59.
Yea, I remembered that after I posted. So, you have to spend $11,800 to break even over another just 2% care. I’ll probably try to downgrade to keep the credit line and account age. Unless anyone knows if their card bonuses are churnable?
Posted this in the other thread. Alliant will not refund the fee after it posts when downgrading. Make the change BEFORE your fee hits. I learned the hard way.
I learned about this CC from elsewhere. Was approved the next day I applied with 100K+ income (had to submit last 2 paychecks). Have FICO ~ 740 and this is the 4th CC I have opened in 2017 (and in the last 2 years).
The whole process was online. I applied via http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/bank/visa-signature-card#features
A friend applied and was denied, but her income is less than 50K. FICO better than mine. Maybe that is a factor.
BTW: I requested cards for my wife and daughter too. She is studying in UK this year. I assume the cashback for purchases abroad should be fine.
Tidbit about this card linking it to a new Netflix special:
The Netflix special Patton Oswalt: Annihilation (just released Oct 17, 2017), apparently had the PR person for Alliant in the front row of his Chicago audience. Patton talks to her about her job for 3 minutes (starting at 27:25), and she says she worked on the introduction of a new credit card at a credit union (does not name Alliant), but doesn’t know if she made it exciting. Her name was Maggie Jenkins and changed to Maggie Tomasek more recently.
Interesting, thanks!
just want to post a DP. Due to recent equifax hack, they are doing hard pull on transunion for credit card app instead
Has anyone been able to get this card with less than $100K in reported income?
Has anyone had issues with the 3% cashback on the statements? I have received 2 statement so far and both only calculate out to 2.5%. I called after the first one and finally got it confirmed as a mistake, and was told it would be corrected on the next statement. However, on this statement I didn’t get any credit from the last statement, nor did this one calculate out to 3%. It’s 2.5% as well. I’m going to call on Monday, but just wanted to see if anyone else had this happen. You need to check the math on your statements.
Ah, just got the report from Alliant with adverse reporting that made them decline me:
Length of time revolving accounts have been established
Length of time accounts have been established\
Too many accounts recently opened
Proportion of balances to credit limits on bank/national revolving or other revolving accounts is too high
Applied today for $20K CL and got a pending notice. A couple hours later notified by email that my application was declined. 1 HP on my TU credit report, Credit score of 810 large annual income. Not sure why declined. No Checking account set-up with Alliant.
Did you try getting in touch with them?
You were able to choose the CL you wanted?
Tried to open an account and my app is pending. I’ve had pretty crappy luck lately with the last 3 accounts going pending and none have been approved yet. M&T, Citi, and now Alliant.
Received an email that my application was approved. Tried for my wife today and got the same pending message. Probably have to verify membership in whatever group you’re claiming on the application.