Alliant CU Ultimate Opportunity Savings Review – $100 Bonus

Alliant Credit Union, one of the top 10 largest US credit unions by assets, has teamed up with Suze Orman to promote their new Ultimate Opportunity Savings account. The interest rate of 0.55% APY and structure appears to be the same as their existing High-Rate Savings account, just with an added $100 cash bonus if you deposit at least $100 a month for 12 consecutive months. Unfortunately, it is open to new Alliant CU members only. Thanks to reader Bill for the tip.

Note that the fine print also states that you must have at least $1,200 in your account at the end of the period (you can’t have withdrawn it after the deposits).

The $100 bonus is automatically deposited into The Ultimate Opportunity Savings Account after you’ve successfully made a monthly deposit of $100 or more for 12 consecutive months. To qualify for the bonus, you must keep a minimum balance of $100 in your savings account, and have $1,200 (or more) in your account at the end of the 12-month period.1

There is no minimum balance required, but you must accept paperless statements to avoid a monthly fee.

Bonus math. In terms of equivalent interest rate, earning an extra $100 of interest for a $100 monthly deposit is roughly 16% APY, so definitely better than any other non-bonus savings account out there. (Without the bonus, this account would earn less than 4 bucks!) Add in the normal 0.55% APY, and your total APY is ~16.5% APY. It’s much less exciting for bigger deposits, but this can still be a pretty good incentive if you want to start building up an emergency fund.

Alliant CU membership eligibility. Credit unions are supposed to be a cooperative non-profit that serves a specific community, but Alliant is pretty much open to anyone nationwide. If you start the online membership application, it will walk you through their various eligibility options. Here are their membership groups:

Any employee or retiree of a Qualifying Company.
Any member of a Qualifying Organization.
Any immediate family member of an existing Alliant member.
Anyone who lives or works in a Qualifying Chicagoland Community.
Anyone who is a member of the Foster Care to Success charity group.

You’ll find that it only costs $5 to join Foster Care to Success, and Alliant will pay that fee on your behalf!

Other potential member perks. Alliant has a good checking account product and their savings account rates have been historically pretty competitive. Like many other credit unions, they also offer competitive rates on auto loans on both new and used cars.

They also have a 2.5% cashback credit card, but there is a $10,000 monthly cap on purchases plus a $99 annual fee after the first year. After that first year, you’ll need to spend at least $19,800 annually (average $1,650 monthly) and less than $10,000 per month to exceed to do better than a 2% cash back card.

Bottom line. If you’ve been meaning to join a credit union and/or start a new savings/emergency fund for the new year, this $100 bonus might be a nice incentive to reach the modest savings goal of $100 per month.