Alliant CU VISA, 3% cash 1st yr, then 2.5% (Capped). Fee waived 1st year.
 

Offer link: http://www.alliantcreditunion.org/ba...signature-card

Breakeven compared to 2% card year two onwards is $11,800. Soft pull to join Alliant and can upgrade existing cards to this product (not sure how that works with the 3% first year).

My full review of the card is here: http://www.doctorofcredit.com/allian...ed-first-year/

I'd like to get this card, but have no existing Alliant relationship. Would I need to get an Alliant checking account, apply for one of their other CCs, and then upgrade to this card? There doesn't seem to be a link to apply for the card directly.

Heads up for you frequent churners - they do not like a lot of credit pulls or new accounts. Got declined.

Did you apply for one of their other cards hoping to upgrade?

nope. they wouldn't have approved me anyway.

If you read their terms and conditions to earn 3% - they do mention won't earn CB on VGC purchases.

Do you have a quote? I saw a section excluding gift card fees. And a section about money orders, etc. I didn't see one that applied explicitly to VGCs.

Applied yesterday for Alliant checking membership; got approval email for membership this afternoon. Just called up, asked to be transferred to lending services, and was able to apply over the phone. Requested and approved for 20k CL. They pulled TU, which had 3-4 inquiries but 10+ new accounts in the last 6 months. I asked if they could expedite and was told something to the effect that they don’t have the card stock yet, so perhaps these won’t be shipping until the “official launch” on the 24th.

We've seen similar language with many, many cards.

Have we ever seen it enforced?

mia - I think that language is somewhat ambiguous. On its face, it seems to be saying that an activation fee for a Visa gift card would not be eligible for cashback, but the purchase price would be. Granted, it's hard to imagine that's what they intend it to mean. But one wouldn't generally say, "I paid a fee of 503.95 for this VGC." You'd say, "I bought a $500 VGC, and the fee was $3.95."

As others have pointed out though, this debate is likely academic. Other issuers with more explicit terms excluding GC purchases (e.g. AmEx) generally don't enforce it. Granted, I don't think we have much data on how Alliant is with MS - someone correct me if I'm wrong, but I think this the first card they've issued that people will want to do large-scale MS with.

Has anyone done M$-ed with an Alliant card? How did it go?

Is Alliant willing to dedicate resources to patrol M$ in general (hard to do without level 3 data, for in-store purchases anyhow) and how aggressive will they be towards our hobby in general? Even without L3 data they can for instance target & shut down ppl that do most of their spending online at GCM and/or GC. I guess we'll find out. They do seem to monitor their online presence though, even for smaller rewards. I.e. see the top of this DoC thread abt a $50 checking sign up bonus.

I don't believe that paragraph (quoted by mia) applies to VGCs.

I think the structure of the sentence means that "fees paid" applies to both pre-paid and reloadable cards. Since every other item in the list is set off by commas, a fair construction of the paragraph is that "fees paid" is a modifier that applies to both "pre-paid" and "reloadable cards."

Moreover, even assuming that they intended to excluded "fees paid for prepaids" and "reloadable cards" as separate list items, VGCs are explicitly nonreloadable and thus are explicitly outside the terms.

This is all academic, in any case. My guess based on my experience with Alliant is that they will award cash back but that they will not abide by heavy MSing.

It also doesn't earn CB on foreign transactions, which makes its no FTF worthless.

Good catch. Many considered this an overseas alt Citi DoubleCash type, which it seems isn't.

Alliant seems to be overly caution and the a la carte type of bank. They seem to now want to make big waves with 2.5% cashback, which is aimed as competition for the big banks.