Why? Because they offer an interest rate of 6.17% APY. On an investment of $1000.00, that would work out to $60 per year or $5 a month. In comparison, Ally is currently offering 0.60%. [Ally is currently my primary online savings account.] So that's 10 times more than Ally. And probably about 60 times more than your local bank. (I believe I first heard about this account from Eddie Yoon on YouTube.)
The drawback is that interest rate applies only to the first $1000 in your account. Any amount above that earns a more normal 0.25%. But even that is higher than most savings accounts nowadays.
So anyway, I decided to go ahead Monday and attempt to open an account. With the technology these days, how hard could it be? Turned out, it wasn't that easy.
First I installed the app on my Android phone.
Got up to the step of scanning my driver's license for my identification information. It kept failing after numerous attempts. So I manually input the information.
I continued on and the app aborted (or something).
Then when I tried to go back in and continue, it said I was in the process.
Then I tried to request a password to log on, but nothing was being sent to my email.
So I phoned customer support at 1-800-328-8797. They were busy helping other customers. So I set up a callback rather than wait on the line.
They called back about an hour later.
I gave them my information (email address, SS#), then got put on hold as the guy had to look up something (or ask somebody).
I think he sent me an email I had to click on. Then set up my password again. Then finally I was able to log in.
"Congratulations your DCU membership and accounts have been established."
OK, success!
But then after I got off the phone, I couldn't log back in.
"The Member Number and/or Password you entered does not match our records. Try again."
Let me try to get a new password.
"The Member Number and/or Password you entered does not match our records. Try again."
Back on the phone.
Schedule another callback ("between 34 and 51 minutes")
Got the callback.
Apparently I was locked out.
They had me enter the last four digits of my SS# for the password. And then I was in.
Looking around, I asked how to transfer money into the account. The CR said I should do it from the (other) bank's side, rather than from the DFCU side.
But apparently you CAN transfer money out from the DFCU side.
So I went to Transfers / Payment Center Add/Manage, then tried to add my local bank.
[You need to enter your bank's routing number and your account number to fund the account initially. But even though that was done successfully, it doesn't automatically add the bank for transfers from/to DCFU.]
After I entered my user name and password, I got the message "Retrieving Security Information". Then after a long while, I got the message "We apologize, but there was a problem with your account authentication. Please try again or contact DCU."
Then I gave up. I figured I would first wait until I see the money transferred from my bank to DFCU.
When you open an account, the minimum deposit to open is $5. If you don't already meet the normal qualifications to join, you can make a donation to a join a participating organization and become eligible that way. I chose Reach Out for Schools because that was the cheapest membership at $10. So it was set up to transfer $15 from my bank to DFCU.
When I checked my account before today, it had an available balance of -$5.00. That's because you need an minimum of $5.00 to keep the account open.
Then when I checked this morning, it had an available balance of $10. So that means the $15.00 got transferred from my bank to DFCU.
Then when I check now, I see an available balance of $0.00, as the $10.00 has been sent to Reach Out for Schools.
In the meantime, I managed to link my bank account to DFCU on the website. I got the message again "Retrieving Security Info" and that took a while. But it finally got to the next screen where it asked to send a security code to my phone. Received the code. Entered it. And it worked!
Now I wanted to see if I could transfer money using the app. To do that, go to Pay, then Make a Payment. I set it up to pay $100 from my bank to DCFCU as a first test.
The earliest payment date I could enter was 11/13/20 (tomorrow). When I tapped the "Add Payment" button, a message flashed on the screen and disappeared. It flashed too quickly for me to read. Try again. Same thing.
Then I noticed a message saying "payment start date must be after 11/13/2020". So I changed the payment date to 11/14/2020 and this time it was accepted.
Next I'll be checking to see how fast the payment will appear in the DCFU account. I want to eventually ramp up my balance to $1000. When I reach that balance, it'll take me two months to get back my $10 donation. And another month after that to recover the "dead" $5 in the account.
*** Monday 11/16/20
Noticed the $100 appeared on my DFCU account this morning.
Next I want to link my Ally Bank account to DFCU because I envision xferring the interest gained above the $1000 mark to Ally.
OK, did it on the DFCU website. Just had to log in to my Ally account, then enter the security code sent to my phone.
Next step is to xfer some money from Ally to DFCU. We'll see how long this takes. I'm doing this on the app at 10:26 AM.
OK, set up the "payment" (that's what they call transfers -- you can pay from or to the DFCU account). The earliest date I could choose was 11/18/20. We'll see when it arrives.
*** Tuesday 11/17/20
One thing I like about the app is that it supports the fingerprint recognition of my Google Pixel 3a XL. No need to type in my password.
*** Wednesday 11/18/20
Checked the app early this morning and the payment came through. My available balance is now $300. So took less than 48 hours.
I notice that I am unable to make payments from DFCU to the linked banks. Only the other way. Not sure if that's the way it is. Or if the money is being held for a number of days before being released for transfers out.
Now that it worked, I guess I'll transfer the rest from Ally (for simplicity -- I have other accounts that are paying less than Ally).
In the meantime, I think I want to link DFCU to my Wealthfront account. I opened Wealthfront because it had a higher interested than Capital One and Ally at the time, but not the rate is below. But I like it because I can see the balances of my linked accounts. Let me see if I can link my regular credit union first. Enter user name and password. OK that worked (had to wait a few minutes). Now for DFCU. This time authentication needed. It made a voice call to my phone. And I entered the code.
"We've hit a snag. Linking stalled. These accounts are experiencing technical difficulties. We’ll try to reconnect automatically." OK, I guess I'll have to wait. It does show the balance of my DFCU account, but says temporarily down.
"We've hit a snag. Linking stalled. These accounts are experiencing technical difficulties. We’ll try to reconnect automatically." OK, I guess I'll have to wait. It does show the balance of my DFCU account, but says temporarily down.
I kind of want to see if I can transfer funds from my credit union to Wealthfront, then transfer from Wealthfront to DFCU. Why not just use Ally? Because supposedly you can make unlimited transfers with Wealthfront, whereas you can make only 6 transfers from Ally per month. Right now, I don't see the option to transfer between Wealthfront and my credit union. Maybe because I just connected them.
I think I want to link DFCU to Ally from the Ally side, since I have most of my accounts linked to Ally that way. Let's see if I have better luck than with Wealthfront. Instead of logging in, it asks to enter the routing number and the account number. OK, that information is in Account Manager / Account Information. Then you can verify instantly by logging in or verify with bank deposits. Let's try instantly. Let me log off DFCU first, so I can log back in. Enter member number and password. Verify. Your bank requires more information. Let me choose email this time instead of phone. Enter access code from the email. Account Verified. "This account is now active and available for transfers." OK better than Wealthfront.
Let's me try a transfer from Ally to DFCU now from the Ally side. It allows me to choose tomorrow, 11/19/20. OK, we'll see when it actually arrives.
*** Thursday 11/19/20 ***
The transfer from Ally to DFCU arrive this morning. So it really was only one day.
Now to check if Wealthfront is linked OK with DFCU. Seems to be. Oddly they have the APY at 0.52% for some reason. And the balance is from 20 hours ago so it's not updated. They also have Capital One Performance at 0.82% which is also wrong.
Let me see if I can transfer from Wealthfront to DFCU. Nope. DFCU is not yet listed. And actually I don't see my regular credit union listed either. Maybe it doesn't work well with credit unions? Well, I guess it's still useful to see the balance of all my bank accounts from Wealthfront.
Let me make another payment from Ally Bank to DFCU. When I do it from the DFCU app, it stays payment start date must be after 10/20/20. Let me do it from the Ally Bank side then. Yeah it lets me do it for tomorrow (10/20/20). I just have to be wary of the 6 withdrawals a month limit.
*** Friday 11/20/20 ***
OK, my available balance is now $1,000.00! Now just have to wait for the interest to roll in 8)
Wealthfront is now reflecting the balance of $1,000.05 [I think that's supposed to be $1005.00]. Still can't transfer to/from Wealthfront though.
*** Tuesday 12/1/20 ***
We're in the money!
Got my first interest payment today. $2.00 even! It's actually categorized as a dividend. So they pay interest on the first of the month. Let it ride. I'll be expecting $5.00 or a penny or two more on 1/1/21.
*** Friday 1/1/21 ***
$5.10 dividend added to my my account :)
Let it ride.
