About Premier Members Credit Union

Premier Members Credit Union (PMCU) is a Colorado-based credit union, but people nationwide can open an account. It offers Checking, Savings, and Money Market accounts. The biggest draw is that you can fund up to $6,000 with a credit card, and it codes as a normal purchase, so it can help meet minimum spending requirements and earn rewards or cashback.

All of its checking, savings, and money market accounts have no monthly fee, no minimum opening deposit requirement, no minimum balance requirement, and no early termination fee, so you can close them at any time. Overall, these accounts are pretty hassle-free.

The current APY for the money market account is shown below. In today’s low-rate environment, the APY on the first $2,000 is still relatively good, but the rate on the balance above that is fairly average. Also, since this is a smaller institution, this account is probably not ideal as a primary banking account.

How to Open the Account and Earn the Bonus

You can get a $50 bonus after successfully opening the account. You need to enter the refer code (MXMULMLCA) during the application. The bonus is posted to the account at the end of the month, with no additional requirements.

A few important notes:

  • For your first application, there is a $5 membership fee, but you only need to pay it if your application is approved.
  • There is no geographic restriction for opening the account; you can apply online directly. Branches are only located in parts of CO.
  • Opening the account does not seem to involve a hard pull. (It may vary by region, but when I applied online from CA, I did not get a hard pull. I’m also not sure which bureau they would pull if they do.)
  • The account opening bonus is taxable, and you will receive a 1099-INT form.
  • Eligible statuses include citizen/permanent resident/non-permanent resident. (They do not classify applicants by non-resident alien vs. resident alien.) In actual applications, my household opened two accounts, one as a permanent resident and one as a non-permanent resident, and both were approved successfully.
  • The first account usually is not approved instantly. You typically need to upload supporting documents such as a utility bill, lease agreement, or paystub. The requirements are not especially difficult, but the process is somewhat cumbersome.
  • The account supports credit card funding, up to $1,500 per application, and it codes as a purchase! This is the biggest highlight of this account, and I’ll explain it in more detail below.

Detailed Application Guide

  • First, go here: PMCU application link
  • Because this is a credit union, you must first become a member. The membership requirement is not difficult. As shown below, most readers probably will not qualify for free membership, so you will likely need to donate $5 to meet the membership requirement.
  • When opening your first account, select Primary Savings (this is required) + Money Market Account (new members get the $50 bonus; you may not get it if you open it later). Be careful not to select too many accounts at once. No matter how many accounts are included in one application, the maximum funding per application is $1,500. Therefore, if you want to maximize credit card funding, you need to split it across multiple applications.
  • Also, the refer bonus only applies to the money market account, so on your first application you should select only these two accounts. After clicking to add a money market account, the dialog box below will pop up. You need to enter the refer code in the additional info section to receive the $50 account opening bonus. Feel free to use my refer code: MXMULMLCA. I have to say, their system really is not very user-friendly.
  • Then follow the normal application process. At the funding step, choose credit card funding. As mentioned above, you can allocate up to $1,500 between the two accounts however you like. Credit card funding only supports Visa/Mastercard (unfortunately not AMEX, and it is not yet clear whether prepaid cards work). The good news is that current online DPs indicate it codes as a purchase.
  • I personally used CSP, CFU, Chase Marriott, and Chase UA Explorer to fund the account, and all of them coded as purchases, allowing me to meet minimum spending requirements and earn rewards/cashback successfully (see below). There are also many online DPs from other banks, and most did not have any cash advance issues. If you are concerned about cash advance, you can lower your cash advance limit in advance. For example, with Chase cards, you can send a secure message to lower the limit to $100, which should completely avoid cash advance charges.
  • The first application is usually not instantly approved and typically takes about 1 week for review. After submitting the application, you will be asked to register an application account. Note that this is not your Premier Members Credit Union online banking login. By clicking “check your application status” (shown below), you can log in to the application account to check status, upload documents, and contact customer service. After the application is approved, customer service will send your registration information and some documents to sign through the application account. At that point, you can register for online banking and then log in to manage your accounts.
  • After you have successfully opened your first account with them, later applications are generally approved instantly, and the process is the same. You can apply for a separate Checking Account and fund another $1,500. Then you can open secondary savings accounts; you can open up to two secondary savings accounts in total.
  • That means repeating the application 4 times total, for a theoretical maximum of $6,000 in funding.

One special note: all of these accounts are under one login. Under one account, you can apply for: 1 Primary Savings + 1 Money Market Account + 1 Checking + 2 Secondary Savings.

Application Timeline

Below is my application timeline for reference:

  • February 1, 2020: Opened Primary Savings + Money Market, funded a total of $1,500
  • February 16, 2020: Opened Checking, funded $1,500
  • February 18, 2020: Opened Secondary Savings, funded $1,500
  • February 18, 2020: Opened a second Secondary Savings, but the funding did not go through (not sure why)

So I was only able to put a total of $4,500 on my cards. Some other real-world DPs online are shown below (source: DOC). It appears that savings accounts may also be churnable, but I do not particularly recommend it; proceed at your own risk.

Summary

The biggest highlight of this account is the very high credit card funding limit, which makes it a useful tool for meeting minimum spending requirements on new cards. Unfortunately, it does not support AMEX cards. There is also a $50 account opening bonus with no spending or direct deposit requirement, which makes the offer fairly friendly. In theory, the total value is around $100-150. The biggest downside is that the first application is somewhat cumbersome and requires quite a bit of documentation. Although the approval requirements are not especially high, the complicated process may discourage some readers. Overall, this is a solid account, and if you are interested, it may be worth trying. Hopefully this guide is helpful.

Application Link