Why do credit unions sometimes change their routing and/or account numbers when a bank is going to do an ACH deposit or credit? I always have to call every credit union that our bank does business with in order to get their obscure information for transactions unlike dealing with banks. A couple of times I had to deny people because they had credit unions that required outlandish stuff like using a letter in the account number or having four sets of information in order to do withdrawals and deposits. No one at my bank knows why, they just shrug and say “It’s just that way”
My Experience:
My account number was my “member number” and any acccount was in the records of the “UNION” a lettered account:
Savinggs: 4879 A
Checking: 4879 X
Christmas Club: 4879 C
etc…
However my checks were imprinted with a 5 instead of X.
But I would never have know that from the “ladies”.
Every account (deposit) has an ACH (Automated Clearing House) eequivalent to the “Alpha code”, but they do not like to reveai to their depositor for fear their member will know more than them.
I can’t addresss why the ABA transit numbers would be different though…
For the record, I have accounts with two credit unions, and neither has any non-numeric routing numbers or account numbers for any of my accounts.