I use Bank of America, not by choice, but due to a combination of my original bank being bought out, and to my personal laziness with looking at other options.
Although BofA hasn’t done anything wrong, I hate the idea of giving a large bank my business. As such, I’m thinking of taking my money and going to a local credit union.
So, who here uses a Credit Union and who uses a Bank? Any thoughts/comment would be good.
US Bank. They have been great in every way.
One of each: USAA (Bank) and Navy Federal (Credit Union). Each has a couple of things that they’re better at, and I’m very happy with both of them. Thanks, Dad, for spending some time in the Navy!
At the moment, both. I have all of my money in Navy Federal, but I also have $0.27 in a checking account with Wachovia that I’ve never gotten around to closing.
I’ve had my accounts at a Credit Union pretty much forever.
I did recently open a special-purpose account at a bank, because the CU couldn’t do it. I went with a local bank rather than one of the big boys, though.
I’m a huge fan of credit unions. IME, the service is much better and they don’t constantly try to screw you over.
OTOH, the small bank I’m using now has also been terrific. So in general I’d say small and local is the way to go.
A couple different Credit Unions now but have tried pretty much all the major banks over the years and a couple different Credit Unions. The main thing is to find the place that has the services you require with charging a bunch of fees for stuff you don’t want or need.
For me, banks in general are over priced as I don’t need the level of services they offer. However I just closed my accounts at a neighborhood Credit Union as they replaced the Tellers with walk up kiosks, raised ATM fees from free to $3.50, instituted a $3.00 a month charge for not meeting minimum debit card usage, and a $5.00 a month charge for paper statements. So Credit Union doesn’t always equal less fees.
ETA If you don’t need tons of extras and special services, I agree with redtail23. Be it Bank or Credit Union, small and local is usually the best bet for low cost banking.
Credit Union all the way.
I have a small personal sample size so I can’t generalize, but I hated my bank with a passion and love my credit union (partly in contrast I’m sure). The bank did everything they could make it ridiculously easy to overdraw and rack up multiple huge fines for what any normal person would consider a single overdraw event.
Alaska Federal CU; prior to that it was State Dept. Federal CU, and Navy Federal CU. Credit card is with BofA, unfortunately, but I get air miles with it, so put up with them. Banks are going the way of airlines, charging you fees for every little thing. I just saw where Wells Fargo is starting to charge for checking. I hate the rapacious bastards.
I saw that, too about Wells Fargo, which is what got me rethinking this.
I basically don’t use any of my banks services: I hardly ever use an ATM and rarely ever visit a branch. I basically do all my banking online. For cash, I just get extra with my debit card purchase.
One thing I like is that I have 3 accounts with them: a checking account with debit card for spending purposes, a checking account for just my monthly bills and a savings account. Currently they don’t charge me for those accounts.
If I switch to a credit union then I’d like the same setup, and online banking is a must. Then I’ll also have to redo my direct deposit. Hmm…
Credit union only.
I have no idea what a credit union is.
Both. I have accounts in both the local bank and local credit union.
We started maintaining two accounts, one at a credit union and one at a bank, when Airman was last deployed. It takes quite a while for transactions to post, so he’d buy something there and it would take so long to post that I didn’t know we had less money than we did. So I had my paycheck deposited to my bank account, which solved that problem. Now we’ve got both out of inertia.
I used a local credit union up until I was 17. Then I had an experience where I was in a different city and I wanted to withdraw money from my account at another credit union branch (more than the ATM limit and I didn’t have a personal cheque handy). It was such a customer service ordeal* that I closed my account when I got home and I’ve never looked back.
Nowadays, I’ve worked for several banks and I’ve had a staff account at each one.
*First the teller stated that it was outright impossible, then she grudgingly admitted it was possible and carried out my request with much eye-rolling and many heavy sighs.
I’m with USAA, which is technically a bank. I think they’re member owned, but only indirectly – the bank is a subsidiary of the member-owned insurance corporation, or something like that. They have some of the virtues of a large bank (lots of competitively priced products, call at any hour) and a small credit union (absolutely outstanding customer service, and they don’t try to screw you with fees). There’s no physical location outside of their main office in San Antonio, but they have great tools for banking online or by phone.
(eta: also, they have the best insurance ever. Thanks dad!)
I use all three, CU account I’ve had since I was a kid that my dad opened for me, bank account because my wife uses banks, and I also use the old “hide it in the mattress/sock drawer/bible/etc”
Note to self. Don’t forget to check Bibles…
A thrift, perhaps more bank like than a CU. I did use the CU years ago when I had a job where their was one.
I use a local bank. However, for a while I had about $200 stashed in books. Until I was randomly going through them to send them to a used book store and started finding cash! Then I realized that the cash-stash method only works if you actually remember where you stashed it! :smack: