I got a credit card thru my local credit union after I made out a car loan thru them. Annual
rate is 4.75%. I had another card which I canceled because it got up to 32% (yes it was a
Chase Bank card).
I have Bank of America and it suits me just fine. I can’t understand the appeal of credit unions because I see actual bank branches as an anachronism although they can be handy in the rare case. I need direct deposit, a huge network of ATM’s at no additional fee, and, most importantly, a powerful on-line banking system that ties all of my various accounts together well. I don’t want paper statements, nice branches of any of that. I can do all my rather involved banking sitting right here. Bank of America had the most efficient mortgage refinancing that I had ever seen. Everything was set up within 30 minutes on the first call, the paid off the old bank, and then sent someone to meet us at our convenience just to sign papers. Another rather large loan a year earlier was the same thing.
Out of curiosity, what are some of you doing that requires all this branch activity? I can’t really see the need.
Credit union all the way.
My local one has several huge advantages over banks:
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Higher interest rate paid on savings accounts: 6.5%, I believe.
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Personal service. I can’t say enough good things about this. You know them, they know you. It’s the way a business should be run.
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They have cats.
Seriously. There are cats hanging out in my credit union. I think this is such a great touch because it makes the place feel welcoming. Also keeps the kids busy while they are waiting for parents to conduct their boring financial business.
Sometimes one of them will be sitting at a vacant teller window and I’ll go up and try to make a transaction, much to the amusement of others waiting in line.
My father used to work for an insurance company that only insured credit unions and their members. Of course, everyone in the family had their own credit union account. And for a while, my father was also president of that credit union.
When we traveled, we used to stop into credit unions anywhere in the world and ask for their certificate of insurance. Nine times out of ten, that certificate had my father’s signature at the bottom. 
I’m still a member of the same credit union my father set up for me way back when. I don’t use it much these days since the account is back in my home town. But I keep the account active and in touch. I’ve done wire transfers with my account over the phone without batting an eye and the credit union people on the other end never hesitated about it, even though none of them working there now would ever have known about the depth of our family’s affiliation with the credit union. As a credit union member, my auto and home insurance is through another company that only insures credit union members (not the company my father worked at) and my rates are so low that when I’ve compared quotes with other companies those companies can’t even come close to what I pay.
No, credit union deposits are not insured by the FDIC, since the FDIC is for banks. Reputable credit unions do have their deposits insured; it’s just through the NCUA instead.
I worked (till yesterday!) at a credit union (one of (but not THE) the largest in Michigan)) and there are positives and negatives to doing your banking* there. In general, it is easier to speak to someone who’s actually there with your account, and there’s a bit more of a personal relationship too.
An observation I’ve made: it seems that the larger a credit union gets (more branches, etc), the more it can offer to become more competitive with banks; however, the tradeoff is that they’re likely to also become more “bank-like” in having more fees or other downsides that banks are said to have.
- I always was amused that you don’t call a credit union a bank, ever, but you still do your banking there. It’s not like you can say, “Oh, I have to get all my credit unioning done today.”
Yep - I love BECU. Now that I’m a permanent resident, I’m in. I’ve been “in” by default since my husband has been with them for years.
I also have a WAMU account, which is a little more of a letdown in comparison. Agreed that BECU is the best for loans. I’ll probably be looking their way soon, since I was just accepted into the AI. Student loans, here I come.
Now that’s a small town CU I could love!
I can’t speak for anyone else, but we live in a small, remote, rural town. Intenet access is sometimes iffy. My wife and I are in our mid-50s, so we remember when the banks were Security State, Commercial, and First National. Now those same buildings are Wells Fargo, Key Bank and Bank of the West. We got tired of the fees, got tired of having to call 800 numbers and talk to call centers in distant cities, tired of the fact that what were once local banks now clearly weren’t interested in our piddly little consumer demand accounts, tired of having to pay fees for every service we needed, sometimes including walking into the branch. So, we went with the local credit union, with free checking, old friends in the building (I graduated high school with the president of the CU) a real willingness to help us with our banking. We have automatic deposit, online access and Quicken reconciliation, and automatic bill-pay, and that’s all the whiz-bang stuff we need. And the CU doesn’t charge us when we use out-of-town ATMs – only whomever owns the ATM.
I feel bad that we’re not as sophisticated as you are and cannot handle something as important as our money without ever going inside a specialized building, but we’re not. So, it’s wonderful to have a credit union that can take care of us just the way we are.
A friend worked many years as a teller, and then as a CPA for a number of banks and credit unions. A bit of a family tradition, as her mom and sister also have a similar history.
They swear that, as a rule, credit unions are far better work environments. For one thing, it seems like the average bank has a merger or some other restructuring every 3 years or so. Out with the old management, in with the new. The CUs generally have low turnover, and promote from within. The managers of both of my CUs started out as tellers, as an example. Banks, they say, typically hire management trainees from business schools, and the tellers are treated as disposable commodities, with virtually no prospect of promotion.
As a customer I think this translates to better service from friendly, happier employees.
I am also told that only a handful of credit unions in New Mexico have ever gone bust, and ALL of those were absorbed by larger CUs, so there was no financial pain to the members of the defunct CUs.
Anyway, whenever anyone complains about a bank, I extol the virtues of Credit Unions. I actually have accounts at two. One was affiliated with my first job out of college. The manager knows me not only by name, but knows my account number without looking it up. She started as a teller on the same day I started that job, and so my account/employee number is only one different from her own. I’ve done a couple of car loans through her, and this requires about a 3 minute phone call, and then I can go pick up a check.
Issues:
Neither of mine will write a loan for an aircraft…though one wrote a signature loan (no collateral) that I used to purchase the aircraft, and the rate was less than the going rate for car loans (secured by car title).
FWIW I bank with Wachovia and they give even the smallest customer a “peronal banker” in your branch. If I have a problem, I call him. If I want a loan, I call him. If I want to open a new account, I call him. I NEVER call an impersonal 800#.
If you are paying fees that you feel are not justified by the banking you do, you are probably in the wrong type of account. If you really benefited from a package that has a fee, you probably would feel the fee was justified.
Do you have a Wachovia nearby?
I don’t go into branches, either. My credit union has awesome online banking, direct deposit, ATMs, and everything else. The difference is that they also have great hassle-free people who answer the phone, etc., and great loan rates. They also have check/debit cards, credit cards, overdraft protection, and financial education classes.
I just love 'em!
Anastaseon, congrats! What program at the AI?
Forgot about this thread. ::sheepish::
Thanks! Residential Planner, a two-year course, with the option to keep going for a BA in Interior Design.
My husband, a paint salesman, has declared me his arch-enemy. 
Mine has that too, and it’s also affiliated with a nationwide network so that I can use my debit card almost anywhere in the States for free. I do almost all of my banking online, for free. They have an awesome, very powerful (much better, IMO, than Bank of America’s or Wells Fargo’s, both of which I have used as well) Web site application.
See, a lot of people view credit unions as backwards; a lot of them, however, have definitely caught up with the times. It depends on the CU.
~Tasha