Comments on: Poll: Do You Use a Bank or a Credit Union?

By: Joey Logano Fan

Joey Logano Fan — Thu, 21 May 2009 00:23:23 +0000

I am still fairly new to the game… being that I am still in college.. but for right now.. I just have a regular bank account, hehe.

By: Suzanne

Suzanne — Mon, 18 May 2009 11:06:16 +0000

I use 2 credit unions in my town. I prefer to support local ventures and be with an institution that will not sell my mortgage.

By: Bill Burns

Bill Burns — Sun, 17 May 2009 17:24:59 +0000

USE A CREDIT UNION! Would you rather your money stay local or not? Any profits generated go to stockholders who knows where or be folded back into your local community depositor owned Credit Union.

Would you rather support a big bank who invested in subprime loans and needed bail out money or a sound local instituion?

Keep you money local and be an owner of your Credit Union.

By: Rosa

Rosa — Thu, 14 May 2009 20:17:59 +0000

My partner and I each belong to a credit union, and have a joint account at a big bank that used to have a branch a block from us. He also has a spending money account at TCF, which has branches all over the place around here – it’s a “student” account so there are no fees even though there’s never more than a few hundred bucks in it.

We are currently refinancing our mortgage through his credit union, also – their rate was nearly identical to other banks we found through Bankrate, but they actually called us back and acted like they wanted our business.

There are some downsides – interest rates aren’t consistently higher on savings, my credit union has increasingly inconvenient hours, and I got hit with fees on the “no fee” network that nobody at the CU could explain or promise wouldn’t recur – but every time I get mad and start looking into banks, their ridiculous fees and high balances required to earn any interest pushes me back to the credit union.

By: pays to live green

pays to live green — Thu, 14 May 2009 18:59:14 +0000

I just use Suntrust bank. I have good success with them considering that I have an auto loan, mortgage and checking account through them. They have always given me good rates on my loans and have never had a problem with my checking account.

By: C in DC

C in DC — Thu, 14 May 2009 13:15:11 +0000

We currently use both, but as soon as we no longer have one particular financial obligation that makes using the bank convenient, we’re moving everything to our credit union accounts. We belong to a large credit union with excellent online services and branches near us. The only drawback is the lack of convenient ATMs, but I’d rather pay the occasional ATM fee than the fees our bank has begun to charge.

By: savings

savings — Thu, 14 May 2009 11:54:49 +0000

I think I might be a little bit biased on this but I guess a lot of people will go for the credit union rather thank a bank..But that’s just my opinion..

By: Kevin W

Kevin W — Wed, 13 May 2009 22:57:20 +0000

@Mike L
I was referring specifically to the CO-OP network. According to
http://www.co-opfs.org/public/locators/atmlocator/
“CO-OP Network membership provides surcharge-free access…”
My understanding is that you avoid the surcharge if both your institution and the ATM’s owner are in CO-OP. When I am traveling I look for a local CU’s ATM and they are almost always free. In a pinch I’ll use a major corporate bank’s ATMs, and those do charge a “foreign bank” fee.

By: Kate Kashman

Kate Kashman — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:57:56 +0000

We belong to three credit unions and one bank, but the bank is USAA which is much more like a credit union. They are awesome!

By: Mike Leone

Mike Leone — Wed, 13 May 2009 18:54:37 +0000

“If your CU is in those networks then you can use the tellers and ATMs of any other CU in the network for free.”

You refer to like the PLUS network of ATMs? Isn’t there a charge from the institution that manages the ATM? For example, I qualify for the local credit union (I’m a state employee). They have no ATMs all that convenient to me, but they are a member of the PLUS network, so I could use the local Citizens Bank ATM. However, Citizens would charge me for using a “foreign” debit card at one of their machines. If I was a Citizens customer (and I am), there is no charge. That’s a bit of a negative, to me.