Tuesday, September 7, 2010

Still Keep Money In The Bank?

A lot of you are really and truly sick of your banks.
You're sick of getting socked with fees, or tripped by hidden penalties, or earning lousy interest rates. You're tired of being treated like a nuisance rather than a customer. And yet you have little hope that the bank down the street is any better.
But who says you have to settle for a bank? Relief could be as close as the nearest credit union.
Because so many people are fuzzy about the differences between banks and credit unions, I'll highlight the three most important distinctions:
  • Credit unions are member-owned. If you have an account at a credit union, you're a part owner in the enterprise. That may not entitle you to use the executive washroom -- your CU probably doesn't even have an executive washroom -- but you're likely to be seen as a person rather than as a "cost center."
  • Credit unions are not-for-profit. This status helps explain why interest rates tend to be significantly better, and fees fewer and smaller, at credit unions than at banks. Any profits credit unions do make are distributed as dividends to their members. Contrast that with banks, which continually invent new fees and policies to boost profits (and to pay those stunning executive salaries).
  • Banks hate -- hate -- credit unions. President Franklin D. Roosevelt signed the Federal Credit Union Act into law in 1934 to "promote thrift and thwart usury," and banks have been gunning for them pretty much ever since.
More Here..



9 comments:

  1. Jim Sinclair is (link->)Strapping In For The Big Move
    ...
    I will stand with what I have said for nearly 10 years. Gold will trade at $1650 on or before January 14th, 2011.
    ...
    The gold banks are throwing blocks to the price as we approach $1262. This is a major waste of time and money as gold is going to and through that price. The only argument is whether gold will hit $1650 in January 2011 or $3000-$5000 in June 2011.
    ...
    This is the time now as it was in 1979 that I went throttle to floor.

    This is the time now as it was in 1979 that I am committing 100% of all the cash I can accumulate to what I believe in.

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  2. I have both banks and a credit union, and while the latter has enough virtue for me to keep the account, it sucks much more than banks in other ways. My bank does not make me remove my hat when I make a deposit, which my credit union did even though I went in every week. Because of that, I use the account differently and I don't wear a hat when I am going there, as I don't care to undress in the credit union. The credit union held a check from a bank across the parking lot for 22 days - a bank asked me how soon I needed the funds from a check 6 times as large. My credit union is afraid of money, but the way I use it enhances my privacy.

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  3. 9:58
    I have School First Credit Union and they never asked me to remove my hat. They are small so wire transfer directly from Australia banks is not possible.

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  4. My regular bank charges me $35 every time I make a math mistake and a check bounces. Instead of phoning me (they are very small and local) so I could immediately cover the problem, they mail me a notice. By then at least half a dozen checks could bounce. Sometimes the fees add up to $300-400 dollars.

    That's why I switched to a credit union, which charges no fee. And I never saw anybody told to remove a hat. I have no idea what the hell 9:58 is talking about. And checking IS free.

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  5. I've used a credit union for a couple decades, and while they are much better than banks (lower and fewer fees), they are certainly no angels. They are the lesser of two evils, much the way that the republican party is the lesser of two evils currently. No angels - just better than the other choice.

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  6. Yeah, what the heck exactly is this ¨remove the hat¨ thing anyway? Can`t they even do a simple transaction without having to involve some kind of hook?

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  7. I agree with 7:30 am. I also switched to a credit union, but it is no paradise. The interest rates are still lousy. I have pulled out nearly all my cash to keep stashed. I left only enough to continue my checking account. I hope everyone does the same, ALL these banks can close and disappear for all I care.

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  8. I'm Anonymous@9:58pm. The hat removal is so that the security cameras can record the customer's face. I am a woman who likes wearing hats. Men who use this credit union often turn their caps backwards before going in. Besides that it is invasive to ask someone to take off a hat, it also baffles me because I am a regular customer - not a stranger who would not be recognized due to a hat.

    Those who don't encounter this nonsense are lucky. I'm in California USA. I've never paid fees at either the CU or the banks, so I don't have complaints about accounts not being free. If they aren't free, I won't have them.

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  9. We all people usually keep all the money in the bank such that first is the security and the other reason of good interest.

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