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>Now, with all kinds of automatic transactions most people have, you have to coordinate things a bit more carefully. I really hope this isn't the reason large

>Now, with all kinds of automatic transactions most people have, you have to coordinate things a bit more carefully. I really hope this isn't the reason large banks have power (inconvenience of switching). With a whimper...

pm90 11y ago
Its kinda a big deal. I have an account with the Credit Union at my university in the Midwest and now I live in Texas. If they had a better online banking presence I would ABSOLUTELY keep my money with them. But their presence on the web is sooo incredibly dated: https://www.uiecu.org/ASP/home.asp https://www.uiecu.org/ASP/home.asp. (Its not just the UI and the draconic security measures; I fear that they don't have the right checks in place to prevent online fraud). Meanwhile, Chase has a nice Android app which gives me instant information about all my transactions. They detect fraudulent transactions immediately. Auto-Pay for bills. Convenience and security wins. Since this is all anecdotal experience: there was a period of time between jobs when they sneakily charged me $5 per month when I did not make a deposit in my checking account. So I do see the evil aspect is there.
- sdenton4 11y ago
  My experience has been that 'larger' credit unions end up looking more bank-like (and even share the same web interfaces these days; probably using the same SAAS provider...), but still without the evil quotient. My current credit union (Golden 1) ran a five million dollar surplus a couple years ago, and just divided it up amongst the savings accounts... But point being, bigger credit unions are generally a bit more smooth at the edges.
FiatLuxDave 11y ago
It absolutely is the reason, and was that way even before automatic transfers became common. I have left BoA three times, never having signed up as a customer. Every time I would move to a new bank, NCNB/Nationsbank/Bank of America would buy them and raise the fees. A few customers like me would leave, but enough would stay for the process to be profitable. Read up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_McColl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_McColl , the Genghis Khan of the US banking industry.

pm90 11y ago

Its kinda a big deal. I have an account with the Credit Union at my university in the Midwest and now I live in Texas. If they had a better online banking presence I would ABSOLUTELY keep my money with them. But their presence on the web is sooo incredibly dated: https://www.uiecu.org/ASP/home.asp https://www.uiecu.org/ASP/home.asp. (Its not just the UI and the draconic security measures; I fear that they don't have the right checks in place to prevent online fraud). Meanwhile, Chase has a nice Android app which gives me instant information about all my transactions. They detect fraudulent transactions immediately. Auto-Pay for bills. Convenience and security wins. Since this is all anecdotal experience: there was a period of time between jobs when they sneakily charged me $5 per month when I did not make a deposit in my checking account. So I do see the evil aspect is there.

sdenton4 11y ago
My experience has been that 'larger' credit unions end up looking more bank-like (and even share the same web interfaces these days; probably using the same SAAS provider...), but still without the evil quotient. My current credit union (Golden 1) ran a five million dollar surplus a couple years ago, and just divided it up amongst the savings accounts... But point being, bigger credit unions are generally a bit more smooth at the edges.

FiatLuxDave 11y ago

It absolutely is the reason, and was that way even before automatic transfers became common. I have left BoA three times, never having signed up as a customer. Every time I would move to a new bank, NCNB/Nationsbank/Bank of America would buy them and raise the fees. A few customers like me would leave, but enough would stay for the process to be profitable. Read up on https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_McColl https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hugh_McColl , the Genghis Khan of the US banking industry.