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There's already a solution for what is wrong with banks: credit unions. They just don't waste money on advertising so they get less visibility than they should

• christophilus 8y ago
  I'll second this. I used to do a good bit of work for credit unions. Every one of our clients were great folks who genuinely were trying to do the best thing for their customers. I'm a happy customer of USAA and Simple. If they didn't exist, I'd use a credit union. Without question.
  • wffurr 8y ago
    USAA is the next best thing, an employee-owned cooperative.
  • kasey_junk 8y ago
    Usaa is the single best “bank” in the USA. Unfortunately their charter prevents lots of places from using them. I’ll note they are much different than a “small” credit union in terms of reach & technology.
    • leetcrew 8y ago
      i have a zero fee, zero minimum account with schwab that also gives me access to their ETFs with no trade commissions or monthly limits, and the ETFs themselves have extremely low expense ratios. also they reimburse any ATM fees in full every month. what advantages does Usaa have over this setup?
      • wffurr 8y ago
        Among others, USAA doesn't require a brokerage account to bank with them. I don't think it's really a comparable situation. In their competitor comparison[1], you'll note they don't list USAA or any credit unions, because it would look basically the same as the Schwab account. Low or no fees, low or no minimum balance, decent interest rates, etc. There's no reason for you to switch, either, but not everyone needs or wants a Schwab brokerage account too. [1]: https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checking_account#account-basics https://www.schwab.com/public/schwab/banking_lending/checkin...
        • volgo 8y ago
          Schwab refunds unlimited ATM fee, whereas USAA refunds up to $15. Schwab also has worldwide no foreign transaction fee, something that USAA doesn't have. IMO Schwab is still the best because I travel a lot. There's no downside to keeping an empty brokerage account
        • spyspy 8y ago
          They open the brokerage account when you open a checking account with them, but you're not required to fund or use it. I use it for my personal investing and love that when I overdraft my checking it just immediately takes it from cash in my brokerage (rather than savings which has a limit on monthly withdrawals or charging me a fee). There have even been times when there wasn't enough cash in my brokerage acct and it just went negative.. I didn't let it stay that long enough to find out if there were any consequences but for the few days it was like that there weren't any.
      • kasey_junk 8y ago
        USAA is one of the most progressive banks in the country technologically speaking as well. They had 2FA deployed long before everyone else, app money transfers, picture check deposits and lots of other things long before any of their competitors. USAA also usually has very competitive personal loan rates and mortgage rates. Their insurance rates are usually unbelievable. Their customer service is top rated as well.
        • sk5t 8y ago
          I keep checking in with USAA on auto insurance, and they consistently quote double my current premiums... they may have a bias against quick cars, though.
          • kasey_junk 8y ago
            They almost certainly do due to their population of 19 year old customers with more money than they’ve ever had before. It’s a cliche joke at this point... *not a joke the military death rate on motorcycles...
      • spyspy 8y ago
        I will defend Schwab to the death. I belong to a credit union as well for physical cash depositing purposes, but use Schwab for every other banking need. I can pull out currency from any ATM that supports Visa in the world for free - that's worth its weight in gold. Their customer service has been top notch as well - I've called them to ask questions about services that they don't even offer and gotten informative answers about how and where to go about it.
        • leetcrew 8y ago
          i've never actually tried this, but i believe you can deposit relatively small amounts of physical cash into a schwab account at an ATM. i am lucky to have a branch near me, where i have only ever received excellent service, but i could imagine that a credit union could have better customer service overall.
    • cbnotfromthere 8y ago
      What's the issue with their charter?
• pjmorris 8y ago
  Early in 2008, on principle, we switched from a 'Too Big To Fail' bank to a credit union. It was a pain, and is occasionally inconvenient, but that pain is outweighed by the satisfaction in reading the headlines and being glad I'm not funding them anymore.
  • scrollaway 8y ago
    Could you explain to a non-american how using a credit union differs from using a bank in the US? And how it's more painful?
    • pjmorris 8y ago
      No difference, apart from the credit union being local and beholden, primarily, to people in the community. Using the credit union wasn't the painful part, closing our old accounts and opening new ones was. We had too many accounts at one time, a function of having recently married, running my own business, and having a group of investment accounts.
    • clintonb 8y ago
      Credit unions are non-profit member-owned cooperatives. You as a customer/member are the owner of the credit union, thus the credit union has an onus to have lower fees/loan rates but higher savings rates. Banks on the other hand are owned by shareholders. This can lead to a race to the bottom in terms of customer service in the name of keeping expenses low. Full disclosure: I serve on the board of a credit union; although, I also hold accounts at banks.
  • jack9 8y ago
    > that pain is outweighed by the satisfaction in reading the headlines and being glad I'm not funding them anymore. The lack of simple usage (account, transaction) fees, better interest rates, and better account security features do it for me.
• mratzloff 8y ago
  I banked with Washington Mutual before it was swallowed by JP Morgan Chase during the financial crash. I was so disgusted by the entire thing that I switched to BECU, a credit union in Washington State. I like them so much that despite moving across the country I continue to use them.
• 1123581321 8y ago
  Credit unions advertise in their local markets, mostly through traditional media. They also contribute to national campaigns to raise awareness of credit unions and drive audiences to credit union finder websites. Also, some with federal charters who excel at specific products (like PenFed) advertise on websites that aggregate information about that product, like BankRate. They are less visible than large banks because their budgets are smaller and the pooled campaigns suffer from committee problems. They aren’t any less visible than local/regional banks, though. (I worked at a credit union.) Edit: A credit union wouldn’t consider advertising a waste, either. Their thinking: 1) A certain number of members is needed to keep yields and rates competitive by reducing fixed costs per account or loan. 2) Growth makes new services possible; banking is competitive. 3) Marketing makes it more difficult for new entrants to expand into an area; local credit unions in particular believe there is a level of competition above and below which a community is not served as well as they could be.
  • wffurr 8y ago
    Come to think of it, I have seen a few DCU ads.
• kylehotchkiss 8y ago
  Navy Federal has been so good. Their Web UI is enjoyable, their branches are nice to visit, and their auto loan rates are quite competitive.