topic Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union? in Personal Finance

Is anyone here 100% credit union?

toothgrind3r — Mon, 30 May 2016 20:05:23 GMT

Anyone here do all of there banking needs with credit unions?

Checking, savings, credit cards, rewards cards, maybe even insurance?

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

elim — Mon, 30 May 2016 20:17:16 GMT

2 years ago I walked into a CU that is literally 2 blocks away. The cool part is that there is an alley from my residential street to their back door. Since then I have paid 99% of my CC's and Bills from my checking account at their branch.

I grabbed a small LOC at the 1 year mark (just before they changed hands and I had to revamp tons of "pay from" account settings) but never bothered with any other Credit Products because there are better products elsewhere.

I think you will be hard pushed to find someone that has all their eggs in 1 CU basket on this forum, lol.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

toothgrind3r — Mon, 30 May 2016 21:02:40 GMT

@elim wrote:

I think you will be hard pushed to find someone that has all their eggs in 1 CU basket on this forum, lol.

Hahhaha...yeah...but I think I'm gonna make that my goal. I don't mean just 1 CU...it can be multiple CU's. But I would like to phase the Big banks outta my life over time.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

mongstradamus — Mon, 30 May 2016 21:48:03 GMT

For most of my banking its done all with CU, i have an local CU in my town for emergencies and then i have alliant CU where bulk of money is in their interest checking and savings accounts.

I do have some money not in an CU but that is for 5 year cds , currently with ally. I am probably going to be moiving money to barclays since ally is severely reducing their 5 year cd rates.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

RonM21 — Mon, 30 May 2016 23:54:48 GMT

Ingeresting you.asked that question. I was wondering what It would be like just having CU's, as I have 3, technically 4 because a place called Kinecta got my car loan. But I have FenFed, Alliance, and NFCU.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

toothgrind3r — Tue, 31 May 2016 00:53:15 GMT

@RM21 wrote:
Ingeresting you.asked that question. I was wondering what It would be like just having CU's, as I have 3, technically 4 because a place called Kinecta got my car loan. But I have FenFed, Alliance, and NFCU.

Yeah, I have Alliant, been with them for a while, which I really like for my banking needs, but not credit cards.

I joined PenFed, and am in the process of joining NFCU.

I'm looking at either CashRewards or Flagship Rewards from NFCU, which I think could replace my Quicksilver/Venture.

As for PenFed, I think the Promise, if I could get a good APR, to replace my Ring.

I need to do more research for insurance (renters and car).

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

adavis425 — Tue, 31 May 2016 16:33:37 GMT

@toothgrind3r wrote:
Anyone here do all of there banking needs with credit unions?
Checking, savings, credit cards, rewards cards, maybe even insurance?

100% CU (2) here and would have it no other way!! I steer friends and family away from banks at every oppurtunity.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Anonymous — Tue, 31 May 2016 19:05:17 GMT

It's hard to do CU only for credit cards. You have to give up on things like the CITI Double Cash with it's 2% cash back. What credit card from a CU matches that?

Also, for high interest savings account, Ally is 1%, and while my local CU offers a higher rate for a limited balance, it's not higher in general. For example, my savings account at BECU only gets a higher rate for the first $500 per account--I have checking and savings, so that's $1000. I need more than that in my emergency fund, so I use Ally's 1% account for my emergency money.

But for everything else I use my CU. It's my main checking account backed by a personal line of credit. Would that I could use them for credit card and savings...

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Anonymous — Tue, 31 May 2016 20:59:46 GMT

I have one AmEx and a couple B of A credit cards that I no longer use, but all of my banking is 100% CU.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Gmood1 — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 00:18:01 GMT

If you have a way into USAA. Their insurance is tough to beat. It's not a credit union though.

My main banking is with a CU. The rates are double that of Ally who I also bank with.

Alliant has better checking account rates than Ally and equal savings account rates.

I use each bank, CU or financial institution for different perks.

I'm a member of NASA FCU , PenFed FCU , Navy FCU, Alliant FCU, Xcel FCU, SDFCU, Kinetic FCU, USAA, Ally and Fidelity banking.

I like having choices for auto loans, home loans or other credit products in the future.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

toothgrind3r — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 02:23:39 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:

It's hard to do CU only for credit cards. You have to give up on things like the CITI Double Cash with it's 2% cash back. What credit card from a CU matches that?

Also, for high interest savings account, Ally is 1%, and while my local CU offers a higher rate for a limited balance, it's not higher in general. For example, my savings account at BECU only gets a higher rate for the first $500 per account--I have checking and savings, so that's $1000. I need more than that in my emergency fund, so I use Ally's 1% account for my emergency money.

But for everything else I use my CU. It's my main checking account backed by a personal line of credit. Would that I could use them for credit card and savings...

I could do somethng like NFCU CashRewards at 1.5% back instead of the DoubleCash. That wouldn't kill me. I was a rewards chaser once I finished rebuilding my credit, and got excited at the approvals I was getting, but now I'm more into simplicity. All my other cards, with their perks, are nice, but far from a necessity. Sure, I'll be giving some perks up to go all CU, but it's a sacrifice I'm willing to make.

Alliant savings is at 1% at the moment. 0.7% for checking. But I don't really keep a lot of money in checking/savings...I definitely don't use it as a tool to grow a lot.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

toothgrind3r — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 02:25:11 GMT

@Gmood1 wrote:
If you have a way into USAA. Their insurance is tough to beat. It's not a credit union though.
My main banking is with a CU. The rates are double that of Ally who I also bank with.
Alliant has better checking account rates than Ally and equal savings account rates.
I use each bank, CU or financial institution for different perks.
I'm a member of NASA FCU , PenFed FCU , Navy FCU, Alliant FCU, Xcel FCU, SDFCU, Kinetic FCU, USAA, Ally and Fidelity banking.

I like having choices for auto loans, home loans or other credit products in the future.

Yeah I've heard great things about the USAA insurance, but I don't have an in with them.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

surferchris — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 06:21:41 GMT

Not 100% for credit cards, but all other banking is 100% credit union. I am with two now, but am adding NFCU and at least 1 more next month. I also use the credit unions for life insurance, and will be adding an auto loan. Credit unions usually wave atm fees at ATM's other than your CU. Some credit unions have shared banking (meaning you can treat another credit union like your own - in terms of banking). They also generally treat you better, than the big banks.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Anonymous — Wed, 01 Jun 2016 21:10:56 GMT

Not for CC but for banking I'm 100% CU

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Anonymous — Sat, 04 Jun 2016 09:20:56 GMT

@toothgrind3r wrote:
Anyone here do all of there banking needs with credit unions?
Checking, savings, credit cards, rewards cards, maybe even insurance?

Yes for Checking, Savings, insurance. I do have CU credit cards however not all are from a CU. I just axed BofA and transferred everything to NFCU and today I am cancelling my BofA CC. Im done with conventional banks. USAA has been more than amazing to me and PENFED is growing on me. NFCU is right up there with USAA.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Imperfectfuture — Sun, 05 Jun 2016 01:35:47 GMT

I have three CUs (maybe later more if the NFCU joining process holds up). I get the lowest interest rates, highest return on savings and checking, the ability to do share secured loans at very low rates ad infinitum. BUT, my better cash back rewards come from big banks. So there it is. Sallie Mae, amex, chase, Citi, Discover will stay in my wallet. I only need a few credit union accounts to optimize risk score.

Nothing wrong with mixing good return CUs with good cash back big bank cards.

Re: Is anyone here 100% credit union?

Broke_Triathlete — Tue, 07 Jun 2016 17:37:06 GMT

I used CU's for banking. I no longer use big banks like BOA, Chase, etc. I remember when I was trying to freeze data miner's reports they had on me and one (I'd have to dig up the name) had a running daily balance of my BOA checking account. I couldn't beleive it. I immediately froze that report, and closed my BOA accounts immediately. I don't want that kind of stuff being sent to other companines that have NO business knowing what my bank accounts have in them.