topic Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State in Credit Cards

Local Bank/CU for Your State

Girlzilla88 — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:47:59 GMT

On a seperate topic this was brought up so I thought it might be cool to post on some CU's/local Banks to help people searching for local business/cards (even ones that you have access to if you don't have an actual building you can also add it if you would like just put NFCU Access for example and your state if you don't have the Building to literally go into) if they saw one they haven't heard of or didn't know to search for and we could possibly help that way?!

I am in Ga and I know we have Ga's Own and NFCU here although I'm sure NF is pretty popular maybe you didn't know Ga had it's own CU?!......Keep it going!

Navy Federal CU-GA

Ga's Own CU-GA

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

gdale6 — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 17:45:27 GMT

ID-Idaho Central CU

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

UpperNwGuy — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:28:25 GMT

The Navy Federal Credit Union and the Pentagon Federal Credit Union were both founded in Washington DC prior to World War II. Both entities went through a couple of name changes and moved from DC to Virginia after the war. Both credit unions are headquartered in the Virginia suburbs of Washington DC and have branches in many states. I would consider them to be nationwide credit unions rather than local to the DC metro area.

Washington DC, where I live, has a lot of credit unions. Some serve branches of the DC government, like the DC Teachers FCU. Others focus on specific neighborhoods, like the Lafayette FCU. Some serve universities, like the Georgetown University Alumni and Student FCU. Others serve specific federal agencies, such as the Department of Commerce FCU. Members of this forum have written about getting credit cards from the NASA FCU, the State Department FCU, and the Andrews FCU.

We used to have local banks, but they've nearly all been absorbed into the major nationwide banks over the past few decades. I can walk to branches of Chase, Citibank, Bank of America, Wells Fargo, Capital One, TD Bank, PNC Bank, BB&T, SunTrust, etc.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:40:18 GMT

https://www.creditunionsonline.com/search_usa.html

lists CUs by state

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Girlzilla88 — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:46:14 GMT

@Anonymous LOL Awesome! Ty for that

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

BmoreBull — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 18:52:32 GMT

I'm in Maryland, so we have SECU of MD. I think it's pretty popular around here. I work for NIH, so they have NIHFCU. So far I've joined Navy, SECU, PenFed, and Andrews FCU.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:03:45 GMT

@Anonymous wrote:
https://www.creditunionsonline.com/search_usa.html

lists CUs by state

Yep I use that site from time to time looking to see if there are any gems with membership loopholes.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:08:46 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
I'm in Maryland, so we have SECU of MD. I think it's pretty popular around here. I work for NIH, so they have NIHFCU. So far I've joined Navy, SECU, PenFed, and Andrews FCU.

SECU is the best in the area

Easier approvals, no/minimal POI, open membership; it was apped for by a handful of people here too with most people getting 20k+

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Tue, 15 Sep 2020 19:10:12 GMT

Colorado CUs aren't really anything special IMO but we have quite a few of them.

Bellco, Ent, SSFCU, Colorado Credit Union, On Tap (previously Coors CU), Westerra, Premier Members CU, and Canvas are some of our big ones.

Space Age FCU is one of the few CUs I have seen that has a card that is fixed at the prime rate with no annual fee but they have a really tight fence. I can apparently get through the fence if I use the credit union match website but I don't really have use for another low interest card.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

UpperNwGuy — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 01:55:49 GMT

@BmoreBull wrote:
I'm in Maryland, so we have SECU of MD. I think it's pretty popular around here. I work for NIH, so they have NIHFCU. So far I've joined Navy, SECU, PenFed, and Andrews FCU.

Do you have any of the NIHFCU's credit cards? It appears from their website that their two Visa Signature rewards cards are both excellent. One has 3% on dining, groceries, and gas, and the other has 3% on groceries, dining, and travel. But these are described as "enhanced rewards through 2020." Not sure what that means for 2021.

I also notice that most of their branches are still closed because of COVID-19. Has that been a problem? The branch closest to me is in Sibley Hospital, and it's been closed since March.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 02:35:12 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
ID-Idaho Central CU

Love ICCU - they gave me my first car loan!

do you know how their UW is these days?

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 02:42:22 GMT

California Coast Credit Union

- Customer service is underwhelming, but they have some great rates for their products - even beat NFCU for a loan & CD Ladder

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Girlzilla88 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 16:06:30 GMT

@Anonymous Awesome

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

SecretAzure — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 18:22:39 GMT

People here talk about CU's like a God-send and I'm sure they are for some in certain predicaments but the few in FL are trash. Most are employer-access only. I've been banking with a popular one here, Space Coast Credit Union, and honestly, they never did or offered anything special for me. They are pretty much state-wide. When I was starting out, they wouldn't extend me credit. They suggested I start with a store card, and then get a "prime" card and then when those age I may be considered. Mind you, while I personally had limited savings in my bank account, it was still linked to my parent's accounts who had a good share of savings with them. They offer a decent 2% CB card (before they were cool) if you had a large amount in your savings with them. Lower tiered members would get 1%-1.5%. Really no frills here and the APR was middling to boot.

When I financed a car with them the rate was also not the lowest around but we did it with them because they were in the ball park and we knew they didn't have predatory practices. It was still not easy (wanted all sorts of documents for a transfer of ownership from my parents to me). Their online systems suck. Their app is their website in a wrapper. They added TouchID around the time FaceID came out and they're still the only card I know of from a major-ish banking type organization to not be on Apple Pay. A CSR told me it might not be until 2022. If it wasn't for the convenience of receiving my paycheck a day early and the decent APR on the savings, I would not still be with them.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Slabenstein — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 19:39:09 GMT

I love CUs, but I don't have any CU cards currently. The two CUs I'm in are:

Creighton Federal: Joined this one back when I was in college. Field of membership is different orgs in Omaha, NE, including Creighton University. Their rewards card isn't impressive, but they do have a flat 14.9% apr Visa that isn't tied to prime that might be good for a rebuilder. IIRC, their rates for personal and used auto loans are decent. It's a small CU, so it has a lot of the disadvantages that come with that: clunky webpage, no app, tech from the 90s, lots of documentation for UW. But I also love them, in part b/c they're small and in part b/c I know so many people that work there. I'm not actively banking with them right now, but if they don't kick me out I'll probably never leave.

Cobalt FCU: This was originally the CU for SAC at Offutt Air Force Base, but they became community based after SAC ended and eventually changed their name. Also been a member here for a long time, and a tiny PLOC I have with them is my oldest account. Their field of membership is counties in eastern NE and western IA. They've become much more like a big bank since I joined, so I don't like them as much. (At one point, they "automatically upgraded" my savings account to one that charged a monthly fee.) Nothing special about their credit cards.

I haven't looked much into the CUs that are available to us since we moved, but if anyone has any recommendations for good ones in MN, I'd appreciate it!

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Girlzilla88 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 21:01:53 GMT

@Slabenstein There is a Link that LongtimeLurker posted on my first page here that may help you find some local to your new state.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Anonymous — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 21:39:48 GMT

@SecretAzure wrote:
People here talk about CU's like a God-send and I'm sure they are for some in certain predicaments but the few in FL are trash.

Yes, not all are good! Looking at a bunch of semi-local ones that I am eligible for, I find this amazing credit card:

Earn 1 point for every net $1 you spend, plus get a 50% BONUS (that's equivalent to 1.5 points) on all points earned every month, automatically.
$50 cash back with your first purchase.
$50 annual fee

$50 AF for a 1.5% card (assuming points can be redeemed for 1cpp!) OK, good SUB, but that just does the first year

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

Slabenstein — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 22:00:30 GMT

@Girlzilla88 wrote:
@Slabenstein There is a Link that LongtimeLurker posted on my first page here that may help you find some local to your new state.

I know the names of most of the ones around here and I've looked over their websites some. I was just hoping someone here had experience with one or more of them.

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

woodyman100 — Wed, 16 Sep 2020 23:36:32 GMT

@gdale6 wrote:
ID-Idaho Central CU

Love this CU. Got a 25k card right out of the box

Re: Local Bank/CU for Your State

sxa001 — Thu, 17 Sep 2020 00:42:54 GMT

I have looked at the local credit unions around here (University Federal Credit Union, Austin Telco, Amplify, and some others) nothing so far as really caught my eye. I will admit for years I never really paid any attention to what was out there from a banking products perspective, I joined NASA for novelty and have used Chase as my primary checking for 10 years. I would love to find a local credit union that is as good as DCU or AOD with having at least one really good product (like a 3% everything card or a 6% rate on a savings account).

If any Central Texas (Austin Metro) folks know of any good choices around here to add to the list, I would love to hear suggestions.