It used to be that one could only join a creditunion if you were an employee or member of a certain group of people. It seems nowadays that some creditunions can take anybody by joining an association.
I've compiled the following list of creditunions that offer access through an association:
in raleigh, you can join Coastal Federal CreditUnion (IBM's CU) by joining the NC Consumers Union. Cost me a one time $18 fee to do that, but the savings rates were +1% higher, so I made that back in a matter of months in interest alone. their mortgage rates aren't as good as some of the other ones, but it's a great friendly, low cost CU for anyone intersted.
www.meadowscu.com (you must have an e-mail address in order to join )
Update: in responce to the quesiton from kaiotes why Meadows: - free eChecking (no min balance) with direct deposit (no min deposit amount), bill pay has unlimited # of inbound ACH transfers and 2 free outbound ACH transfers per month (there is a 25K a month limit on the total amount of tranfers per month). - good customer service
Why penfed: - CD rates - auto loan rates - good customer service
so why you want to join a CU, whats wrong w/ the big ones? they all pretty much provide the same service no? big ones have more atms, more convienent, fess are very similiar..
zeego said:Their cashback Visa looks very good----z https://www.apply123.com/apply123/home.php The .tif links for the various card choices, and the tiers on the CashBack card specifically, look exactly like the InfiniBank Principal CashBack VISA card. Hmmm
You must be new, kaiotes. Creditunions typically offer higher savings rates and lower fees and borrowing rates than big banks. PenFed is a prime example. True, you often don't get access to a huge network of ATMs with creditunions, but that's about the only disadvantage.
JCranfill said:http://www.allegacy.org/ they 1.9% auto loans for up to 24 month. Do you know if it's easy to qualify for those or do you have to have 900 credit score and 100 years credit history?
Might be possible loan rates are lower, are their savings rates higher than ING or Virtual banks'? Since OP looking for CU, as mentioned, it must be real region specifc, kinda hard to find one as FW members are all located across the country..
curbcrusher said:You must be new, kaiotes. Creditunions typically offer higher savings rates and lower fees and borrowing rates than big banks. PenFed is a prime example. True, you often don't get access to a huge network of ATMs with creditunions, but that's about the only disadvantage.
kaiotes said:Might be possible loan rates are lower, are their savings rates higher than ING or Virtual banks'? Since OP looking for CU, as mentioned, it must be real region specifc, kinda hard to find one as FW members are all located across the country..
kaiotes said:Might be possible loan rates are lower,
It's not a might. PenFed is currently offering 3.9% for 60 months on new and used cars. BofA's current cheapest loan rate is 8.35% for 60 months. Seems stupid to go with "the big ones" if you want an auto loan today.
are their savings rates higher than ING or Virtual banks'?
Not that I am aware of, but ING and Virtual Bank aren't "the big ones" with "more atms" that you referred to in your first post, so their rates do nothing to support your point that there is no difference between CUs and "the big ones."
Since OP looking for CU, as mentioned, it must be real region specifc, kinda hard to find one as FW members are all located across the country..
Another inidication you must be new. The Internet has made location irrelevant.
fotomaniak said:JCranfill said:http://www.allegacy.org/ they 1.9% auto loans for up to 24 month. Do you know if it's easy to qualify for those or do you have to have 900 credit score and 100 years credit history?
Don't know. I use a different CU that is also local to me, but is more stringent on who can join.
Allegacy has really started advertisng EVERYWHERE in town lately tho.
Great to see so many creditunion choices which the internet has made accessible. But to join Allegacy, like Penfed, you need to contribute to a non-profit organization (which they dub 'Association'). I wonder if there is any indirect kickback to the creditunion, like feeling obliged to keep their business accounts there. It's OK with me, sounds win-win, but forcing us to donate to become a creditunion member is somewhat tactless....JMO
it would be nice to post a little info about each CU in the first post i.e. what are the most attractive features/offers/rates. http://www.allegacy.org/ has 1.9% apr on auto loans for 2 years or less, PenFed has good CD & auto loan rates, what about other CUs mentioned above?
Affinity FCU gives 1% cash back on BT. www.affinityfcu.org
It's not open to all, but it serves many companies mostly in NJ, including AT&T and other giants. Relatives of members (or of those who qualify for membership?) are also eligeable.
I use them because (1) their ATM is a few yards away from my office and (2) they have 2.25% APR on IRA CDs.
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