I have seen the reports of WF dumping people for their political beliefs, and I know that they are run by the satanists. I've known for a long time that they're a corrupt company, but I've always thought that all the other banks were just as bad. But, I saw someone say that small local credit unions are better. I've looked in my area and there are literally like 50 of them (though many have membership requirements I don't meet, like a particular union membership). Anyone have some advice on how to properly vet them?
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I use USAA for my main one and a local for a brick and mortar option. For the local one, I just looked for a small one, with only a couple of branches to be honest.
I switched to USAA for my auto and homeowner's insurance about 10 years ago and don't miss my local Statefarm agent at all, plus they've been awesome with claims.
Do you use your local option a lot, or do you think a person could get away with just the USAA bank?
So I might be showing my age here. I was solely with USAA but then I sold my R1 and had $9K in cash I didn't feelcomfortable feeding that much cash into a machine and it counting it correctly. Then, I needed a bunch of cash for a down payment on leasing a house where I was moving to. Again, had to set a higher limit and hope the ATM was maintained correctly to give me what I asked it for. I know, over worrying and the machines worked fine. However, if I need a large cashier check or something, I can x-fer or write myself a check to the local CU branch and use them. I have a couple hundred go to the local CU every month but usually take it out as walking around money, dog groomer, etc.
TL:DR yes, I probably could get by with USAA alone.
Thank you, fren! The more I think about it, the more I would like to bank with USAA instead of what I have now. It isn't Wells Fargo, but I don't trust the big-name banks any more.
How often do you really need to go to the credit union? I have plenty of branches to go where I am, but I very rarely go, like less than once a year. (direct deposit, deposit by smartphone, etc.) Once in a blue moon I will go to cash in coins, but that is rare any more since I pretty much use a credit card for everything. You may not even need a nearby branch.
Still want good access to ATMs? See if they participate in something like Allpoint. I can withdraw from my credit union account from 55,000 ATMs without surcharge. https://www.allpointnetwork.com/
Make sure the credit union is insured through NCUA. https://www.gobankingrates.com/banking/credit-unions/are-credit-unions-fdic-insured-like-banks/
You might still be able to use a debit card to buy stuff and get cash back if you need some pocket cash.
I use this in Houston https://www.fccu.org/
I consider them to be a solid credit union with many branches in my area, including my grocery store. You might take a peek at their website to get an idea of what you'd want in a credit union.
I'm a business owner, so I need to go deal with the bank more often than the average person- once or a couple times a month on average. The rest of these are also good points, but are really about the convenience factor vs a big bank. I'm actually willing to be inconvenienced if it means banking with someone who isn't a commie or a satanist. Perhaps I should just check their twitter accounts for BLM and gay pride virtue signals...
I’m a business owner also and I chose my local bank over the local credit union. There where less fees and minimum wait times for check deposits. Credit unions are great for individuals but from my experience horrible for businesses, although I do know a couple people that have their business accounts at credit unions.
Yeah. I'm not sure what I'm going to do yet, I'm feeling so far that my old notion that all the banks were similarly corrupt, in which case why go through the trouble of switching to something less convenient? I'm now thinking I will walk into the smallest of the local credit unions (they have only 5 branches) and just ask to speak to an executive about their business in order to vet them. I'll steer the conversation into our "controversial" politics and see how they react. Unfortunately the mask nonsense would have been provided a great tell, if I'd walked in at the height of the shutdown maskless I'd know immediately the caliber of people working there- wish I'd done that 6 months ago.
Same here. I have good advise that ViStar is a good Credit Union to look at. Also Navy Federal Credit Union.
Smart move people. I have 2 and love them. Both are small local credit unions and if I ever have an issue I just call and they fix it up. They get to know you and remember you, no need to show 2 IDs.
For example I thought someone tried to charge on my credit card. They immediately froze the card and issued me a new card the next day. If that had happened to my big bank, I'd have to stop in to verify my latest charges, wait a month for a new card and pay $40.
I've never liked Wells Fargo or had an account with them - noticed that they always seemed to charge the highest fees out of all the banks.
We use our local county credit union. They have their own visa too so able to dump Bank of America card. Check their websites - I have been a member of several over the years, never had a problem.
Yea I need some recommendations too. Dumping Bank of America. I’m thinking Navy Federal.
Happy with Navy Federal for 40+ years.
My brother dumped Bank of America. I've been with a credit union for years, but my truck note is with BoA. Once I pay that off I won't go near BoA again.
Yikes, 50.....I only had 2 to choose from, did it just last week. I poked around on their "about us" sorts of pages. Hopefully somebody else that had a lot to choose from like you will chime in with better suggestions.
It's not as overwhelming as it first seemed, my real options are more like 6 or 7 choices. All the rest either exclude me or are a 30+ minute drive away.
Yeah, that's what I've been doing, but I feel like the information I'm getting is not important. Reading peoples reviews is just a bunch of superficial fluff, like "the teller was so nice," or "the teller was a jerk!" Neither of which tell me anything about the operating principles of the business, nor who runs it, whether they are going to stab me in the back because I have the wrong skin color or political beliefs, etc.
Bad news...all banks are run by satanists
Yeah, I'm hoping that one of the local credit unions with only like 5 branches might not be. Probably a silly hope.
That's what I was doing, but I felt like I wasn't getting very good information.