index2max wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 12:43 pm
JackoC wrote: ↑Mon May 10, 2021 9:05 am
SnowBog wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 11:16 am
index2max wrote: ↑Sun May 09, 2021 9:32 am
Personally I wouldn't touch them because I trust credit unions more in general (see 2008 bank bailouts), plus they are at a competitive advantage in not paying outside shareholders or corporate income taxes.
While structurally, I'd agree that CU's
should be able to offer better services, I'm unwilling to make that a blanket statement.
Maybe I'm jaded, but I have been with a CU my entire life. And I was sorely disappointed that we were basically getting nothing in interest for 20+ years. And when I "woke up", and looked around at options (roughly 2018), it was to find "corporate greedy banks" that were paying 100x or more in interest.
I agree. I try to leave my socio-political theories and biases behind and get the best rate. The fact that the CU is not for profit may give a warm and fuzzy feeling to some but is not directly relevant to my bottom line. The rate offered is what's relevant, however the institution achieves that rate (lack of profit, greater efficiency, a loss leader which they'll make up for with other more profitable business with some customers attracted by that good rate...but not me, etc). IME CU's usually have the best rates on term CD's if you're shopping around for *the* best rate with no consideration of location, 'service', 'one stop shop' or anything besides best rate. But not always. On savings accounts I find banks are relatively more likely to be best. In part because savings accounts aren't as purely about the rate right this second, since it can change at any time. CU's I believe are more likely to put up great rates for a short period, which is fine with CD's if you catch the deal, but savings accounts are more about the institution's commitment to being close to the best rate continuously. Also with savings accounts you're dealing with them more, transferring money in/out and that's easier (better website, higher transfer limits) with some institutions than others. I have a CD with one CU that was really painful to deal with. It was worth it for a 5 yr CD paying 1.93% more than the 5 yr note, painfully inefficient dealing two times, beginning and end, but I would not consider having a savings account with that CU.
Again I'm talking about rate shopping online. If people want a brick and mortar one stop shop with a friendly 'howdy do' that's a different thing. Although, one of our CD credit unions happens to be only a few miles from our house: at one point they happened to have the highest 5 yr CD rate nationally that we qualified for. But their service is terrible. The local BOA branch (8 minute walk) is far better on service. But that doesn't mean I'd have put money for 5 yrs at BOA at 0.5% or whatever completely uncompetitive rate they were giving when that CU was offering 3.1% (awhile back, obviously). I deal with BOA for free on stuff that's favorable to me (mainly, 2.625%>5.25% credit card cashback and no minimum balance on checking account by keeping $100k+ of ETF's parked at Merrill) Then if I actually need a signature guarantee, foreign wire transfer etc. I can walk over and get it, and their service is quite efficient and friendly enough for me (people's taste on that also varies).
1. I settled on being a CU-only kind of guy because I have a say in how they do things as a member who is also part-owner. As a bank customer, I have no say in things, unless I am a shareholder too. CUs only have one master to serve: their members. It's just like how Vanguard only has its clients to serve and no outside shareholders like at Blackrock or Fidelity.
2. If you are a very-high-net-worth individual, maybe a bank might better suit your needs. As far as getting medallion signature guarantees etc. my credit unions offer those things for free too. Bank of America definitely isn't any better when it comes to that stuff.
3. Remember when Wells Fargo and Bank of America were going to charge debit card holders $5/month as a service fee? Credit Unions don't have to nickel and dime their members like that.
4. If your local CU has crappy service, all I can suggest is to go to another one. I'd say the same thing if your local bank was no good. Not all banks or credit unions are created equal. Some branches within the same financial institution have lousy staff
5. If you have tens of thousands of dollars worth of cash to store at higher interest, if you're married, you can easily park $20,000 each at Evansville CU, $15,000 each at LMCU, and put $3500 each in savings accounts at Service CU. This way you maintain maximum liquidity for the upcoming market crash, while preserving your interest rate. HMBradley would punish you with a rate cut for that.
1. Again I look to the bottom line. I came to mainly use Vanguard because their mutual fund/ETF ER's were low. The fact 'they have no shareholders to please' is to me meaningless theory. The practical fact was lower ER. Now Vanguard's advantage in stock fund ER's is smaller or gone in some cases, despite their competitors being public stock companies, but I have too much unrealized capital gain to switch equity funds over small ER differences, and no particular reason to hold Vanguard funds somewhere else. And, Vanguard still tends to have a significant advantage in bond fund ER's. But the corporate structure itself has no direct bearing. It's the bottom line difference, if there is.
2. Everyone has their own definitions of 'very high NW', but getting the best cash back on credit cards in the market at BOA (cash, not airline miles/points which is a different game) only requires parking $100k in ETF's at Merrill for free. That's worth $1-2k a year for me. Then, for the incidentals that anyone can do (signature gtee) BOA also can, and the stuff some small bank/CU's have trouble with, like foreign wires, again BOA can, and 8 minutes walk (there's a local bank not CU next door to BOA, but their service also sucks, I tried them). I'm not seeing how I come out ahead forcing myself to use just CU's or why my practical view would be limited to 'very high net worth', though I'm not saying I don't qualify (but if you say you do, gteed there will be a post redefining it to just above your NW
).
3. I don't pay BOA anything. What other people pay is their problem.
4. The crappy service at that CU is fine for that CD because it was the highest rate nationally when purchased, my point, and as I said was my point. It's no reason to accept a lower CD rate somewhere else, but also no reason to move other business there. Nor is there any *practical* reason I can see to seek out a CU for the sake of it being a CU. If a CU's rate is No.1 nationally for the CD maturity I need (among deals I qualify for), I do it. That's pretty much it.
5. On amounts much more than that in total including CD portfolio not only savings accounts. And I interpret the topic here 'best CD and high yields savings' to mean rates, not some socio-political attitude about banks v CU's, nor some basically imaginary 'say' I'd have as one member of a CU in how it's run (a smidgen more than jack). I aim to be pretty strictly practical with money and save my impractical quirks for other contexts.