this post was submitted on 29 Aug 2024
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I've had quite a few credit unions. I learned early on that there's a banking regulation that prevents banks from pulling a payment that you didn't specifically authorize for a loan or credit card from a checking/savings account at the same bank regardless of how overdue it is.
I also learned the hard way that Credit Unions are exempt from this and the MFs caused me to nearly miss a rent payment, yes yes debts are debts and you should pay them, but sometimes you need to prioritize limited funds and an unsecured credit card payment is almost always going to be rock bottom compared to a fucking rent or mortgage payment. And no, they would not reverse the payment they took.
I did learn a valuable lesson though, spread your accounts fucking everywhere. A checking at one bank, a savings at a different one, auto loan somewhere else, credit cards somewhere else. Thanks NFCU! Because of you I now have a WEB of accounts lmao
Other than that, CUs are nearly always lacking on the tech side of things and make asinine decisions like not being able to set your own username on account creation and have to wait on your "User ID" (probably account number) to be mailed to you.
Customer service is usually good, as long as you don't expect longer CS hours, usually closes around 8PM. Rates are good, lower fees and not nearly as many BS fees and that almost makes up for the cons
Have NFCU for my mortgage and car loan and it is absolutely astonishing to see how behind they are in tech. To set up autopay on the car note they wanted me to send in a form and wait something like 6 weeks, and I got no interest discount or anything for doing it. Ended up setting up autopay through my regular bank online in about 3 minutes and said forget it.
Fair enough but if you have the means, NFCU has almost no cost. I get something small but like .4% interest on my checking account. Their credit card has no annual fee and I average $800 a year in cash back benefits from it. Other than buying paper checks, I've not paid them one penny for any services, a way better deal than I was getting at BofA.
Wow.. there’s a gem of knowledge for sure.