I'm sorry if I sound like an evangelist, but here's the thing...
Some years ago, in one week, I received three bad checks from three good customers, all drawn on one bank: Bank of America. All three clients were in their slow seasons (two were in construction and one in landscaping), and all had customarily utilized their credit lines to get through the slow season.
The reason that their checks all bounced was that BoA had canceled their credit lines without even telling them. That in turn caused some of my own checks to be NSF. But my CU in Queens didn't bounce my checks. They called me, which was how I found out that the clients' checks had bounced.
While I was still on the phone and my head was still spinning, the CU rep told me not to worry and approved an emergency credit line for me so my checks wouldn't bounce. Two of the clients were able to pay me from other sources, so I was able to pay off the loan within a few weeks. The third wound up going BK, so I had to eat his bill. But the point is that the CU worked with me, unlike BoA had with my clients.
More recently, a few years ago, I needed a fairly-large short-term loan very quickly (as in the day before). I called my CU, explained the situation, and was told to stop by the branch to sign the note and pick up the money. She'd already approved the loan. I had cash in hand about an hour after I picked up the phone. They had all the forms filled out and the check cut by the time I got to the CU.
When I bought my most recent car, I called my CU to ask about car loans. The loan officer looked at my accounts, did a soft credit pull, and told me I was pre-approved for up to some amount (I think $45,000 or $50,000) with no down payment; and that if I needed more than that, to just call her back.
I've also had CUs do things like arrange for cash to be made available to my employees or relatives who were in other states by having another CU in the places where they found themselves run a draft against my account, made out to the person in question, and then cash it for them. Sure, banks will do that for their biggest customers. But try getting them to do it for someone who's not a billionaire. Good luck with that.
And that's the kind of thing that I love about CUs. I'm no Rockefeller. But at my CUs, they treat me as if I were because guess what: I'm one of the owners.
It's a completely different experience.
I drive 27 miles each way and past at least a dozen banks to get to my local CU every time I have to deposit a check because they don't yet accept online deposits. (They will starting in March, however. Yay!) The difference really is worth that trip.
Rich
