Some specific questions about local credit unions

[siderea]

There's been lots of good information here in the past about local credit unions. I have some questions for local customers about their credit unions:

1) One of the CUs I investigated was a little more forthcoming than the others, and alerted me that their savings account has a six-withdrawal limit per month . Is that a legal max? (I know it is for money market accounts.) Does your CU have a monthly cap on savings account withdrawals? [ETA: h/t to joyeuxnoel re law, see thread below. The CU in question charges a fee for the 7th and subsequent withdrawals, but allows them. The question thus becomes, "Does your CU charge for withdrawals at any point?"]

2) There was lots of feedback here about various CUs' web based banking and phone customer service, but nothing about the quality of automated phone banking. Part of why I retained a BoA account was that Wainwright's phone system was awful.[*] Anybody do things like transfer funds and pay credit card bills via their CU's phone system, and care to share a review?

3) I don't have a scanner, an iPhone, an Android phone, or direct deposit. (*sigh*) I have to deposit a paycheck manually once every two weeks. The other part of why I retained a BoA account was the ubiquity of ATMs (that accept deposits!), so I can easily deposit my pay without going too far out of my way. I'm not delighted by the idea of mailing in my checks and having to wait that much longer for them to get there and clear. I go through Davis and Porter frequently. Is your CU convenient for deposits under these circumstances?

4) Speaking of ATMs, how does your CU fair? How ubiquitous are ATMs I would be able to use for free with your CU?

5) My employer doesn't do direct deposit, and I don't use debit cards to make purchases. Does your favorite CU have a checking+savings account product which is free without direct deposit, debit card purchase minimum, or a balance minimum over $25?

6) My BoA credit card provides me with a reward point system, redeemable for a great variety of services, which I've been milking for all its worth, esp. for hotel stays. Does your CU offer a credit card with a reward system I might like?

7) If your CU has a very local branch in Porter or Davis that is open any variety of late on Friday or Saturday, please sing out. (Those are basically the only days on which I'd be able to go into a branch if I need to, so places open after 3:30pm are really appreciated.)

* "You would like to transfer between your two linked accounts? Sure! We can't tell which they are though, so enter the entire account number of your target account now! Okay, that looks like a valid account number, so we'll transfer your money into it, whomever it may belong to! Wouldn't it be nice if we could tell you whether or not that's your account? Too bad! Want to confirm the new balance of the target account? Navigate back up to 'Check Balance' and enter the number again, tra la!"

Comments

[joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com]

I can't weigh in much on your other questions but as far as the first one goes, it's Federally mandated that savings accounts have a maximum six withdrawals/transfers. I don't know if there's a monetary amount (I don't think there is) just a transaction amount. This should be the same at every bank and credit union. Although some banks may add a fee to the sixth withdrawal/transfer.

[siderea]

It is? I'm pretty sure I've made a heck of a lot more withdrawals in a month from my BoA savings (not checking! savings!) account. Not recently, but last year, it was my convention to make a withdrawal about every other day or every third day. ETA: I've pulled my folder of statements from BoA last year, and yeah, I don't think I have a month where I made as few as 6 ATM withdrawals from my savings accounts.

[joyeuxnoel.livejournal.com]

Apparently the method in which you make those transactions depends as to whether or not it accounts against the limit? Which doesn't make sense to me but, hey. [Wiki Link (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Regulation_D_%28FRB%29)]

[siderea]

Far out! This seems to change the nature of my question. The USAlliance FCU application reads, in the section about savings accounts: "Six withdrawals permitted per month. Withdrawals exceeding 6 per month will incur a fee for each additional withdrawal." That would seem to be a Wacky Thing USAlliance Does. So my question becomes, "Do other CUs do the same Wacky Thing?"

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Do they actually publish their fee schedule anywhere on their site? I can't find it.

[siderea]

Not for checking or savings accounts that I can see. The information I got was in the PDF you receive when you click on "Click here for an application." (https://www.usalliance.org/html/Checking-app.pdf)

They have PDF (sorry, don't know where I found it) of their loan and credit rates.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Yeah, found all those.

Hmm, the packet of papers I was given on joining doesn't seem to have fees either, just the rates. O_o

[siderea]

Yeah. There really otta be a law about that. :/

[belladonna.livejournal.com]

Ha! I was going to say the same thing. The BoA instant transfer and Keep The Change program are two of the reasons why I stay with them despite knowing better.

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

I use MITFCU and don't do very much complicated with them. But for 4, they're a member of SUM and reimburse (limited) ATM fees for elsewhere, which is similar to free, so that's another option to check with respect to the ubiquity of free-to-use ATMs.

[siderea]

Do they do that automagically? Or do you have to go through some rigamarole to get the reimbursal?

ETA Also, to clarify, transactions within SUM are free?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

It's automatic, and yes, SUM has no fee. Looking at the fees now, I see that there's a limit of 8 free non-MIT ATM/POS transactions per month, though, so it would definitely be less free if I used them more.

[siderea]

That's great to know! Thanks! Does the 'tute have an ATM up our way? Or does one have to trek down to campus?

[firstfrost.livejournal.com]

No, just near campus.

[antimony.livejournal.com]

You can't deposit at a SUM ATM, however -- just withdraw. And it's $5/month that they reimburse in ATM fees, all automagically. For me, I just try to avoid more than 2 withdrawals a month.

EDIT: at least with MITFCU, you can't. They are pretty quick about depositing mailed checks -- I do so occasionally.

[siderea]

Oh, hmm. Thanks, that's useful to know. Is the inability to deposit at a SUM ATM a policy thing, or a legal thing, or a hardware thing, do you know?

[antimony.livejournal.com]

I don't know -- it startled me, moving up from Ohio, where you could deposit at any ATM, to find that every single bank or credit union up here insisted on deposits only at their own ATMs. I expect it's a legal thing, because I've never seen anyone try to offer it as a selling point.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Credit unions that are members of NYCE Shared Deposit allow you to deposit checks at any NYCE ATM. HUECU is part of that program.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

Sounds like you might not actually want a Credit Union, because they don't offer a lot of bells and whistles. What you may want to consider, though, is a local bank like Cambridge Savings or East Cambridge Savings because they have many of the Bank of America benefits without the drawbacks. Cambridge Savings I think even has an account where they reimburse for ATM fees from other banks.

Not having direct deposit is a challenge, though.

[siderea]

Yeah, I'm not appreciating the extra fee for the self-employed. (I'm not yet -- I just have an employer who has recently made it into the 20th century and I suppose I should be grateful I'm not being paid in an envelop of cash -- but I hope to be within a year. The additional fee for people who aren't employees is starting to look like flat out bigotry.)

ETA: Also, in fairness, I don't think "I can deposit my paycheck there" is a bell or a whistle. While some of the things I inquire about are extras, most of that is pretty core: can I get my money in, can I get my money out, and what will it cost me? If CUs can't handle that, there's a real question of what use they are.

[masswich.livejournal.com]

I should add that I belong to 2 credit unions, both places I got access to through jobs and then kept after I left. I hear rumors that you can join municipal credit unions if you simply live in the city and ask. I have found the Somerville Municipal Credit Union to be friendly if a bit disorganized. Might be worth asking if you can join.

[siderea]

I'm not looking for more credit unions to join. I already have a list of 10 I'm eligible on geographical bases alone. Plus one based on alumni status. I'm trying to winnow the list down!

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

Well, I've never had a CU that wasn't at least locally easy to deposit checks with. I assume USAlliance is no different there, and you might be able to deposit through SUM ATMs like Harard's too. I think it's free too, or at least with a $25 min.

My first CU didn't have checking at all, though you could get 6 free cashier's checks from them a month and none above that, so I paid rent that way. It made up for the inflexibility by offering CD-level interest on basic savings. Nowhere near here, though.

[siderea]

you might be able to

See, that's the kind of thing I'm trying to find out.

[closetalker11.livejournal.com]

Could you call them and ask?

[thetathx1138.livejournal.com]

It's not bigotry (and on a side note: bad choice of words); with direct deposit, your employer is paying the fees.

You might consider an online bank: I use ING for a lot of my self-employment stuff.

[surrealestate.livejournal.com]

Good luck joining the world of the self-employed. The bank fee issue is merely a tiny piece of the many ways we get screwed. (Right now I have an employed spouse, so I'm at least out of the hell of health insurance for the self-employed.)

[witchdogtor.livejournal.com]

Seems Cambridge Savings would score very high on your quiz. They have 2 locations in Porter - one is just a little ATM, but the one beside Shaws is full service and is open friday til 5 and saturday til 3, with sunday hours in the future, I believe. Excellent customer service, too. Actually, REALLY excellent customer service (when a check was about to bounce, they called to alert me and offered to pay it if I promised to deposit the $). Check deposits are super speedy at the ATM. It just inhales the check, reads it, and you confirm the amount and hit "deposit, please." Then it spits out your balance with a little scan of the check. Nifty. No balance minimums. If you want, they'll text you your balance every week, and text if your account drops below a specified amount. You can do transfers, etc on your phone... oops. I sound like an ad. But they are truly the anti-BoA.

[siderea]

Quite alright! I'm pleased to hear it. While I was thinking I wanted a CU, I'm open to convincing, and that's pretty convincing.

[intuition-ist.livejournal.com]

i've done some banking with CSB, and while in general they're ok, i was singularly unimpressed with their Porter Square Branch. Several times, i got the distinct impression that the teller I was dealing with couldn't find their a$$ with both hands and a flashlight. Luckily what I was asking for didn't require rocket science, but still...

I'd probably just go around in stinking clothes if they didn't

[diatomacearth.livejournal.com]

And by god, every time I've gone in asking if I could change a ten for some quarters, they've given them to me cheerfully.

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I walked into Cambridge Savings when looking to leave BoA and was distinctly turned off by their service - but this is just a one-time data point.

I recall that I had been attracted to them because of their promise to refund your ATM fees automatically, no matter where you are (including international!) - but then they had some ridiculous strings attached, such as 10 debit card transactions required per month, or else you pay a fee. Etc. It was lame.

[elements.livejournal.com]

Another advantage of Cambridge Savings - one that may get me to switch to them from Eastern - is that their Porter Square branch, next to Shaws, is open late on Wednesdays and Thursdays (til 5:30 or 6, as opposed to 4:30 for Eastern).

[greyling.livejournal.com]

I'm at Harvard Credit Union, and:

- I mail in my checks, I actually appreciate that convenience.
- I am mildly inconvenienced with respect to ATMs; we are a SUM credit union, but we don't reimburse ATM fees that I know of.
- They have limited saturday hours.
- They've never charged me for a withdrawal.
- I've never used automated phone banking.
- I'm very happy with their customer service.

[ayelle.livejournal.com]

Me too. Same to all of the above, except, have you ever used a NYCE ATM for deposits? Though it sounds like you're happy enough with mailing stuff in.

To the OP: according to NYCE.net there's a SUM/NYCE shared deposit ATM at 399 Highland in Davis, near Rite Aid. I normally always use the Middlesex Bank SUM ATM because I never have to deposit anything (except right now, I randomly have a paper check) but it's just a few steps further.

Of course, every now and then I'm forced to use an ATM that isn't SUM/NYCE and pay the service fee, which is annoying, of course. Of course I had to do that sometimes when I had Citizens, too: sometimes the ATM you have to use for some reason just isn't in your network. The advantage now is that it's only the BoA ATM or whatever that charges me: HUECU doesn't add their own surcharge on top of it the way Citizens did. So I pay notably less in ATM fees now than I did when I had Citizens.

[mindstalk.livejournal.com]

So, I just discovered mutual savings banks, which are also depositor owned, but taxed and regulated like banks, and apparently dying out due to conversions to normal banks -- profitable for both depositors and executives, and presumably to the big banks who then buy them out to consolidate. Winter Hill Federal Savings Bank is one, and has a branch near Davis. Middlesex Savings is another, but well to the west of here; not to be confused with Middlesex Federal Savings, which was claimed as mutual on a list but I think that list got confused.

Anyway, if you like the ethics of depositor owned, and aren't happy with the eligible CUs, you might check out Winter Hill.

[ron_newman]

Eastern Bank (which gobbled up Wainwright) is also a mutual.

[nablacdotu.livejournal.com]

I have two credit unions, one affiliated with a university on the west coast, and one affiliated with a local university. Neither charges any fees even without direct deposit. The only limit on transactions that I've encountered is that savings accounts can only have a certain number of debit card charges per month.

ATMs: COOP network ATMs are free. No fees for using other ATMs, although the ATM itself may charge a fee.

Service: I mostly bank online, but when I call my west coast credit union, I get to talk to a real person right away.

Other: I got a car loan multiple percents cheaper than any commercial lender was able to offer. Financially, this has probably been the biggest benefit of using a credit union so far.

[no-fun-nicole.livejournal.com]

completely unrelated but is that your tortoise in your user pic?