In honor of tomorrow’s Transfer Your Money day,

[aquamarina]

I thought I’d share my awesome credit union story.

Back in November 2007, I was getting ready to move into a new apartment. Thanksgiving fell on the last week of the month so my credit union was effectively closed from Thanksgiving Thursday through Sunday.

On the Saturday after Thanksgiving I went to the property management company to pay my first months rent and security deposit – around $1200. Unfortunately for me I had completely forgotten that they required this payment to be made with a certified check and refused my bank check. Knowing that there was no way I could get a certified check until Monday, I asked if I could pay in cash. After they reluctantly said yes I got busy trying to pull the cash from a number of ATMs. Of course after I pulled my daily max of $300 from the first ATM my card was rejected.

Panic now setting in – I decided to call the 800 number for lost and stolen cards on the back of my debit card. I was pretty sure a human would answer the call and low and behold a human did. I explained my situation – that I had to move that weekend, that I forgot that my first payment had to be in the form of a cashiers check, that I was only able to pull $300 from the ATM and that I really, Really, REALLY needed $900 in order to get the key to my new apartment and was there anything they could do to help me. The phone rep asked if he could put me on hold for a few minutes to speak with his manager. When he came back he asked me if I was anywhere near a branch office. I said there was one about 10 miles away and that I could get there in about 30 minutes. The rep said that they would authorize a $900 cash withdraw at the branch office. So I motored as fast as possible to the branch office (it was around noon and the property management office closed at 1), stuck my debit card into the slot and out came $900 in $20 dollar bills. The machine literally shot out 45-$20 dollar bills. After collecting my cash I raced back to the property management office, banged on the door to be let in – it was just after 1 so they had just locked up – gave the property manager my money and got the key.

Now, does ANYONE think that BoA, Wells Fargo, Citi or any of the other banksters would have done anything close to what my credit union did for me on that Saturday? Fourteen years later and I still sing their praises. Best. Credit. Union. EVER.

[hedgehog]

1. My debit cards have been random hacked several times - someone

somewhere ran a random number generator, and when they got a hit they started charging like crazy ( 30 money orders charged n 30 seconds, that kind of thing) Each time, I've talked to real people at the credit union or the local savings bank and resolved the matter in minutes.

[louis-t]

2. Great story, and no, BoA would never have done it.

Nor any of the other big banks. I see many new credit unions opening soon to accomodate new depositors.

[closeupready]

3. That's a nice story, the kind of thing you never ever forget.

:) K&R

[Shagbark Hickory]

4. That's why it's important to bank with a bank that cares. nt

[Shagbark Hickory]

5. I will go one step further and say don't bank with any bank that does not answer their phones with

a live human when you cal the main branch.

If they're too busy to answer the call, its safe to say they're too busy to give a damn.

[valerief]

6. Great story! nt

[aquamarina]

7. Oops - meant to say 1997 not 2007.

[sarcasmo]

8. Right on, whenever I call our credit union I always talk to a human not a machine.

[redqueen]

9. I've always used credit unions. When the one I started with was sold

and converted into a bank, I just found another credit union and moved.

I'm so glad to see this trend catching on. :bounce: