E3only

http://britishexpats.com/forum/showt...37#post8702837

Hi –

Per the attached thread, my wife and I recently relocated to the States (East Bay Area) and one of the challenges now is to buy a car without having to pay ridiculous interest rates. Few members here suggested credit unions so could you guys recommend any around the east bay area? I was looking at PatelCo but not know much about it. Also I want to know if the deposits with the credit unions are secured.

We are only 6 weeks old here and I have an amex (global transfer) unsecured.

Any help much appreciated.

Mummy in the foothills

We use https://www.centralstatecu.org/
Federally insured we checked. No charge to use the ATM and pull money out, interest rates are crap but it's the same everywhere.
They do mortgages and car loans and the rates seem just as good if not better than the big banks.
We've never had any problems they seem to be just like a bank to us.

retzie

I'm not in CA, but a friend is with Golden 1. I know nothing about them personally, but the fact he's stuck with them for a good 10 years after leaving the state tells me they are worth investigating

HarryTheSpider

Hmmm... interesting...

... and could be enlightening once I'm educated...

... what are the potential benefits of using a Credit Union for us newbies?

Cheers

Harry

Steerpike

I'd say they are all pretty much the same, they're all insured, nothing to worry about there. The key to a CU is eligibility - you can't just walk into one and sign up, you have to be a member of some affiliated organization. In my case, I worked for a company that rented a building that was on Stanford University land, and thus we were eligible for Stanford Federal Credit Union - a very loose connection! They are typically 'local' and small, so you need to know exactly where you are going and then find the nearest one and then figure a way to 'get in'.

Benefits - they are small, more flexible than the big banks. May give a loan at a better rate than the big guys and/or, give a loan where others may not. Disadvantages are, they are small ... they only have a few ATMs (may or may not refund your fees for 'other' ATM fees), few branches, may be limited in terms of 'online' services, etc (though they often subscribe to 3rd party providers of such features).

Moonshadow_Girl

I've been with Golden 1 for almost 20 years now. In the beginning, G1 was good for me because I didn't want to pay for services that I didn't need with a big bank. CUs generally offer lower rates on all kinds of loans, mortgages, and credit cards. G1 in general has always been great with State workers, offering them low or no cost loans when the State Budget hasn't been passed on time (luckily I have never been a State worker and haven't had that yearly stress). G1 is generally the Sacramento Valley area, I'm sure there are plenty of CUs to choose from in the Bay Area. Great thing about CUs is that they're all linked together via "Co-op", meaning, while my G1 may not have a ton of ATMs like BofA, I can still use any CU to withdraw or deposit and not incur any fees from either CU. Some CUs do have criteria to join, but many nowadays only require that you live in the area. I highly recommend a CU, can you tell?

penguinsix

Credit unions are generally run as not-for-profit corporations. They plow back their profits into the benefits for their members, and they exist to try to improve their member's financial well-being. They are generally small in size (the average has total assets 1/10th that of an average bank) but they are sometimes willing to be a little more generous to their members than a bank might be. You might get the same rate on a credit card as a bank offers, but a higher credit limit from a CU, or you might even be eligible for a credit card from a CU while a bank would turn you down. Same with other loans, mortgages.

They don't benefit from the economy of scale, thus they aren't able to get the same interest rates as bank for some products, but they don't have shareholders clammoring for dividends, hence more cash available for loans.

You have to be a 'member' meaning work for a certain company, part of a certain group, etc. You can't walk in off the street and join, generally.

But it might be a way to have a more 'personable' relationship with a 'bank' than if you signed up for an account at mega-bank where you are just a number and a credit score.

AdobePinon

Some credit unions have only a geographical requirement for membership - in those cases you don't need to be a part of any company or whatever.

CUs are usually a better deal than banks, but not always. You should still shop around.

Englishmum

Here are some interesting links below with regards to Credit Unions.

We were unable to find one to join when we first moved to the US as my husband's company are not members of any CU schemes, we're not members of a church etc. After a few years, quite by chance I discovered that just be living (or working) within a 25 mile radius of one CU branch, we were eligible to become members, so we did join up. TBH we don't use it really, but it's a nice 'fall-back' if we (or most likely, our son) should need to apply for a loan for say, a car or college tuition fees in the future, and one becomes a lifetime member even if moving away.

http://articles.moneycentral.msn.com...editUnion.aspx

http://www.banklady.com/credit-union-or-bank.asp

http://blogs.wsj.com/roi/2008/08/26/...-credit-union/

We joined the 'Corporate American Family Credit Union' and although most of their branches seem to be in Illinois, ours is in Secaucus, New Jersey (just across the Hudson River near New York City).

http://www.cafcu.org/?CABINET=Main&D...DER=Join+CAFCU

Bob

Got jobs? Might have one linked to employer?

We got our car loan through a credit union we joined for being AAA members, so might be worth joining