Anyone switching to a credit union with what's going on?

[J T]

What's the deal with credit unions? What are they? What's the difference between them and a bank?

Credit unions are smaller community run banks. They are owned by the members of the credit union rather than by stock market investors. Members may even choose to vote on who runs the credit unions. They operate as not-for-profit companies, meaning they don't need to generate a profit to pay dividends to investors, and rather they only need to cover their operating costs and put the rest of the revenue towards better serving the members of the credit union by offering members more affordable loans, a higher return on savings, lower fees, and/or new products and services. They usually provide most all of the same services as the big banks too, such as free checking, free ATMs, online banking, etc. Big banks usually win out in terms of having a wider network of branches and ATMs, but otherwise I really prefer credit unions. It also means your money is going into your local community, which is a plus.

Look into it more and figure out what the best credit unions are in your area. Then decide for yourself if making the switch is what you want to do.

[Flake]

No, but I do call ignorance where I see it.

Okay, that's pretty much the end of me bothering with you. I find it pretty interesting that I am accused of using 'Republican' talking points since I am about as liberal as they come.

Though what is 'Republican' about my suggesting that the problems of the economy are larger than bad banking practices, I'm not terribly sure.

Lemme know when you are capable of discussing something without being so blatantly insulting.

[o.pwuaioc]

No, but I do call ignorance where I see it.

Okay, that's pretty much the end of me bothering with you. I find it pretty interesting that I am accused of using 'Republican' talking points since I am about as liberal as they come.

Though what is 'Republican' about my suggesting that the problems of the economy are larger than bad banking practices, I'm not terribly sure.

Lemme know when you are capable of discussing something without being so blatantly insulting.

Sorry if your own ignorance offends you, but it doesn't bother me in the slightest. You might in fact want to read, though, a little better, since I never called you a Republican, but said you used their talking points, points that bore little semblance to reality and ignored blatant criminal activities.

But hey, if you wanna keep blaming the victim, you go right on ahead and do so.

[J T]

Come on guys, lets keep the ad hominum attacks to a minimum.

Let's stick to the merits of each others arguments towards deciding what is truth and avoid falling into the traps desribed in this list.

I put a lot of effort into this thread and I don't want to see it locked.

[J T]

What's the deal with credit unions? What are they? What's the difference between them and a bank?

Oh, I also just noticed you are from Utah. To add to my previous response to your post, I used to live in Sandy, and later Salt Lake City. I used Cyprus credit union when I lived there and they were pretty good. That was almost 10 years ago, but you might want to check them out as a starting point.

[Hatta]

Looks like there were settlements in lieu of prosecution, which is the right of the prosecuting party and happens all the time.

Yeah, settlements for the rich and powerful. Jail time for the rest of us. I suppose that doesn't bother you at all though. Might makes right, huh?

[MrPopo]

Looks like there were settlements in lieu of prosecution, which is the right of the prosecuting party and happens all the time.

Yeah, settlements for the rich and powerful. Jail time for the rest of us. I suppose that doesn't bother you at all though. Might makes right, huh?

If our justice system allows for things such as settlements then that's just how it's going to work. They're not going to bite the hand that feeds them. Isn't it about time you just accepted that money makes the world go round?

[dlmvii]

I'm sure this has been stated, but as much as I agree with people being able to take their business to someplace whose practices they agree with, everybody doing a mass withdrawal from a bank is most definitely not a good idea, and it will create a headache for its customers. (Not that that's what's going on here - I've just heard people trying to create a national bank switch day or whatever) If 1000 users have $1000 stored in a bank, the bank probably does not have $1,000,000 on hand. They loan or invest some of this, dipping their capital to below the total amount in deposit. Whether or not this is a good idea is another story, but if they only have $600,000 on hand, and 700 want to close their account and get their money....
Again, this isn't to say you should (or that I) agree with these practices, but that's just how it is for banks currently. It would be nice to see a change to credit unions though.

[MrPopo]

I'm sure this has been stated, but as much as I agree with people being able to take their business to someplace whose practices they agree with, everybody doing a mass withdrawal from a bank is most definitely not a good idea, and it will create a headache for its customers. If 1000 users have $1000 stored in a bank, the bank probably does not have $1,000,000 on hand. They loan or invest some of this, dipping their capital to below the total amount in deposit. Whether or not this is a good idea is another story, but if they only have $600,000 on hand, and 700 want to close their account and get their money....
Again, this isn't to say you should (or that I) agree with these practices, but that's just how it is for banks currently

While I doubt it would happen on a grand enough scale, this was one of the things that precipitated the Great Depression; a large run on the banks.

[Hatta]

If our justice system allows for things such as settlements then that's just how it's going to work.

Then we need to change the justice system. You act like these things are immutable. We can change them. If you're not part of the upper 1%, you don't benefit in any way from them being able to flaunt the law. If you're motivated by self-interest, you should join us in taking the power back. It's in your self-interest.

I suspect you're not actually motivated by self-interest. I think you're just cravenly authoritarian.

Isn't it about time you just accepted that money makes the world go round?

Money does make the world go around. And when the lower 99% of us don't have any left it won't go around anymore. The more the rich take from us, the more of us will hit the streets. Something will give eventually.