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Comment by _jal | Hacker News Reader

I understand liking modern-feeling apps, but am more than happy to put up with the slightly old-feeling credit union app because they are just such a better institution - no bullshit fees, actually happy employees, far better rates on credit cards/loans... There's just no comparison.

I do have a commercial bank account, too, but that's just for access to quicker interchange with other commercial banks, when that's handy.

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My worry with most credit unions is that most of the ones commonly recommended have requirements for who can be a member, or are geographically tied. I'm unlikely to live in the same city for as long as I'd want to keep a bank account, and I'm not military or otherwise. Do you have a good recommendation for a CU that's more generally an option?

Alliant

Plus 1 to Alliant. Their savings rate is top-notch and their apps are pretty good.

-1 to alliant. Had pretty bad experience signing up, they opened the account then closed them, had multiple errors in their website, support wasn't helpful at all.

That was a couple years ago, maybe i should try again

FYI: "Credit unions generally follow the principle of "once a member, always a member", which allows a member with a current credit union membership to remain a member even if they would otherwise no longer qualify to be such, such as leaving the company with whom they initially gained membership or moving outside the credit union's defined geographic area."

This is certainly true for the credit union I am a member of.

Moreover, credit unions seem to have good relationships with each other. I've never actually even seen a branch of the credit union I've been using for ten years in real life. But, if I need a notarization or to deposit a cheque, I can easily visit a branch of any credit union and they are usually happy to do it for me.

I've been hit with fines for my mistakes (transferring money out of the wrong account) but I've never paid them since they are always willing to remove them via a simple text chat. (I find text chats much easier than phone calls, too.)

The majority of credit unions share a vendor that handles a lot of their logistics for them. That's one of the reasons why they're so accommodating about certain inter-credit-union transactions. It's a value added service of a shared vendor, who just pushes some numbers around in a database.

Yeah I think they use Fiserv and other major fintech players.

Can add more anecdata. Joined a regional credit union, moved across the country.

I can use the ATMs of the regional credit union in the new area for free if I need an ATM, and my original credit union has been more than happy to facilitate everything else I need via phone and email. And the "phone" agents are literally just the same staff I'd be talking to at the branch I opened the account at, not some call centre, so there's no real need to go in to actually get customer service.

On top of that, the accounts are completely free. I pay $0/mo for a handful of accounts (one for general monthly bills, one linked to my debit card, another for savings, etc) with unlimited transactions/transfers/etc.

The _only_ thing I'm missing is the ability to deposit cash. Which has yet to be any sort of issue for me.

That's good to know. Obviously, with Simple, I was fine with not having a local branch, but I'd worry that signing up at a local CU and then moving, they'd just expect that I could come in to the local branch for things. I've had issues around that with my family even with larger banks, where they just assume that I can show up at a local branch to sign papers or such, and it's a big pain to get them to mail things, let alone let me transact online.

It's one thing to be online-only, it's another thing to have online, but expect everyone to live near a military base, or in a particular city.

I suppose I'll just bring it up when I apply!

Yeah, I've only got experience with one Credit Union so I could just have a particularly good one or something, but I imagine given that they _don't_ have branches everywhere probably requires them to invest a little more heavily in figuring out how to do things without people being there in person.

My wife's still with one of the "big banks" and more than a few times has been required to go in for basic signatures and stuff (not even for new services, just like "we updated this thing you need to come sign it"). Last time I did something major with my Credit Union was to get a loan from them, and it was shooting them an email, they called me up and we hashed out the details, then they sent me over an approval and a docusign link and I signed it and the money showed up in my account.

I wouldn't necessarily say that I can "transact online" as such (like, it's not like there's a "loan" flow on their website) but they're certainly capable of figuring out how to get things done without me being there in person. I can only imagine with so many staff going remote and people being more hesitant to go places this past year they've only gotten better at it.

Only downside over the years has been that there's never been (and never will be) any sort of integration with any of the budgeting/etc services like Mint. No company is really gonna invest the effort to pick up the 100,000 members my CU has.

I joined a CU in Utah in 2009 and have lived in California for a number of years. I've been able to get 2 car loans through them, a personal loan, and a credit card after being a non-resident of Utah. They've treated me well. The only thing I think people may have trouble with is home loans. I think those are pretty geographically tied.

I joined Navy Federal through a friend and am a member for life. Credit union employees are friendly people and put the humanity back into banking compared to Big Bank call center script readers in my experience.

That's a legally required quirk of credit unions; in order to get a federal charter/license to operate, they have to define a field of membership[1].

That said, I've never had a credit union bring up membership requirements post-joining, and have been able to both use existing accounts and open additional accounts at credit unions long after no longer qualifying for their field of membership.

A lot of credit unions even participate in shared branching[2], which lets you use the physical branches of one credit union to manage the account you have with another. Which comes in handy for the few things you can't use ATMs or online banking for, such as large transactions beyond ATM limits or depositing cash.

[1] https://www.ncua.gov/support-services/credit-union-resources...

[2] https://www.thebalance.com/co-op-shared-branches-how-custome...

I joined the NASA Federal Credit Union. I joined the National Space Society, which cost about $20 and then I was able to join the FCU. Then I cancelled my NSS membership. Not a bad signup cost, plus space is cool so I didn't mind paying $20 to the NSS. I think the NSS also sent me a couple magazines, so it wasn't just like a donation.

Maybe I've just had bad luck but it seems like the credit unions I've tried are coasting on a reputation that is no longer deserved. Every one I have tried has behaved pretty much the same as any bank, except with worse apps, worse online banking, and worse ATM and branch availability. I can believe that there are great credit unions in the world, but I can tell you first hand that you can't just pick any random credit union and feel assured that they will be better than a major bank. Some of them are just as bad.

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