I'm a member of BECU, and I've loved credit unions ever since I switched to my first one.

I was previously at Bank of America and trying to buy my first car. I went in, filled out the paperwork, and waited 3 or 4 weeks to get turned down. I went in the next day to Verity CU and filled out the paperwork and was approved in less than an hour. My point is that most banks have all their underwriters, analysts, and actuaries in a different location than their banks, and usually the process for loans and other paperwork is a much longer process with a lot more 'red tape'.

Credit unions are "member-owned", so they are not for-profit like banks are. Banks have shareholders that they report to and are beholden to make a profit for.

I love that BECU has many great options for banking that don't involve going up to a teller (and getting charged for it like BoA did). I deposit checks easily at ATMs often with no envelopes or deposit slips, and can even deposit checks online by scanning them or using my phone.

However, one thing that credit unions don't have compared to banks are an abundance of ATMs and branch locations. You can find BoA ATMs and branches all across the U.S., but of you're a member of a credit union you will generally need to look for affiliate branches (pretty much any other credit union) unless you want to pay to withdraw money. Of course, if you're using your debit card then it really doesn't matter. Credit unions will probably not ever charge for using an ATM, debit card, or speaking to a teller, but banks will.

I just happened to post a blog about this yesterday - here's the link, but I'll paste what I wrote below.

 

What is a credit union?

I've already explained why I think that now is a good time to switch from your bank to a local credit union. Here are some qualities of credit unions that make them different from commercial banks (e.g., Bank of America, Citibank, Chase, and Wells Fargo), and, in my view, far superior.
A credit union: Is a not-for-profit institution (commercial banks are for-profit companies, which is fine, but you should know that their priority is to increase shareholder value, not to serve customers and protect their money)   Is governed by a volunteer board of directors, elected by members - and if you have an account, you are a member, and can vote Is generally locally-based, and customer friendly Offers credit cards, loans and business account-services, in addition to checking and savings accounts is usually federally insured, just like banks, up to $250,000 (through the NCUA) - check the bottom of their webpage to confirm (BECU andWSECU are insured) often has agreements with other credit unions, so you can use ATMs of other institutions In almost all ways, it feels just like a regular, community bank (For more info, check out the Move Your Money Project.)


So if you are reading this, consider reading up on credit unions and transferring your money to them. No matter what you politics are, you will probably be happy with your decision. (Here is how to find one in the U.S.)

 

Perhaps a better way of stating the question is to ask whether there are any disadvantages to choosing a credit union over a bank... and the answer is a simple 'no'.

All your CU choices are good and relatively comparable for basic services; just do it, you'll feel better than pitching a tent at Westlake.

Yes to credit unions. I like watermark. One negative is a tendency to be stingy with credit. They are less likely to loan you money and tend to keep credit limits low. They are still better than banks but you did ask for any differences.

One advantage is free, interest bearing checking and savings accounts. We've earned about $30 total on our five accounts since we transferred in April. Not much, but we don't pay any fees (BofA's douchey move on debit cards would have cost us $10 a month).

Credit Unions are way more better than banks, for the simple reason that they are member-owned cooperatives and not for-profit corporations. As a member, you are the owner of the institution. Their incentive is to charge you low interest rates on loans, pay you high interest rates on deposits and charge you low fees. They do this because they want to keep you, their member/owner happy and prosperous.

Banks, on the other hand, have the reverse incentive. Because they are for-profit institutions owned by stockholders, their incentive is to charge you high interest rates on loans, pay you low interest rates on deposits and charge you high fees.

I do almost everything through my local credit union. They're great. When I call them, I can get a human on the phone in 30 seconds, and if I overdraft, the fee is only $13.

I still have my Bank of America account for one reason though: I travel, and they are in all 50 states. Bank of America sucks balls, their customer service is atrocious and their overdraft fee is $35. But, if you're in Anchorage or Miami, or Boston or Albuquerque, you can cash a check. That's the only thing those rat bastards have going for them. They're everywhere.

- BoA espouses that all their branches make things so convenient. But only if you are looking for redundant services everywhere.

If you experience an error on their part and get it resolved at one branch, but through more human error your problem persist into the next day; you have to go back to the same branch for anyone to know what you are talking about. Otherwise if you go to a different branch you have to start explaining things from the beginning and they have to get the first branch you visited on the phone to corroborate your narrative. There is no special notes section to enable multiple customer service agents to help you with one on-going problem.

Granted I don't know if any institutions have a notes section.

I'm sorry I don't buy all these "because it's non-profit so it's obviously better" answers. This is extremely naive and knee-jerk-y.

Non-profits can still pay ridiculous amounts of money to their executives. Go see the American Cancer Society as a classic example of a non-profit gone horribly wrong.

I respect making choices based on ideology but eventually you're just going to be shooting yourself in the foot, especially if you accept inaccurate platitudes like "non-profit = better" without any critical thought.