Is there a Credit Union near me, and what is a credit union shared branch?

We all know our classic bank system. A bank is usually a private or share-held institution that offers various financial services in order to make a profit for its owners. Sounds worse than it is, because there is no alternative. Right? Wrong! If you look close enough, you will definitely find banks that are a little bit different from you regular branches. They are called Credit Unions. There is definitely a “credit union near me”, you just have to look for it . Credit unions are cooperating financial institutions that provide traditional banking services. They can differ in size, even be volunteer-only and can be formed by a number of institutions, companies, etc. They differ from traditional banks in so far as they are actually created, owned and operated by their members. In theory they are less about making a profit and more about creating services to their members.

Credit Unions have several advantages but also some less advantageous aspects you should know about. For instance it may be more difficult to find a credit union shared branch in your area than it is to find a traditional bank. They may also have fewer options than traditional banks, but it is likely that they will offer you better conditions and perhaps even more ATM locations. In order to use the services provided by your credit union, you must become a member and a partial owner. That sounds more difficult than it is though, most branches make it quite easy to join.

Whats the difference between a regular branch in my area and a credit union shared branch?

Co-Op shared branches allow customers from different credit unions to conduct their banking business.[1] All it takes is for your home credit union to be part of the shared branching network. The biggest advantage is that shared branches give members surcharge-free access to thousands of ATMs. While your normal bank may do that too, the amount of free ATM’s in your area is definitely far less. Even if I don’t have my credit union near me, it is very likely that there is a shared ATM around that I can use for free.

What can I gain from using a credit union shared branch instead of a regular bank?

Because they are not oriented solely to the purpose of making profits for their owners and shareholders, credit unions are able to give their customers better credit rates than regular banks do. In times of already very low credit rates you may think that it isn’t very important, but even a small difference in effective interest rate will make a huge difference in the pay back sum of a mortgage loan for example. So if you are planning on taking on a big loan, it may be very profitable for you to compare many different banks and you certainly shouldn’t leave out the credit unions in your research. When I bought my house I compared several banks in terms of interest rates and ended up with a German credit union bank. The difference in effective interest rate was about 0.3 percent. That doesn’t sound much, but it made a difference of thousands of Euros. I also made them put an additional payback option in the contract, so that I was able to pay parts of the loan back whenever I had some savings leftover. Since my interest rate was over 4% it was way more profitable to pay back the loan than to leave the money in a savings account, with its currently ever shrinking interest rates. Depending on the size of the loan it may even make sense to consult a freelancing loan specialist. They may offer a more neutral perspective than an employee from a credit union near me.

Alternatives to banks and credit unions – Bitcoin investment and stocks

When it comes to actually depositing money to save it, there are, in my opinion many other even more lucrative possibilities. The economic world is changing fast and new opportunities arise every day. One such possibility can be found in the field of crypto investments another is the stock exchange. There are some very profitable concepts out there, but the difficulty is finding the good ones. In the second half of this article I want to show you some of the alternatives to the classic savings account that I have discovered and give a short overview of the gains you can achieve with them, but I will also mention the downsides, if I know of any. I will focus less on the stock exchange, for that area is covered pretty well on the internet, and more on the crypto-sector. For more detailed information about the individual projects click on the respective icons and read the full article. The page will be frequently added to, whenever I write new articles or find new projects, so it may make sense to save it and come back to it occasionally.

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[1] https://www.thebalance.com/co-op-shared-branches-how-customers-benefit-4177758#citation-6, visited 10.11.2020

https://www.investopedia.com/terms/c/creditunion.asp, 10.11.2020