Thursday, September 08, 2011

Moving On

I'm not-so-secretly transferring my accounts out of one of the big banks to a credit union because there are new scary headlines about those big banks every day.  I know that those scary headlines won't affect my personal accounts at my branch (or so I hope) but they are constant reminders that I don't like the way the big banks have been doing business.

I like the way this credit union does business.

Hence, I move my stuff.  No one will care.  No one will be sad that I'm no longer a customer there (except maybe for the two totally awesome employees I've gotten to know over the years that work there.)  But I'll feel better about where I keep my money, and how that money is looked after.

In case you're wondering, yes, the only reason this is noteworthy is because I'm one of those sad cases that hangs onto a certain amount of loyalty when it comes to doing business.  I don't change banks often, and I usually visit the same businesses over and over.  I get to know the people that work there, and I learn what they do well, and what they stink at, and conduct my business accordingly.

So although this isn't a huge deal, it's still something that goes a little deeper than doing the paperwork and jumping through the hoops.  It's an emotional step as well.  Big bank used to mean big safety to me.  Now it feels like a big risk, not necessarily because the banks are in any real danger, but because I don't think they're dealing with their customers in a professional manner.  I don't need to be taken care of.  I do require some frickin' standards, though.  Maybe even a little pride.  Sadly, I fear that the line staff doing the jobs of four people each don't have time for pride.  They're just trying to survive.  Is it a management issue, or just more fallout from risky behavior?  I have no idea.  Knowing the answer won't change my decision.

Bye bye, big bank.  Hello local credit union.  I have a feeling we're going to get along just fine.

3 comments:

Josh Kruschke said...

Welcome back to being a customer and no longer being treated as a revenue source.

You will be pleasantly surprised I think by how much you will save on fees.

:-)
Josh

Kami said...

Oh, I'm sure I'll still be treated as a revenue source--I just hope that my position as revenue source will actually mean that I'm important to them.

Josh Kruschke said...

The way Credit Unions are set up you are now a member in a loan partnership. And as such they are set up to make money off the interest of loans outstanding, not fees off of you. Depending how the charter is set up you should have some say (voting rights) in how things are run. Technically your not a customer your a share holder with voting rights in relation to how mutch you have in savings.

A Credit Union is a totally different legal entity.

I love my Credit Union,
Josh

Ps. Sorry if that sounded preachy, just wanted to give a general over view of Credit Unions.