Tired of your bank? Join a credit union!

With the recent bank failures, mortgage crisis, and general bad economy all around people are looking for a safe place to put their money. Bad times for banks can lead to higher fees, more stringent requirements for loans, and lower interest rates (on savings). My answer to this is to join a credit union.

I have done some research and found a great article about credits here on MSN. It gives a comparison of typical rates on a wide range of products and the credit unions were better in all of the categories. I was also speaking to a friend the other day and was informed that since credit unions are non-profit the members get a check every year if the credit union makes a profit!

You will never see this from a bank! I was a bit shocked to hear this. Not only do you get better interest rates on savings AND loans but you could also get a check at the end of the year for your share of the credit union's profits? Wow. I am sold!

If you are looking for a credit union nearby then go to joinacu.org and do a search. A lot of credit unions have open membership and is well worth the small fee, if any, to join. I, like others, was concerned about ATM access but you can use any other credit union's ATM's since they are all in agreement with each other to provide this access. This makes the switch a no brainer!