Someone explain to me how CU's are actually cheaper?

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Because I don't get it.

After hearing people rave about CUs I decided to look into some, but the way we use our bank would cost us more with CUs.

I don't carry cash, I HATE carrying cash.

At the moment we pay $10 per month, all fess inclusive (bar nonbank ATM's). This is a joint account and we both have access to Visa Debit also.

With the CU I just got off the phone with, I only get six EFTPOS transactions free of charge. I would swipe nearly every day, so that's [all other days of the month] 22 x $1 + other ATM charges if needing cash...

What's the point? When my major bank is $10 per month, which we seem to avoid paying now because we deposit $4/5000 salary per month and the only thing I have to pay for is the stupid new ATM reform where if I am an XX customer using YY bank I get charged whatever YY bank stipulates.

Am I missing something?

I understand they might be better for loans or credit cards but our C/C is currently interest free and the only loan we need in the future is perhaps medical so needs to go through specific companies.

[Smoke Jaguar]

With the Bendigo, at least, you can get the Visa Debit card for your account, with is $3 a month (or $5, can't remember) and you'd use that for most transactions, use your savings facility when you need cash out.
I have a Mastercard with CBA and the account with Bendigo - can't give up the MC yet cos of the travel benefits and points...!

[HotI]

I guess it depends on the credit union. Our credit union charges no fees and until the recent atm charge changes you could get money out from wherever for no charge. With the no changes, we get $100 worth of 'credit' per month that pays the atm charges. Only if we use all these, do we have to pay.

Our credit union passes on all interest rate changes (unlike the big banks).

It annoys me how we get charged for service that banks/companies are meant to provide. To get a paper bill, they charge you. To pay the bill (non-direct debit) they charge you. To use a credit card to pay a bill, they charge you. And then there is cost of bill + GST...... Banks charge you to get money out? The more money you have/can deposit (the richer you are), the less you get charged. huh?

It pays to shop around. If your bank works better for you than the credit union, stick with it. And next year, do another shop around and see if circumstances have changed. Gotta do it, because big business ain't gonna tell you if they are ripping you off.

[The[cookie]Doctor]

Kate, may I ask who you are with?
I have only spoken with one company, so with others I may be better off, just not this one!!

[~clover~]

My mum was with a CU locally for years. Personal & business.

She went with a major bank a few months ago & isn't happy with the CU at all. I didn't really know til yesterday when she said she can't believe the amount of money they took off her & that she's taking further action against them.

I'm with the same major bank & have been for 6 years, DH has been for 10 years, I tried the same CU as mum, but after about 12 months I went back to my bank.

[HotI]

Kate, may I ask who you are with?
I have only spoken with one company, so with others I may be better off, just not this one!!

It's a staff credit union (of a big company ).

It might be worth checking others out, if they are in your area. It needs to be accessible to you in your everyday life, as well as being a good deal.

[Yael]

Check out Bank West.

Their transaction account is fee free if you have $2k (i.e. salary) direct deposited into it per month(you don't need to have 2k in there, just put in there per month), and you can withdrawl from any atm. Even if individual atms charge fees, they will absorb the cost.

We have just moved everything over to them from a CU.

[dantri]

We moved from a bank to a CU a few years ago and are so happy with them (except when their cards stopped working at ATMs, they didn't post anything on their website and we were stuck in a country town in the Czech Republic with no access to cash and no one took CC -eek!). We only get charged for what we use basically. We pay 75c a month for internet banking (don't have phone banking), pay per message for text banking (20c a msg I think), $1.50 for a debit card and that is all. As were travelling a lot, they also had the lowest international withdrawal rate we could find (still ridiculous though!).

As long as we deposit at least $500 in there every month we only pay for what we use. We also have a credit card with them with fairly low interest rate and low annual fee. I like them because if I transfer money from account to account it is INSTANT. If someone transfers money into my account it is there straight away, cheques take a few days to clear of course. At the bank we used to be with they held our money in cyberspace for a long time. At one stage I was having to pay bills 10 days before they were due via Bpay because we were getting slogged late fees by paying them 3 days before. The funds had left our account but the bank hadn't paid them yet! Even transferring between savings and cc took a couple of days.

In saying all of this, we don't have a mortgage or any other loans, no large term deposits or shares etc etc which is why being with the CU suits us to a T. If you had more complicated finances you might find a CU a bit limiting. If your bank is giving you the best deal, stick with them! Just do a bit of research every couple of years to make sure you're still getting bang for your buck!