I got a promo e-mail a while back from my professional association, about their "partner credit union." I peeked at the rates and was impressed. What struck me was the interest rates on the kiddy accounts, at the time. That's a tough one. I like that the kids can go to the bank down the street, but it pays them pennies. Maybe we will earn interest elsewhere, and pass on bigger interest rates to the kids. I don't know.
I also looked up the branches and nothing terribly close to where we live. Eh. Plenty in the Bay Area which we pass through a lot. & don't get me wrong, my old CU had one branch in a city I probably never set foot in. But, I have gotten spoiled with a branch just down the street from my house, at our current CU. Everything there is awesome, but not so great on the rates. We use Ally for online savings, but they are starting to lower their rates a bit. They are still good, but I think the writing is possibly on the wall there. (I've heard mixed things about how troubled they are, etc. But regardless, they are in the midst of a complete restructure, and I have certainly noticed declining interest rates).
I saw this particular CU mentioned again and thought, "isn't that the one I heard of already." I delved a little deeper, and I am totally signing up.
Savings rate is 3%. $5 minimum. I will transfer most of my Ally (currently at about 2%) money over.
Better: They offer no-fee HSAs with 3% interest. Um, did I read that right??????? I have been shopping HSAs for ages. The fees and low returns on cash investments, have kept me out of the HSA market. I am still "out" due to tax reasons, but I am sure I will eventually be "in." Seems like a good place to start. If we can go one year without any medical expenses, it is possible the HSA will be the better tax way to go, for that year. & I will need the money for near-term medical expenses, for sure. So not interested in investing it beyond cash.
Best: They have a trust application. They seem to understand and cater to living trusts. Go figure. I was starting to think those would be impossible to fund, beyond our home.
I've got $1k in my trust savings at my current CU. It took forever and a day to set it up. But the interest rates is so dismal, I don't keep any real cash in there.
I have lots of paperwork to fill out. But I thought I would share.
The CU is actually based in Chicago (I was surprised to read). So you can join if you live or work in some of the areas surrounding Chicago. OR, if you belong to one of these organizations:
Not sure what the odds of most of you qualifying, but FYI!
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My professional association has awesome insurance rates (life and disability). But most of the rest of the deals they seem to offer are rather ho hum. Usually they cost more than what we are already paying for certain services, etc.
But this looks like quite a deal!
I wasn't even really looking, so I am excited about the find.
September 29th, 2009 at 10:24 pm 1254259446
September 30th, 2009 at 05:05 am 1254283546
September 30th, 2009 at 03:26 pm 1254320782
I sadly live two suburbs away from the list of eligible ones.
September 30th, 2009 at 07:56 pm 1254336973
October 8th, 2009 at 04:30 am 1254972638
Still a good deal and I still want to open accounts. Just no rush at 2%.
That's a good tip Analise - we belong to Kaiser too.