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Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

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Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#121

Post by linkregister »

scurvy wrote: post #96
jawns wrote: post #28

My guess is that, given the choice, practically everyone would prefer to bank with a member-owned cooperative, i.e. a credit union, than a for-profit bank owned by outside shareholders. I mean, think about it: sneaky fees and outrageous surcharges are anathema, because it's more important for members to be satisfied with their experience than to wring out every nickel and dime of profit at the expense of customer sat…

Is USAA considered a bank or credit union? Either way, they're easily the best financial institution in the US. They are amongst the most tech savvy because they only have a branch in San Antonio, yet their customers are deployed around the world. For those that don't know, USAA was originally setup only for military personnel and their families. Military families get screwed on credit and insurance because they are…

To provide some balance regarding praise of USAA, they also push unnecessary and predatory "overdraft protection" and require an opt-out to binding arbitration. Some of their business practices as of the last three years have been converging with that of the big American retail banks. Some retail banks have made enormous strides in catching up to USAA's great internet and phone banking.

It would be great if someone were to include some information about their executive compensation plan to see how their incentives are aligned in comparison with the large retail banks.

Their insurance rates are very competitive and their customer service is stellar.

There is a branch in Annapolis, Maryland across the street from the Naval Academy. Just as the Washington, DC branch, they don't handle cash but have a full-service ATM outside.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#122

Post by Yakimoto »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #115
Yakimoto wrote: post #112

>I also resent your use of 'rape' in that context. I can't wait till the PC fad blows over.

Trivializing sexual assault is extremely poor form.

Continue to trivialize it more by using it to beat everyone around [including randoms on the internet] with your smugness.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#123

Post by rayiner »

ensignavenger wrote: post #114
rayiner wrote: post #76

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The "banks writing the laws" narrative is misplaced in this context. Credit unions are tax-exempt. If you remove the mutuality restrictions applicable to them, they would not be "compet[ing] on honest terms" with commercial banks--they would have a major competitive advantage on the basis of their tax status.

What major advantage exactly does being tax-exempt offer a Credit Union? A bank pays taxes on profits, sure, but a credit union doesn't have profits, so they still wouldn't pay much income tax (no income to tax) even if they weren't tax exempt! They may have to pay more property tax (not sure if they are exempt from that or not) or other taxes, but surely a well ran credit union would not have a significant tax burde…

> A bank pays taxes on profits, sure, but a credit union doesn't have profits

A credit union doesn't have "profits" because it is tax-exempt. Like banks they can, and do, run surpluses, which they return to members in the form of above-market interest rates on deposits or as dividends. If they lost tax-exempt status, they would have to pay taxes on the surplus before returning it to members, like banks do on profits before returning it to shareholders.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#125

Post by dragonwriter »

rayiner wrote: post #123
ensignavenger wrote: post #114

Earlier quoted context omitted.

What major advantage exactly does being tax-exempt offer a Credit Union? A bank pays taxes on profits, sure, but a credit union doesn't have profits, so they still wouldn't pay much income tax (no income to tax) even if they weren't tax exempt! They may have to pay more property tax (not sure if they are exempt from that or not) or other taxes, but surely a well ran credit union would not have a significant tax burde…

> A bank pays taxes on profits, sure, but a credit union doesn't have profits A credit union doesn't have "profits" because it is tax-exempt. Like banks they can, and do, run surpluses, which they return to members in the form of above-market interest rates on deposits or as dividends. If they lost tax-exempt status, they would have to pay taxes on the surplus before returning it to members, like banks do on profits…

> A credit union doesn't have "profits" because it is tax-exempt. They can, and do, run surpluses, which they return to members in the form of above-market interest rates on deposits or as dividends.

Interest paid is tax deductible for banks, and dividends paid to demand deposit accounts (the way most credit unions distribute them) are deductible for mutual savings banks (the banks most similar credit unions without tax exempt status), so this tax treatment isn't as special as it seems.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#126

Post by kbenson »

rm_-rf_slash wrote: post #115
Yakimoto wrote: post #112

>I also resent your use of 'rape' in that context. I can't wait till the PC fad blows over.

Trivializing sexual assault is extremely poor form.

I feel for both sides of this argument. Trvializing something traumatizing that people feel strongly about is not good, but I'm not sure using it in this context is exactly trivializing. The commenter could have said "banks still kill us with fees us six ways from Sunday" and most people would not say they were trivializing murder. Also, I'm not sure when sexual assault became worse than murder, but at some point in the past it did. You can't use rape/sexual assault as hyperbole in many places where you could easily use kill/murder etc. Maybe that's because there are survivors to read/hear the communication and be affected by it (although there are plenty of people affected by loss of a loved one through murder). In any case, I think this disproportionate response with regard to talking about sexual assault when compared to talking about items of a similar or worse level, such as murder, leads to people being confused by what appears to be inconsistent responses on crimes of this caliber.

So, with all that said, I don't think it's all that hard to understand why some people don't understand the problem of using "rape" as slang to mean "taken advantage of" or "coerced" when "murder", "kill", and "dead" are often used with no problem to mean "mad at", "should expect a rough time" or "be careful". Unless you are willing to either additionally condemn all uses of that type of speech, or define why it's very different, reducing the use of "rape" as used here to "trivializing sexual assault" is both inconsistent and unfair.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#127

Post by scurvy »

linkregister wrote: post #121
scurvy wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Is USAA considered a bank or credit union? Either way, they're easily the best financial institution in the US. They are amongst the most tech savvy because they only have a branch in San Antonio, yet their customers are deployed around the world. For those that don't know, USAA was originally setup only for military personnel and their families. Military families get screwed on credit and insurance because they are…

To provide some balance regarding praise of USAA, they also push unnecessary and predatory "overdraft protection" and require an opt-out to binding arbitration. Some of their business practices as of the last three years have been converging with that of the big American retail banks. Some retail banks have made enormous strides in catching up to USAA's great internet and phone banking. It would be great if someone w…

What is the overdraft protection? The only stuff I've seen links a credit card to your checking account, and there is no charge. Or has that changed?

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#128

Post by setpatchaddress »

astazangasta wrote: post #72
jawns wrote: post #28

My guess is that, given the choice, practically everyone would prefer to bank with a member-owned cooperative, i.e. a credit union, than a for-profit bank owned by outside shareholders. I mean, think about it: sneaky fees and outrageous surcharges are anathema, because it's more important for members to be satisfied with their experience than to wring out every nickel and dime of profit at the expense of customer sat…

I bank with SF Fire Credit Union. They offer services to any SF resident. They gave me a line of credit, offer mortgages, online banking, free checking and saving, reimbursement for ATM fees. In other words, there is no reason to prefer Bank of America to them. So why does much of SF still use Darth Vader's bank? Americans have no one to blame but themselves. When I tell people they should divest their savings from B…

If I move out of SF, what happens?

That's the problem for a lot of people.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#129

Post by linkregister »

scurvy wrote: post #127
linkregister wrote: post #121

Earlier quoted context omitted.

To provide some balance regarding praise of USAA, they also push unnecessary and predatory "overdraft protection" and require an opt-out to binding arbitration. Some of their business practices as of the last three years have been converging with that of the big American retail banks. Some retail banks have made enormous strides in catching up to USAA's great internet and phone banking. It would be great if someone w…

What is the overdraft protection? The only stuff I've seen links a credit card to your checking account, and there is no charge. Or has that changed?

The friendly default is to allow a backup checking or savings account to handle the overdraft.

However, upon creation of new accounts in the past 2-3 years, they offer the predatory BoA-style overdraft protection. It's opt-in, so I imagine very few customers choose it. Still, I was dismayed to see it even being offered. It is completely out of place with the rest of the USAA offerings.

Re: Difficult Times at Our Credit Union

#130

Post by phdp »

Jtsummers wrote: post #110
ams6110 wrote: post #87

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Sorry but this is playing with words. If you are making loans to high risk clients, this is predatory lending. There's a reason they are high-risk: they are less likely to be able to pay the loans, or have demonstrated prior poor handling of debt. Don't be misled by "low interest" either: the "predatory lenders" in the last housing bubble were not for the most part charging exorbitant interest rates, rather they were…

Lending to high risk clients, on its own, is not predatory lending. If I'm willing to accept the risk, I could loan $5k to someone with a poor credit history and frequent unemployment at a low interest rate. I have to be somewhat altruistic to do this, and most banks and lenders aren't. I have to be willing to write it off. It sounded like this was the market they wanted to be in. Poor people needing money, instead o…

The issue is that you are using your customer deposits to make the loans. When the loans default and they aren't paying a high interest rate to compensate you for the higher default rates, you don't have the money to redeem those deposits at face value, and then the NCUSIF (FDIC for credit unions) will have to step it. The regulators would rather prevent that in the first place.
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