Part 4 of the car debacle

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1 comment — written on January 31st, 2007

After I heard about “John” getting a poor car loan (we’re still not sure why, although it might have something to do with his poor credit and being very dumb), I started feeling sorry for him. This is despite the fact that his very-nice friend kept trying to help him, but John kept trying to blow it off and pretend nothing was wrong.

Anyway, I called up a friend of mine at the Credit Union National Association and asked him to see what he could do. I’m a big fan of credit unions, and in fact I spoke at their national conference last month. So I thought this would be a great opportunity to introduce credit unions into this troubled situation and to iwillteachyoutoberich readers. (Credit unions often offer far better loan rates for young people, as well as a bunch of better services than banks. Basically, they’re not-for-profit and are member-owned, which means their financial services are often far more competitive than Big Mean Banks. I’ll write more about them later.)

Anyway, my friend at the National Association of Credit Unions cheerfully agreed to look into it, and he started making some calls.

That’s when I got the next email, which made me want to invite Hulk Hogan to sit in a little red wagon and ride over my frail body repeatedly. It’s coming up in the next post.

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February 1, 2007
Spencer

Credit unions can mean more than good loan rates and convenient services. If you are not currently a member of a credit union you really should look into applying, especially if you don’t have your finances set up yet. Find a few in your area and look at their brochures and Web sites to see which has the services and online banking features most valuable to you.

I am just learning about personal finance (and financial responsibility in general) and have made mistakes in the past 2-3 years.
The first time I wrote a check that should have bounced, they covered the extra amount by putting my account at a negative value. Sure, they charged me an overdraft fee, but that’s better than the check bouncing and being charged additional fees by that party.
When I had no credit history and applied for my first credit card to start building some, they gave me a variable rate card starting at 6.50% (not introductory, no other tricks or catches). It has only gone up due to my irresponsibility (high balance, small payments) and is still significantly lower (11.50%) than my friends’ cards even though they pay their balance in full, on time.
I have made mistakes and and am paying for them now, but I’m paying a lot less than I would be if I had gone through a bank and one of those cards advertised on TV or in the mail.

And about the not-for-profit member-owned aspect.. My CU overhauled their online banking system last summer and it had some problems. I got fed up with it and made a serious complaint. I got a (non-automated) response within 24 hours apologizing for the issues and acknowledging some of them were beyond her technical level, so somebody higher up would contact me soon. A few days passed and I received an email from the CTO asking when the best time to call me would be. That’s pretty good service.