http://blogtown.portlandmercury.com/BlogtownPDX/archives/2010/01/06/cancelling-my-bank-of-america-account-took-nine-minutes Comments On: Cancelling my Bank of America Account Took Exactly Nine Minutes by Sarah Mirk en-us Copyright 2013 Portland Mercury. All rights reserved. This RSS file is offered to individuals, Portland Mercury readers, and non-commercial organizations only. Any commercial websites wishing to use this RSS file, please contact Portland Mercury. webmaster@portlandmercury.com (Portland Mercury Webmaster) Sat, 18 May 2013 00:00:01 -0700 Sat, 18 May 2013 20:00:00 -0700 Foundation http://blogs.law.harvard.edu/tech/rss
If it were up to me, I'd rank the top 4 as follows (with #1 being the best bang for your buck in terms of products, service, and overall experience):

1. Unitus Community Credit Union - unitusccu.com
2. Advantis Credit Union - www.advantiscu.com
3. Rivermark Credit Union - rivermarkcu.com
4. OnPoint Community Credit Union - onpointcu.com. (Sorry OnPoint your service has suffered as you've grown.)

Another good one is FirstTechCU (however must be an employee of Nike, HP, Intel, tech field to belong).

One issue that I do have is that some credit unions (unfortnately two of which I mentioned above), offer an incredible rate on checking to draw you in, but there is a cap on the amount of funds you can keep in that account and you have to jump through hoops and meet a variety of monthly requirements in order to keep that rate. Miss one of your 12 required ATM transactions or an online billpayment and goodbye sweet rate.

Those rates that are now 2.50-3.00% APY were once 6-7% APY over a year or so ago. Ouch! To be honest, that kind of rate for a checking account doesn't make a whole lot of sense if you don't max the limit out say around 25K and keep it there. You'd basically need to treat that checking account more like a savings account to reap the rewards of the advertised rate...who the hell does that? 3.00% APY on an average checking account balance of $2,000 doesn't make you much, especially since that balance fluctuates daily.

I have accounts at a few of these credit unions, plus some back in CA. I HIGHLY recommend you do your homework and research the benefits of a credit union over a bank. A great website to help you out is: www.you-belong.org

Check into a credit union today! You'll be plesantly surprised that you DO have an alternative to the banks.
Posted by cu_insider]]> Tue, 02 Feb 2010 15:50:38 -0800 Portland Mercury
I've been with BofA for many years, since leaving USBank after they made several errors with my account always in their favor. I've enjoyed the convenience of ubiquitous ATM's and branches, and features not available with smaller banks. I just can't stomach their policies any longer and I want to support the local economy.
Posted by organic.brian]]> Sun, 10 Jan 2010 20:57:33 -0800 Portland Mercury http://alancordle.com/blog/?p=3537
Posted by alan cordle]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 17:48:28 -0800 Portland Mercury
That's the second time today you've made a presumptuous assumption about my personal business. I'd appreciate if you stopped telling me what was best for me without knowing anything about me.
Posted by Andy Mesa]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 15:47:45 -0800 Portland Mercury
Uhhh...gotta call BS. Ever heard of ACH? Unless you are working some real hifi voodoo (brokerage type stuff) any decent sized credit union should meet your needs. Also, when you join a credit union you immediately have access to tens of thousands of credit unions nation wide via several networks:

6,000+ Shared Branch Locations
Find a shared branch at cuswirl.com

28,000+ Free ATMs.
Find the closest ATM by texting your location to 692667 (MYCOOP), or online at co-opfs.org
Posted by typica]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 11:15:02 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by martin]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 10:30:22 -0800 Portland Mercury
Then they took out the restrooms. That's my new criterion. Do the branches have bathrooms? That tells you an awful lot about what they will and won't do, and if they appreciate your business.
Posted by Zarathustra]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 09:40:45 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by pinehurstkid]]> Thu, 07 Jan 2010 08:23:21 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Matthew D]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 20:55:37 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by jfk]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:26:51 -0800 Portland Mercury Both places are great.
I almost overdrafted at Frontier and they tracked me down (3 phone calls) and waived the fee, signed me up for FREE overdraft protection and offered me a new credit card.
Free overdraft protection means that there is no charge for overdrafting as long as you have the money in savings to cover it, where at Chase overdraft protection costs like 30 bucks a pop.
And my checking account earns interest and savings has a great rate.
Posted by smapdi]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:14:39 -0800 Portland Mercury
I banked with B of A when I was 10. Back then, the BankAmericard was a big deal - precursor to Visa/Mastercard. Had a savings passbook, knew the manager, the bank seemed to operate like a family business. You know, it was a bank - it took your money, kept it for you, paid you some interest, and actually looked at the loan applications that came in before handing my money over to someone else.

Now, it's been driven into the ground by an egomaniacal tool who evidently had nothing better to do when the financial system was melting down than to buy Merrill Lynch.

I bank with Advantis. Even opened my business account there. I can do most of what I need to online. I am not going back to any big bank again. plus, as Colin pointed out, the personal cookie delivery rocks, although the coke tainted 20's have gotten me in trouble with the PO.
Posted by pdxMB]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 19:14:30 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Wendy Ann Wright]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:33:32 -0800 Portland Mercury

Posted by Larry Norton]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:21:46 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Inductee]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:15:03 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by s.mirk]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 17:07:33 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by hal]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:51:46 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Commenty Colin]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:50:38 -0800 Portland Mercury
I left WaMu after they were absorbed by Chase and switched to Rivermark, best move I've made in years. Many community banks and credit unions are linked so you can easily do your banking outside your institution, and they also readily provide info on where to do your banking internationally.


Posted by makeyouclaptothis]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:43:00 -0800 Portland Mercury
I've also been impressed by their customer service, both on the phone (a real human answers the phone! On Saturday!) and when I go into a branch, even though the branch I go to belongs to Unitus, a different CU.

All in all, probably the best banking experience I've had. And I'm including USAA, Emigrant Direct, and ING as well as WaMu, Wells, and First Interstate.
Posted by TWSS]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:33:23 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by PRWalters]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:24:00 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Alison Hallett]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:19:06 -0800 Portland Mercury
http://blogs.eugeneweekly.com/node/844

I've been a happy Unitus (formerly Oregon Telco) customer for 12+ years. They have two branches downtown, one in Clackamas, and one in the 'Couv, I think.
Posted by Paul Cone]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:13:36 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by dimitrir]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:13:22 -0800 Portland Mercury Posted by Joneser]]> Wed, 06 Jan 2010 16:09:39 -0800 Portland Mercury