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I have worked in management in the Credit Union movement for about 20 years. I can't stand banks, but they can't stand me either. If your checks do start to bounce, here's a common trick they will use: If 3 checks try to clear on a single day, the bank will process them in order of the check size. That way they can maximize their NSF fees. Here's how it works: If you have a balance of $200 in your account and 5 checks come through for the following amounts:
check 1 $10.00
Check 2 $15.00
Check 3 $185.00
Check 4 $40.00
Check 5 $5.00 Now if they paid checks 1,2,4 and 5 your remaining balance would be $130 (200-10-15-40-5) which means check 3 would have to be bounce and you would incur only 1 nsf fee. BUT they do it this way: they pay check #3 leaving $15.00 in your account. Then they pay the next biggest check (check 4), oops, not enough...bounce it. Then move on to check 2, ok that'll clear. Now your balance is zero and they can bounce checks 1 and 5. Result? you paid NSF fees on 3 checks instead of 1. If you ask them about it they'll say "we pay them in the order they come in", but that's a lie. It's been proven that their internal policy is to pay the checks in order of check size to maximize fee income....in other words gouge the customer to the fullest. Here's where banks are different from credit unions:
Both are "owned" by their stock holders. The stockholders elect a board of directors who set policy. Who are these stockholders? In the case of a bank, it's whoever bought shares in the bank corporation. In the case of a credit union, it's each member (customer). As a bank customer you have zero input as to who sits on the board of directors unless you also own stock. Then in order to have any clout, you'd better own a LOT of stock....not likely for the common customer. In a credit union, every person who opens an account is a member and has 1 vote when it comes time to elect a board member. A director on the board of directors must be a credit union member. This is true no matter how big the credit union is. The banking lobby would have you believe that when a credit union gets big enough to offer bank-like service, that it's not really a credit union anymore and no longer deserves the benefits granted to credit unions by congress many years ago. The truth is, if you join Navy Federal Credit Union (the larges CU in the country) you still have the same amount of clout at board election time as the guy with a $100,000 balance. Sorry to be so long-winded. I'm off the soapbox now.
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