Tell me about credit unions

probably get better interest rates on loans. other than that, there's really not that much difference. Pretty much all banks and credit unions offer the same things.

I have a checking account at Pelican State CU and it's perfect for what I need.

I mainly joined because they pay 4% interest on checking accounts up to $7,500. It doesn't produce a ton of money but hey, free money is free money.

Also their customer service, online banking, and app are all just as good and easy to use as the big banks like Regions, Chase, etc.

The biggest benefit would be the service you get from them. They're beholden to you the customer rather than their stock price and stock holders. Members of credit unions are the shareholders. In my experience, it's a night and day difference in the level of service.

They also generally offer better interest rates on loans and CD's. The latter is pretty negligible though.

The biggest drawback is for most CU's, there just aren't very many branches. You can use ATM's at most other CU's though without an ATM fee, so that's not a huge issue for me. That's about the only thing I ever have to go to a branch for.

Downside, not many branches (2) for us

Upside, customer service is superb and are as competitive as any I've noticed elsewhere and array of services as good what the next guy offers

If you have a long term relationship with any financial institution then you benefit, whether it's a bank or cu. the people turnover in a cu is usually lower and it's nice to deal with folks that know you. There used to be greater advantages in interest paid and charged but I think that has gone away. My cu is closing on Saturdays which is causing me to look at Wells Fargo for safe deposit box and checking, but I doubt I'll close the cu accounts