Who Drives Your Dollar

     If you have ever shopped for a loan, checking or savings account you know there are lots of options.  Banks are the main place people park their money but Credit Unions are growing in popularity.  Over the last several years Banks have gotten a bad reputation and consumers like myself began thumbing our noses at major banking conglomerates.  Although Credit Unions are an alliterative to Banks, a decision to let anyone drive your money is not to be taken lightly.  Where you park your money usually depends on what you want from a financial institution.  For myself it's free checking and savings accounts both with no minimum balance along with convenient  locations.  Banks offer better opportunity if one needs sophisticated investment products but for just about everything else a Credit Union is where the average Joe is better off.

     Banks are for-profit institutions and there is nothing wrong with that but their main goal is to make money for their shareholders at the expense of their customers.  Credit Unions are non- profit meaning their entire   focus is on their customers in the form of free accounts and very low loan rates.  Fed up with the bad behavior of banks and their high fees, the decision to  drive my basic money needs from a Bank to a Credit Union was an easy one. On the other hand If I expect to make money on top of money I want a large Bank's clout.

     I'll probably switch again some day.  The day will come where I do all my banking from the phone in  my pocket, never going to a physical location of a Bank or Credit Union.  That day is right around the corner so I guess it really does not matter who's driving your money today because soon you will be the driver.