The Credit Union– Another Banking Choice

I am a member of the APGFCU credit union. We joined almost 2 years ago by opening a CD and a savings account. I have been very pleased with their services, especially for our two teen agers. Each of our daughters has a basic savings account and there are few fees, if any, that they pay.
One thing I noticed is that they offer budgeting advice. I have a monthly budget that I rework every month. I rework it to reflect the expenses that will be coming up and not because I love to work at math figures. I think I am going to bring in my basic bills and have the credit union work up a budget for me. I wanted to do this to see what they do work up and also to see if it is a better budget than I have. When I do this, I will write about it to let others know what I think of the service.

Yesterday I was in the Elkton branch and picked up a paper that says “Pay off your credit card bills with 10 helpful tips!” I read the tips and thought they were simplistic. The most simplistic one is:

“8. Practice controlled and healthy spending habits.”

Well, duh! If most people knew how to do that in the first place, they wouldn’t have crazy credit card bills. How do I practice controlled and healthy spending habits? On a flyer with 10 sentences about paying off your credit card bills, it would be hard to say how to do this. But, to offer real hope to someone who is over extended on their cards, they should say something like “talk to a bank employee and we will help you with this.” (or something like that).

“6. Pay off the credit card with the highest interest and balance first.”

This is one that I have a difficult time with too. If I first pay off the credit card with the smallest balance, I can take the cash that usually goes to that card and add it into the amount I pay for my next smallest debt. This way, things get paid off quicker. That is the debt snowball method of Dave Ramsey. Having done that with several debts, I can assure you that it works. Additionally, when you pay off your debts each one is a psychological boost to spur you on to continue paying off the debts.

I didn’t like the flyer but I still like the credit union. If you have the option of joining a credit union, I urge you to do it. Credit unions are created for the benefit of the members.