Are credit unions better than banks?

Hi everyone I was just wondering what your opinions and/or experiences are with credit unions and if they are better than having your money in banks right now. I was definently going to put my money in one but my friend said he had money in one and the government took all his money out to help pay for stuff or something like that I think it was a money market account though. So any replies would be great thanks.

As a CU employee, I think that they are. I don't think you will run into the fees that you would at a bank, mine offers free checking. Also, I think that we are friendlier

reply to post by wassy



Credit unions always had the reputation of being smaller, friendlier, more community-oriented. 'Members' owned the credit unions; each $5 you kept on deposit bought you one share.

Lower interest rates on loans, higher interest paid on savings, lower fees all around.

They are (or were) non-profit. They didn't pay huge salaries to execs.

As for your friend, I don't think he's telling you the whole story about his experience.

reply to post by wassy

A lot of this answer is determined by the banks charter, and their
document that they drafted that outlines the way they run it.

A good idea of how good or bad a bank or credit union may be
can be found at Bank Implode

Things to consider is their Texas Ratio and the other factors used
to determine if they need to go on the trouble list.

If you look over the lists there you will get a good idea of who has
tanked, who is close to tanking, and who is doing well.

Over 30 banks have collapsed in just the first 4 months of the year.

Quite a few failed in late 2007 and all of 2008.

The only real catch-22 to all this is that lots of them pass money,
debts, and other instruments between each other.

The lynch pin or keystone that may bring the whole mess down
is the derivatives crisis set to implode to the tune of 100's of trillions.

That has the potential to bring it all down at once.

Some of that came to light in 2007 from an article by warren buffet.

Some came to light via the Stafford and Mad(e)off Scandal.

At some point it is possible to create a "tipping point" where something
like the " domino effect " happens and one bank fails, causing another,
and eventually even the good banks are taken down with the bunch
from the sheer mass of the land slide.

You can look back to the past and see this has happened before
and the current lies and deception seem very familiar to those who
read history.

This is why some ppl are saying that the only sure bet is HARD assets
you can hold in your hand, and keeping in mind that you cannot eat
gold or silver and they will not protect you from the mob that perceives
you as the rich compared to them.

Good Luck to you all !

Thanks for the replies guys, I don't really think my friend even knows what happened with that situation but anyways Ex_Mis that is a scary thought but today the banks and most credit unions are insured so shouldn't that make a difference between now and back then? I think what I'll do is have a credit union for my checking then save up some money and buy some gold like you suggested.