Since at least back in the mid 80's, I've belonged to a credit union
situated in the small town where I grew up. It was originally for employees
of the manufacturing company where my Dad worked, and their families. When
I moved away, I kept my membership, and kept my account active. Eventually,
they added online access and bill payment. I didn't use it as my primary
accounts, since there is another credit union closer to me (one of the
country's largest, in fact).
Anyway, my wife has pestered me on and off about closing the accounts. I
guess in her mind, since I don't live there, she doesn't think I should
qualify for the account, and should close it.
Recently, we found ourselves looking for a home equity line of credit that
we can tap into to use the equity in our current home to purchase a bank
owned property. We were quoted rates ranging from 7 to 7.3%. That includes
our primary credit union nearby.
On a whim, I decided to contact the credit union where I grew up. 6 years
ago, they couldn't do loans out of their county, but they told me they had
done the paperwork to do loans anywhere in Ohio now. They offered us a 5.5%
rate! Over the life of the loan, ~15 years, this will save us about $8k in
interest, and will also allow us to have a monthly payment about $60 less.
$8,000 is, I think, an excellent reason to hold on to an old credit union
membership. If I hadn't kept it, we would have had to settle for one of the
7% loans we were offered.
XML site map