Caution - Alabama Credit Union (Especially OOS Families)

BillThePoet
Fri, 08 Aug 2014 03:03:27 +0000

I guess I feel strongly both ways.

I’m sympathetic to OOS parents who expect a certain (and lawful) level of banking responsiveness. I’ve gone off on my share of clueless clerks who inappropriately judged a book by its cover, or attempted to bluff with or hide behind fictitious rules and procedures.

As aeromom says, it’s perfectly fine to use an OOS bank with an ATM at the Ferg or Publix cash back for walking around money.

We opened an Alabama CU account for a couple of reasons. DS had a more substantial acct at home in another institution that was fenced off for foreign study or vacation trips with new friends. I felt the separation was the safer way to go. (Turns out that separation was extremely important, but that’s not relevant here.)

A second reason is that DS prefers to avoid PIN transactions. If he needed $20, he walked up to a teller. Everywhere else he ran his charge as a credit.

Many kids are new to the world of banking, and have not established personal preferences and good habits. I’d guess that most (in general, not CC) kids live with smallish balances, testing zero on a fairly regular basis Rejected charges, overdraft protection transfers, confused users, quick deposits to cover unexpected expenses are the norm. Serving the financial needs of college kids is not for the faint of heart.

It doesn’t bother me to have my DS growl with frustration when he tries to cash a random snail-mail grandma-check, only to find out that he needs more than $1.31 balance to avoid a lengthy hold on the check.

I’m just making the observation that sometimes having a local branch fits the situation.