Credit union advantages
- They are essentially nonprofit organizations
- Lower loan rates
- Pay higher savings yields
- Lighter on fees – 72% of largest credit unions offer free non string checking – many don’t have monthly fees (but those often don’t pay interest either
- Lower fees for overdrawing
- Many require only $5 to open savings account
If you are a veteran, there are quite a few available. But must be veteran
Many are not nationwide though.. so these highly recommended ones are
Alliant Credit Union – free if living in Chicago area… otherwise a $10 fee to join that is contributed to Foster Care to Success – helps teens who are too old to be in foster care system
Connexus Credit Union – free to Wisconsin counties – otherwise $5 donation to join which is donated to Red Cross, American Cancer Society
GTE Financial Credit Union – started in 1935 – like Alliant, it is often on top of lists because of the wide variety of financial services it offers.
Affinity Plus Credit Union – Minnesota based – must make one time $25 donation to support nonprofits involved with small business education
NASA Federal Credit Union – must deposit minimum $5 in a savings account
American Heritage Federal Credit Union – Philadelphia based… requires one time $15 donation for children requiring special care, such as music therapy
Suncoast Credit Union – although in gulf-coastal Florida – also partners with other financial services throughout the country including ATMs – only this year is it starting to expand out nationally though
Melrose Credit Union – some of the lowest fees if any.. but doesn’t offer credit cards – its reputation is with loans
Banks
Ally Bank consistently is ranked in the top for best online banking and best checking, CD and savings
Bank of Internet USA
First Internet Bank
State Farm Bank – one of the best banks for its online services in 2016
Best State banks are: Oregon State Bank, Bank of North Dakota, and the Maine Partnership Bank
Worst Companies for their horrible employment record and ripping off consumers
AT&T
DirectTV
Cox Communications
Time Warner (often ranked in top 5 worst companies)
Con Edison
Comcast (in the top 5 worst)
Citibank
JP Morgan Chase
Bank of America
McDonalds
WalMart
Wellpoint (healthcare firm)
Facebook (listed in top 10 of worst companies by Business Insider)
American Airlines
Delta
US Airways (in the top five)
United Airlines – frequently battles for first place on the worst list
America’s Biggest Polluters (based on list from University of Massachusetts) in order of pollution and poor environemtnal record
American Electric Power
Duke Engery
Southern Company
US Government (ranked 4th)
Berkshire Hathaway/MidAmerican Energy)
Ameren Corp
Luminant Generation
First Energy Generation
AES Corp
Xcel Energy
Edison Interational
Exxon Mobile
Entergy
BP
US Steel
Koch Industries (huge coal investor)
Arcelor Mittal (steel maker)
Conoco Phillips
Largest and Worst Military Contractors (ranked as largest first)
Lockheed Martin
Boeing
Raytheon
General Dynamics
Northrop Grumman
United Technologies Corporation
L-3 Corporation
BAE Systems
Halliburton
Humana Inc (a private health insurer to the military industrial complex)
Worst companies for the level of corruption
Monsanto
Merck
Pfizer
DuPont
Microsof
BP
Chevron
Stratfor
Every fortune 500 Wall Street investment bank – Goldman
Murdoch media firms
Phillip Morris
Anheuser Busch (union busting)
Federal Express (in same bed with ALEC)
Wall Street Journal – another ALEC corp
And CONGRESS!