Say Joe is traveling to another state. He may want to check with his home state's credit union league to find out if there's a network of credit unions that will take him in. For instance, the Credit Union Service Network, based in Hightstown, N.J., consists of 38 New Jersey credit unions that will allow visiting members to perform in-house cash withdrawals, secure loans over the Internet and use their ATMs. Finally, in strong financial times, credit unions reward members with dividends on certain accounts and cash bonuses. Credit unions that meet their targets for building financial reserves can choose ways to reward members with improved pricing.
Some credit unions offer slightly lower loan rates and modestly higher savings rates.
Others offer bonus dividends or interest rebates. Before the switch, she did her banking at First Union. She recently secured a home equity loan to upgrade all of the windows in her house. In good times , credit unions share the wealth. Credit unions lose membership battle with banks.