Perhaps. But we have threads here for the important banking services providers: Alliant, NFCU, Ally, etc… DCU simply does not rank up there at that level. So this might or might not be destined to be a single post and never blossom into a thread at all. Time will tell. Nevertheless:
I was notified today by DCU of the twelfth anniversary of having become a member there. That puts my join date back before the crash. I cannot remember any longer why or how I joined.
Instead my most vivid memory related to DCU is of a large deposit I overnighted to them. It arrived in their city the next morning whereupon I was screwed out of a lot of interest by refusal of their local post office to deliver my mail piece to DCU while simultaneously lying to me (on the telephone) about what was going on. Later, when I sought a refund from the United States Post Office, my refund was refused on basis that my letter arrived timely at the local post office. That was the last time I used the fraudulent USPS “Express” mail “service”.
But I digress, back to DCU:
Like any other member I leave my $1000 there, in savings, earning at a rate of 5% APY. Every few months I suck out enough money to take the balance down to $990. When it grows back above $1000 I suck the balance back down. Rinse and repeat.
And that’s about the only profitable thing going on at DCU as far as I know.
Oh, wait!
There is one other benefit to membership. DCU, on a monthly basis, provides a decent and current credit score readout from Equifax. That is a free service I use and appreciate.
I think DCU is certainly worthy of its own thread.
It has a strong equity LOC product that allows for fixed rate advances on the line, sometimes at rates lower than the variable rate. Careful observers will see the instant arbitrage opportunity this creates.
They also have had best in class auto rates of late. My preapprovals below 3% interest have extended to 65 months, much longer than penfed or other similarly priced loans. EDIT: As of Sept 1, their rates jumped to 3.24%–still very good in this environment, and well below prime.
It has been so long since I joined DCU that I had forgotten about the New England Chapter, PRRT&HS until I saw the question from gremln007. However, now thinking about it a little:
It costs $15 to get into the New England Chapter, PRRT&HS. That money is down the drain but it is also just a one-time expense. “Once a member always a member”.
OK, so once you become a DCU member you cough up your $1000 and put that money into your DCU savings account. The dough is liquid there, BTW, except for five bucks. Anyway, that’ll pay you $50 the first year which pays off the $15 and leaves you a small profit. After the first year your profit (at current interest rates for liquid money) is about $25 over and above what you could earn elsewhere on liquid money at 2.5%.
Course there are other benefits to membership, some mentioned up thread and others which can be found at the DCU website.
What the hell is DCU?
