Bank Local if You Can

There are lots of people and companies that have built their kingdoms on a foundation of shifting sand.  Its the credit industry…  Home foreclosures are still out of control even though its old news, credit card companies are jacking up interest rates and lowering credit limits all over the place.  And all this even after receiving large sums of taxpayer money.  People’s credit scores are going down for one reason or another.  And if they aren’t going down, the power of that credit score is starting to mean less.  I think that credit based business is getting pinched because of the heavy investments in unsecured debt.  The scrambling of these companies is becoming apparent to everyone.

I got off the phone with Bank of America this morning after a discussion about an interest rate on a balance transfer.  One thing lead to another and it ended with me telling them that I would be closing out my balance and shelving the card.  I started to go through all of my credit cards and realized there was no value in keeping any of them active – save one.  In the interest of emergency occasions I will shelve 1, cancel another and take one off the shelf and start carrying it.

Interesting thing about my choices is that the one I am goign to start carrying is from a credit union, a small one at that.  They know me, they know my family and they actually seem to care about me.  They will contact me if there is a problem before it comes to charging a fee.  If I need something, when I call there is a 1 in 3 chance the person that answers the phone already knows who I am.  I have never had a relationship with any other bank in over 10 years of being a grown up.

Whats my point?  Whats good for agriculture is good for every other type of business.  We all like to try to buy local food when we can.  Some of us go out of our way to buy nothing else.  So why do we bank with the likes of Bank of America, Discover, Capital One, Citi and the rest of their ilk.  Not everyone has access to the credit union I am describing above, its a city employee’s credit union that I am a part of because of my dad.  But there are lots of other small credit unions and local banks out there that offer great services and if you have a local branch they might actually get to know you when you come in.  Wouldn’t that be amazing?

I – for one – am tired of doing business with these large companies that fancy themselves too big to fail.  They therefore require my tax dollars that should be used for infrastructure and national defense to keep going; all while charging me INSANE interest rates.  I don’t think I will go to a 100% direct cash lifestyle – credit cards offer a certain level of protection.  I DO encourage a cash lifestyle if it suites you, but if you’re like me and you launder your payments through a credit card then pick an issuer closer to home.  Help encourage prosperity in your own community.