Checking
An account that does the boring things reliably and doesn't invent new ways to charge you.
There is not much to say about a checking account that isn't either obvious or a fee disclosure in disguise. So here is the whole thing: no monthly maintenance fee, no minimum balance, no requirement to route your paycheck through us to keep either of those true. Debit card, mobile deposit, bill pay, and a shared branch network that lets you walk into a credit union in another state and be treated like a member, because you are one.
About overdrafts
This is the part most checking pages bury, so we will put it where you can find it. If you spend more than you have, one of three things happens: the transaction is declined at no cost, it pulls from your savings if you have linked one, or it is paid and there is a fee. You choose which of those is the default, and you can change it whenever you like, including in a branch while someone explains the trade-off to you.
What we will not do is reorder your day's transactions largest-first so that more of them bounce. That practice made a lot of money for a lot of institutions and we have never done it.
Second Chance Checking
If you have been turned away elsewhere because of a closed account or a past negative balance, ask about this one. It has a small monthly fee, some limits for the first year, and then it converts into a regular account. It exists because the alternative for most people is a check casher taking three percent off the top of every paycheck, which is a far more expensive way to be unbanked.
Youth and student accounts
A parent or guardian is a joint owner until eighteen. The account is deliberately plain — there is no credit line attached to it and no way to overdraw it. The point is a first account where the worst possible outcome is a declined transaction.
What opening one involves
- Confirming you are eligible for membership, which takes a question or two. See eligibility.
- Government photo ID, in person or through the app.
- Five dollars, which is not a fee. It buys your share in the credit union and it stays yours.
Roughly ten minutes if nothing is unusual. Longer if something is, and a person will tell you what.