Advantages of Belonging to a Credit Union?

[gk10002000]

My primary bank and brokerage is with Etrade.   Have been with them for almost 20 years.  Very content.  I also have a Wells Fargo brick and mortar account which has come in handy now and then when I need to do cash transactions.  I am an Air Force Veteran and was wondering if there is any significant advantage to joining the Navy Federal Credit Union?  Maybe they do overseas transfers easily and cheaply?  I don't know.  Just looking to see if it there is any reason to open an account with them or any of the other Credi Unions I could join.

[cmarshall]

One criterion is whether the credit union will allow you to send wire transfers online without paper forms or phone calls.  I have one credit union that allows this while my other bank requires a phone call, which is inconvenient.

[wpcoe]

My credit union still requires a fax.  Talk about inconvenient.  So, for the past several years, I've used my Fidelity account to transfer funds via Bangkok Bank, but I've yet to try it after the change in SWIFT formats required by Bangkok Bank.

 

For some reason, I was never able to get my credit union's SWIFT transfers to work via Bangkok Bank.  The credit union said it had transmitted (several times) the test amounts, but Bangkok Bank never got them.

[Pib]

1 hour ago, wpcoe said:

 

For some reason, I was never able to get my credit union's SWIFT transfers to work via Bangkok Bank.  The credit union said it had transmitted (several times) the test amounts, but Bangkok Bank never got them.

You don't do "test amounts (a.k.a., trial or micro deposits)" in setting up a SWIFT transfer. 

 

You must be talking an ACH transfer where most US banks use two trial deposits of 1 to 99 cents for validation in setting up the ACH Transfer link.    But a person can no longer setup ACH transfer links to Bangkok Bank if your US bank uses the trial deposits setup method as Bangkok Bank started rejecting new ACH transfer links/trial deposits around mid 2018.  However if your US bank didn't use the trial deposit method the transfer link could still be setup and transfers accomplished up until 30 Jun 2019 (still have another week to go) which is Bangkok Bank's revised red line in sand for ACH transfers not in International ACH Transaction (IAT) format.  Their original line in the sand was 30 Apr 2019.

[Jingthing]

Does etrade know you live in Thailand?

 

SDFCU does online Swift and I think so does that military affiliated one USAA.

 

I think with both you can open with a foreign address. Definitely SDFCU.

 

Sent from my Lenovo A7020a48 using Thailand Forum - Thaivisa mobile app

 

 

 

 

 

 

[wpcoe]

2 hours ago, wpcoe said:

My credit union still requires a fax.  Talk about inconvenient.  So, for the past several years, I've used my Fidelity account to transfer funds via Bangkok Bank, but I've yet to try it after the change in SWIFT formats required by Bangkok Bank.

 

For some reason, I was never able to get my credit union's SWIFT transfers to work via Bangkok Bank.  The credit union said it had transmitted (several times) the test amounts, but Bangkok Bank never got them.

 

9 minutes ago, Pib said:

You don't do "test amounts (a.k.a., trial or micro deposits)" in setting up a SWIFT transfer. 

 

You must be talking an ACH transfer where most US banks use two trial deposits of 1 to 99 cents for validation in setting up the ACH Transfer link.    But a person can no longer setup ACH transfer links to Bangkok Bank if your US bank uses the trial deposits setup method as Bangkok Bank started rejecting new ACH transfer links/trial deposits around mid 2018.  However if your US bank didn't use the trial deposit method the transfer link could still be setup and transfers accomplished up until 30 Jun 2019 (still have another week to go) which is Bangkok Bank's revised red line in sand for ACH transfers not in International ACH Transaction (IAT) format.  Their original line in the sand was 30 Apr 2019.

Hoo boy, did I make a junk salad with that post!  You correctly guessed what I meant.  That second post was about trying to set up ACH transfers from my credit union via Bangkok Bank.

 

I knew Bangkok Bank had delayed the implementation of the IAT format requirement but didn't realize it was still not implemented.  I just now briefly thought about doing one last Fidelity-to-BBL ACH transfer, but just looked at the exchange rate.  Ouch.