What Are the Benefits of Using One Credit Union for All Your Banking Services

Over the years, you may have found that your finances have become a bit messy, with savings and checking accounts at multiple financial institutions, making it hard to manage your money. Maybe you opened a checking account to get a great introductory interest rate, or maybe you opened a joint checking account with a friend or family member. Now you aren’t sure how to manage your finances with your funds being spread into various accounts at different financial institutions. You may be wondering how to pare down all of these accounts to make managing your finances easier and more efficient.

The good news is, consolidating all of your accounts is easy to do, and you get the added benefit of using one credit union for all of your credit union services. Central Willamette Credit Union has a list of some of the benefits of using one credit union for all of your credit union services.

Earn More Money with Higher Interest Rates

One of the many benefits of having your savings in one credit union is that you can earn more money on your savings accounts. Many financial institutions offer higher interest rates when you have more money in the account. The less money you have in the account, the lower the interest rate. Some financial institutions offer interest rates on both savings accounts and checking accounts, while some only offer interest rates on savings accounts.

By consolidating your accounts into one checking account and/or one savings account, depending on what your financial institution offers, you can get the benefit of a higher interest rate. This means you will earn more money each month just for having your money in one account. You can also earn the benefit of lower interest rates on loans from your financial institution just by having one account with a higher balance.

Pay Less in Low Balance Fees

Many financial institutions charge monthly fees for checking or savings accounts with lower balances. When you have your money split across many accounts with various different financial institutions, your balances will be lower than if you have one account holding all of your money in one place. By consolidating all of your accounts into one credit union account, you can benefit by increasing your available balance in one account, thus eliminating the monthly fees for that account. And once you close any accounts that are now empty, you can eliminate those monthly fees as well.

Some financial institutions also charge for using the other services they offer, such as notarizing services, obtaining a cashier’s check, using one of their safety deposit boxes, and so forth. When you have a higher available balance in your account at a financial institution, they may waive those fees as a reward for choosing to keep your funds there. Those fees can add up over time and can cause your money to dwindle without you even realizing it. At Central Willamette Credit Union, you can open an account with just $5, and you are rewarded with added benefits when you have a higher balance.

Manage Your Finances in One Place

Having all of your money located in one financial institution makes managing your finances so much easier. No more having to remember where all of your accounts are located or all of your usernames and passwords to access them online to view your balances in all of the different places. Having all of your transactions in one location makes reviewing purchases and other transactions so much quicker and easier than trying to open all of your different accounts to see which account has what transaction each time you’re trying to balance your finances.

If you need to move funds around between accounts at different financial institutions, it can take weeks to complete. Having all of your accounts located at a central credit union can make for quick and easy transfers between accounts to cover costs as needed. You can also set up automatic transfers between your accounts at one financial institution, which can help you save money over time. For example, you can set up automatic transfers from your checking account to your savings account each week after payday. You can quickly and easily accumulate savings you didn’t even know you could have.

During tax time, having multiple financial accounts can become a bit of a nightmare to manage, with all of the 1099 forms sent to you by each financial institution for any earned interest over the past year. With all your credit union services at one institution, you don’t have to wait on multiple 1099 forms and keep track to make sure you receive all of them before submitting your tax return. Instead, having just one place to look makes tax time so much easier.

Financial Troubleshooting in One Place

When there is a financial discrepancy, the first thing we do is run to our mobile banking app to check our transactions for the past week or so to determine what happened to our money and see where it went. When your money is stored in multiple financial institutions with multiple logins on different apps, it becomes confusing and time-consuming to sort out all of the different places your money may have gone. By having all of your transactions in one location, sorting out missing money will become so much easier to figure out since you can review all your transactions in one location.

By having a centralized financial institution for all of your credit union services, the perks are endless. If you live or work in Oregon in either Linn, Benton, Marion, or Polk Counties, or if you have a family member who does, then you’re able to open an account with the Central Willamette Credit Union and start consolidating your accounts right away. Either stop in and visit one of our many branches or apply online today!