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If you currently use a bank for your finances but you’re tired of paying checking and ATM fees, have you ever considered switching over to a credit union? With them, not only do you become an actual member, rather than a stakeholder, of the institution, but there are also many ways that using a credit union can help to save you money too.

If you’d like to know about some of the benefits that come with using a credit union, we have listed five of them for you below:

You can get a lower interest rate on your credit card. If you currently have a credit card with a high interest rate, this is a good enough reason to become a member of a local credit union. That’s because in most cases, they have credit cards with significantly lower interest rates than most banks. In fact, in many cases, you can find one that’s as low as 6.75 APR.

You can pay less ATM fees. Anyone who has ever used an ATM card at a machine (that was not associated with their bank) knows that for every $2-3 that is spent in order to withdraw the cash, that can really start to add up by the end of the month. But through a credit union, there are actually a lot of credit union debit cards that will let you use ATMs at over 50,000 locations without paying those extra fees.

You can refinance your car or house. When people are looking to refinance their car or house, it’s usually because they want to lower their monthly payments and interest rates; plus refinancing can help them to lock in an interest rate. And while you can do this at a bank too, a lot of people prefer to use a credit union simply because their interest ratings tend to be much lower.

You can avoid certain maintenance fees. Say that you’re trying to figure out if you should become a member of the 1st Financial Federal Credit Union. Well, here’s something to think about: Although most banks charge you monthly checking and maintenance fees, that is something that you don’t have to worry about with most credit unions. That means that you can have $10-20 extra per month that you can put towards a savings account. And as an added bonus, there are many of credit unions that also don’t require a minimum balance in order to open a checking account.

You can earn extra discounts. And finally, another way that credit unions can save you money is because a lot of them have partnered up with other businesses in order to earn you discounts on their products and services. There are some credit unions that offer 10 percent off on car rentals, $15 off of floral delivery companies and even 10 percent off on cell phone plans. It’s a special incentive to give them a try.

As you can see, there are all kinds of ways that credit unions can save you money. So, you definitely should consider becoming a member of one because we are confident that it’s a financial decision that you will not regret. If you’d like more reasons why joining a credit union is a smart thing to do, visit LoveMyCreditUnion.org.