(Last Updated On: May 13, 2010)

Recently, I was asked about credit cards and banks by a friend of mine. I told her about credit unions and why I thought they were so much better than banks. For a brief review, you can read my article about the credit union revolution. A few days later, I received the following email, which I’m reprinting with her permission:

Dear Kristy,

Thank you for helping me make a decision to look into a credit union in order to dump my bank. And thanks for some information about credit and credit cards. With your encouragement in mind, I did a little research and made a major decision today. I had a wonderful experience switching to a credit union from my bank and wanted to share.

I chose Sun West Federal Credit Union near me. The manager has been in the credit union 30 years! The woman with whom I did most of my “work” , a native Arizonan, has been with this credit union since 1996. I learned that Sun West was originally the AZ. Phone Co. Credit Union. It has great appeal to Good Sam employees because of its location as well as what they offer. We accomplished so much in two hours!

I opened a checking account and added my auto deposits and bill payments which had been attached to my old account. Ms. Nelson (who helped me) got Social Security on the phone and we have redirected my Social Security to be direct deposited to my new account. I will take copies of my durable Power of Attorneys (both my kids) so they will have access to my account as well as be my beneficiaries. I will take my bills (electric, gas, water, insurance, etc) and she will make calls while I’m there and changing the automatic billing instructions.

With a credit rating of 816, I have a Mastercard at a low rate with them. We accomplished a lot!!! They set me up with online banking, password and security questions done. I can’t imagine how I could have been more fortunate! I feel confident this is going a lot smoother than I would ever have hoped after much stewing and consternation over how, when and where to do this.

I will close my old bank checking account next month. THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!