Workers Credit Union

There used to be a television commercial for a well known credit card company that used the tagline "Membership has its privileges."  One area where membership definitely has its rewards is belonging to a credit union.  Credit unions all have some requirements for membership, such as working for a particular company or having a family member that works for that company.

There is a Credit union Massachusetts that has a fairly simple membership requirement.  You don't have to work for a particular company.  You don't have to do business with a particular business.  You just have to live or work in Massachusetts or the southern New Hampshire area.  That credit union is the Workers Credit Union.

Workers Credit Union is located in the north central region of Massachusetts and has 14 branch locations.  Like a lot of credit unions, they belong to a network of over 1300 shared credit union branches where you can do banking without incurring any fees.  That way, if you are on vacation or move away from the Massachusetts area, you can still take advantage of your credit union membership.

Workers Credit Union offers a full range of financial services no matter what your banking needs are.  They have savings accounts, checking accounts, CDs, IRAs, loans, and credit cards for individuals at competitive rates.  They offer planning services to pay for college education and for retirement. You can have all of the benefits of banking at a big bank, without all of the fees.  So remember, membership does have its privileges, especially at a credit union.

My Enabler-Coinstar

Image by slakistan via FlickrOn a week to week basis, I do not have a lot of extra cash lying around.  Between the mortgage, the other monthly bills, and the daily living expenses, it pretty much takes about my whole paycheck.  I do have a couple of little savings devices that I use for when I want to save for something special.

The first one is a method that I read about in Neal Boortz's book "Somebody's Gotta Say It."  In one of the chapters in the book, Boortz lays out the Dollar Bill savings plan.  The plan calls for you to carry only carry currency in denominations of $5 or greater.  All singles get put aside for savings.  So, every time I have a group of five $1 bills, they go into a coffee can.  It can add up quickly.

I also hate carrying around a lot of loose change.  At the end of every day, I take whatever loose change I have and put it in another coffee can.  My credit union has a coin counting machine, so whenever the can would start to get full, I would take it up to the credit union to cash them in for the extra cash.

Now, that extra change goes somewhere else.  Ever since I got my Kindle, I have been actively adding content to it.  In order to support that habit, I take my can of coins up to my local supermarket and cash them in at the Coinstar machine.  Instead of cashing them in for cash and paying the service charge, I get Amazon.com gift certificates to add to my Amazon balance.  These are little things, but they help me to treat myself every now and then.  

Related articles

• 5 Reasons to Switch to A Credit Union (blogher.com)
• A Penny Saved is a Penny Spurned? What to Do with Pockets Full of Change (getrichslowly.org)