What American 1 card do you use?

Check all the American 1 cards you use regularly!

American 1: Everywhere you are, too

A fun video from Service 1 FCU up in Muskegon. The same principle applies to American 1, and most credit unions.

With services like online banking, online Bill Pay, A1 Access for your phone, and our giant network of no-surcharge ATMs, American 1 is pretty much everywhere you are.

Find a Co-Op Network ATM via text, GPS

Attention travelers: you can find a Co-Op ATM no matter where you are, thanks to the Co-Op text and GPS ATM locator service. The Co-Op Network provides access to more than 28,000 no-surcharge ATMs throughout the country, and many more worldwide.

You can either text your location to the Co-Op Network service, or download a GPS map to your Garmin, Tom Tom, or other turn-by-turn navigation device. Both of these services are great if you don’t have access to a computer or the Internet.

Visit our ATM Locations page for a full list of American 1 no-surcharge ATMs.

2009: a Mobile ATM Odyssey

Check out pictures on our Flickr page.

Watch for it at this weekend’s Spring Women’s Expo!

Truckers love credit unions.

Who would’ve thunk it: a trucking magazine promoting credit unions.

Check out this article over at Overdrive magazine, called “Plugging holes in your checking account,” on how banks like to squeeze as much money out of customers with fees and “gotcha” penalties. Those interest-bearing checking accounts? Sometimes they’re not worth it.

Overdrive’s article concludes, “Move your business to a credit union.”

10-4!

The benefit of no-surcharge ATMs.

Bad news

Americans paid more than $4 billion in ATM fees last year. And big banks like Bank of America have raised their charges to $3 a pop.

Good news

American 1 offers no-surcharge ATMs at each of our more-than-40 locations. If you did get charged for using one of our ATMs, it’s your bank that charged you, not us.

Maybe they’re trying to send you a message…

Thanks+

After our recent car sale and the advertising we put around it, you’ve probably noticed we’ve been tooting our own horn a bit. Modesty and humbleness have their place, and more businesses should try practicing it, but our point is to let you know – in spite of everything going on in our area – your credit union is doing just fine.

You may have seen the numbers in the ad: 8,000 new members last year, 1,800 new members so far this year, 9,000 people attending our free community events, $1.6 million dollars saved in ATM fees. These are big numbers.

Plus $1 million in auto loans at our spring sale, which means $1 million that will help local businesses (like the dealerships) and that, as Bruce over at The Car Company said, will be “reinvested in the local economy.”

The Car Company is a good example, because they sold almost 30 vehicles on Friday and Saturday. Ask any other dealer in town whether they can pull off those numbers over a weekend.

Historically, credit unions have helped out their communities when the community needs them the most. This is that time, and that’s exactly what we’re trying to do.

So thanks. Thanks for being a member, thanks for making our sales such a big hit, and thanks for helping us help out Jackson and Hillsdale and Battle Creek and Chelsea and all the other communities we call home.

ScamWatch: Five new credit card scams

The Consumerist.com, a consumer-advocate blog from Gawker Media, posted four (five, technically, but #1 is actually a credit card practice) new scams that include “cramming,” “shaving,” “minting,” and “skimming.”

The skimming scam (say that five times fast) is one we’ve heard before from local police officers, and involves thieves setting electronic scanners that read your debit/credit card information when you swipe it at machines and terminals.

As always, keep a close eye on your credit card number and card.

Check out our ScamWatch page to learn more ways to protect yourself from identity thieves.