I can't haz monies - Banking, Finances, and mebe Doomsday?

[ViPER1313]

I'm a huge fan of credit unions, I wouldn't touch a bank with a 10 foot pole. CommonWealth One will hook you up since you are a JMU grad, and you should qualify for all of their prime rates because you went to there (this may or may not happen at other credit unions, at least until you have established credit and / or can make larger down payments.) Their loan rates have always been really competitive as far as I can tell (auto rates are the same as the CU Evan posted, I didn't compare all of them.) Free checking of course... if the bank you go to doesn't have that, switch. Only downsides are a limited number of branches and no real ATMs unless you are around JMU, although Comstar FCU acts as a physical branch for anything other than a loan approval, and WAWA/Sheetz have surcharge free ATMs.

EDIT: If you care, you can search to see if there is a shared service center near you: <!-- m --><a class="postlink" href="http://www.cuservicecenter.com/">http://www.cuservicecenter.com/</a><!-- m -->