Ideal Credit Union Reviews (1)

Ideal Credit Union is a local treasure. Although it is primarily made up of the old St. Paul Postal CU, it also subsumed the North St. Paul School District Employees' CU many years ago. It has generous eligibility options so don't feel that you have to be a postal worker to bank here. There are a string of branches now, generally in a line along the east side of the Twin Cities Metro Area.

One of its best features is that it offers "special" CDs that allow you to cash out before the due date without penalty. I have recently purchased two of these, the best rates around my area. If you compare its CD rates to local bank rates, you will want to join the Ideal CU immediately. They give away great free pens, have good employees, pretty good hours, and a good social conscience (a couple years ago, they collected money for the Puerto Rico hurricane, for example, and they have employee casual days that pay for charitable donations). This is a good institution, an example of the Upper Midwest history of creating cooperatives as an alternative to for-profit businesses.

Warning: if you want to take out an account or make some changes to your account, plan to spend some time at it. These guys are thorough and you need to take that into account. You can do a lot of the work on the phone, though.