So, this year I finally learned the real world application of the importance between the cooperative mentality of a credit union and the cold, hard corporate mentality of a bank. I'll just leave it with the fact that it was an expensive class to take, but the lesson was learned for a lifetime. Credit unions in general are great for the individual, and ours is incredible. Among other advantages, our credit union offers two great things. Shared branching and Money Pass ATM's. And, guess what! There's an app for that.

First, let's take a look at the shared branching app. Shared branching allows me to go to another credit union in the network and make transactions on my account, just like I was at my own branch. So there's no need for a big national bank when traveling. Let's say my credit union only has one branch in Ohio, but I am in Myrtle Beach and want to deposit a check. Since my CU is part of the shared branching network, all I need to do is find a branch that is in network and make my transaction there, just like I was at my local credit union. All I need is the Credit Union Shared Branching Locator app to find a location. It's as easy as launching the app, entering in the address or just the city and state, and click on one of the swirls to see info about that location.

Then, click on get directions to see how to get to where you need to go.

And that's it! This is one great app that does it's job and does it well. It's also available for Android, but that is a review for another day.

The next App is for Money Pass ATM's, and with similar features with one drawback. It uses the GPS for location awareness, but that doesn't work on an iPod touch. So, on an iPod touch you need to know your zip code. And, this one is not available on Android.