<prompt> Human: I joined a credit union to get better rates, although theyre pretty much on par with the awful decimal point offered by banks at the moment. Then this happened thats wiped out any interest I might have earned: I received a check from Canada for a substantial amount--low five figures--in U.S. dollars. I got a letter in the mail from the credit union containing a Foreign Item Adjustment Notification with a Payor Bank Fee of 128. The man I spoke with on the phone said it was the cost of importing a large check from a foreign country, part of which they had to pay to Alloya. But Im pretty sure I could have just deposited it to my bank account and eaten maybe a nominal fee of 10-50. Is this all above board, or is there some kind of skimming by someone at my CU? Only evidence I can find of this phrase is some online gambling sites kvetching about it from Bank of America.  <response>: Not all credit unions are better than big banks. Some suck. 