I'm not from the US so could you explain how credit unions deal with these things? Are they more sympathetic than banks or do they operate as banks-except-in-name?

For average needs a credit union is a bank with another name. They occasionally have better rates, because there isn't a profit motive for the credit union since it's member owned. If you have special needs beyond checking/savings and home/car loans a credit union may not be able to offer the same level of support as a bank. The quality of credit unions varies wildly, especially on the tech side.