PEWAUKEE, Wis., Dec. 20 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ — A study released yesterday by credit union regulators affirmed that state-chartered credit unions provide low-cost, convenient financial services to their member-owners and actively serve their communities.
The National Association of State Credit Union Supervisors (NASCUS) — the professional association of regulators for the nation’s state-chartered credit unions — used a sampling of 502 credit unions representing different fields of membership, geographic locations, asset sizes and communities to evaluate state-chartered credit unions’ use of their tax-exempt status to serve their members.
This is the second study within 13 months conducted by industry regulators that reinforces that credit unions are doing a good job of serving their members, and flies in the face of rhetoric and self-funded studies produced by the banking industry.
“Bankers consistently mischaracterize credit unions’ mission and misinterpret facts in an attempt to eliminate the not-for-profit competition that prevents them from jacking up their fees and costs for everyday services,” said Brett Thompson, President & CEO of The Wisconsin Credit Union League, the trade association representing more than 250 not-for-profit, member-owned financial institutions.
“Apparently, Wisconsin banks just aren’t satisfied with occupying nearly 90% of the state’s financial market and making $1.5 billion in profits in 2006 alone.”
Among the findings illustrated in the NASCUS Survey:
— State-chartered credit unions serve their members in a manner consistent with their history as financial cooperatives serving groups based on occupation, association or community, by charging lower loan rates and providing higher return on savings;
— The income of state-chartered credit union members is representative of the U.S. population;
— State-chartered credit unions provide a wide variety of needed financial services to the membership they are chartered to serve; and
— Although no state statute, law or regulation specifies that state-chartered credit unions must serve individuals of low and modest means, state-chartered credit unions do reach out and provide financial services to all income groups within their fields of membership, both through pricing and community outreach efforts.
Thompson notes that these findings echo those of a November 2006 study by The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), which concluded that Americans living paycheck to paycheck are served well by credit unions.
“The results of these studies shouldn’t come as a surprise to Wisconsin credit unions or their 2.1 million members,” says Thompson. “Credit unions provide a financial lifeline for people from all walks of life.”
Wisconsin has the second most state-chartered credit unions in the nation, according to the NASCUS report, and are national pioneers of REAL Solutions, an initiative where credit unions identify trends or needs that are affecting individuals and families, and the communities they live and work in, and then develop services to meet members’ needs.
As part of their REAL Solutions initiative, Wisconsin credit unions operate more than 70 student-run branches in schools and are providing the brass|STUDENT PROGRAM free to all of Wisconsin’s public high schools to help teach teens responsible money management. They’re also annually saving members $1 million with alternatives to payday loans, and returning $157 million to members in the form of better rates on loans, higher rates on deposits and lower or fewer fees.
Even those who aren’t credit union members benefit from having not-for-profit cooperatives in the financial marketplace — due to credit union competition, bank customers save an estimated $4.3 billion annually.
“Despite bankers’ attempts to spin the truth, credit unions are serving their members and helping to make affordable financial services available to all Wisconsinites,” Thompson concluded.
Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions that are owned by their members and do not have stockholders. Because they are not-for-profit, they return earnings to members in the form of more competitive rates of return on accounts, lower interest on loans, lower fees and improved services. Around 2.1 million Wisconsin residents belong to credit unions, of which nearly half are open to the local community. People can find a credit union to join by looking in the phone book or by visiting www.creditunion.coop.
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Source: Wisconsin Credit Union League
