A Credit Union is a cooperative, not-for-profit financial institution organized to promote thrift and provide credit to members. It is member-owned and controlled through a board of directors elected by membership. The board serves on a volunteer basis and may hire a management team to run the Credit Union. The board also establishes and revises policy, sets dividend and loan rates, and directs certain operations. The result: members are provided with a safe, convenient place to save and borrow at reasonable rates at an institution which exists to benefit them, not to make a profit.

Overview: Overall, 91 million U.S. consumers are member-owners of, and receive all or part of their financial services from the nation's nearly 7,794 credit unions. Credit unions are not-for-profit financial cooperatives, serving members who share something in common: employment, association membership, or residence in a particular geographic area. As not-for- profit cooperatives, credit unions generally offer more attractive savings and loan rates, and low or no fees. Surveys consistently rank credit unions first among financial institutions in consumer satisfaction.

Philosophy and Structure: Credit unions are democratically owned and controlled institutions, that take pride in their "people helping people" philosophy. Credit union boards of directors are elected by members; each member has an equal vote, regardless of how much he or she has on deposit. Only members may serve as directors, and directors serve without being paid. Volunteers are an important credit union resource. Presently, approximately 100,000 Americans volunteer for their credit unions, serving as board members, committee members, or providing other assistance. Finally, credit unions have no outside stockholders, so after reserves are set aside, earnings are returned to members in the form of dividends on savings, lower loan rates, or additional services.

Safety and Soundness: Credit unions primarily engage in consumer loans and, to a lesser degree, residential real estate loans for their members. Because credit unions are portfolio lenders and are member-owned cooperatives, they were not part of the recent widely-reported sub-prime crisis. Credit union asset quality remains very high in the current shaky market with 1st mortgage delinquencies at 1.93%and  overall loan delinquencies at 1.69% at the end of the third quarter of 2009. Credit union capital is 10% of total assets (a level that is well above the regulatory "well capitalized 7% threshold) and the equity ratio of the federal insurance fund, National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF), has operated with an equity-to-insured share ratio of at least 1.25 percent for 16 consecutive years.

Insurance Fund: Since 1984, credit unions have operated their own federal deposit insurance fund on a pay-as-you-go basis. In that year, credit unions voluntarily deposited 1 percent of their insured member savings in NCUSIF, to bring its equity ratio up to 1.0 percent. This recapitalization resulted in a one-time reduction in the federal deficit. Each year, credit unions deposit sufficient funds to ensure that the fund's equity ratio is maintained at or above 1.2 percent. Like the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund coverage, NCUSIF protects member deposits to $250,000 and is backed by the full faith and credit of the U.S. Government.

Regulation and Supervision: Federally chartered credit unions are regulated by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an independent agency. NCUA's three board members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. State chartered credit unions are regulated by their state credit union department. NCUA administers NCUSIF, and has authority to subject all federally insured credit unions to insurance examinations. No taxpayer money is used for regulating and overseeing credit unions, as all activities of NCUA and NCUSIF are funded by credit unions.

U.S. Organization: Over 88 percent of credit unions, both federally and state chartered, representing 87 percent of total credit union assets, are affiliated with the Credit Union National Association (CUNA), and its state-based affiliates (leagues). CUNA maintains offices for fee-based services in Madison, Wisconsin and the offices of the president and governmental affairs in Washington, D.C.

Market Share: Credit unions are a small, but constant presence in the financial services industry. Credit unions hold about 6.7 percent of household financial assets as of September 2009, a market share that hasn't changed significantly in over 25 years.

Political Involvement and Grassroots: After the massive grassroots mobilization that turned credit union members into credit union activists and led to the successful passage of H.R. 1151, the Credit Union Membership Access Act, credit union leaders vowed that we must never again find ourselves in such a life-threatening situation. It was decided that creating a permanent political and grassroots infrastructure in the credit union community was of utmost importance and over the past 10 years, CUNA has set out to do just that.

CULAC, CUNA's political action committee, continues to grow, reaching an all time high of $4.33 million raised in the 2007 - 2008 election cycle. With candidates gearing up for midterm elections in 2010, we expect credit union volunteers to be more involved than ever before in every level of campaigns, hosting fundraisers, organizing phone banks, running Get Out The Vote campaigns, and publishing voter guides. CUNA continues to help credit union members be involved politically by working with state leagues to conduct campaign schools across the country. 

Through CUNAs popular Hike The Hill program, credit unions have also maintained a constant grassroots presence on Capitol Hill with regular visits to Washington by league and credit union staff and volunteers. Visits to members of Congress have been very beneficial as issues like regulatory relief and data security have been debated on the Hill. Many credit unions have also used this opportunity to educate their members of Congress about credit unions and how their commitment to their members makes credit unions stand apart from other financial institutions.

Promoting Economic Development at Home and Abroad: CUNA devotes 6 percent of every dues dollar from affiliated credit unions to international credit union development through the activities of the World Council of Credit Unions (WOCCU). WOCCU promotes the sustainable development of credit unions and other financial cooperatives around the world to empower people to grow through access to high quality and affordable financial services. WOCCU advocates on behalf of the global credit union system before international organizations and works with national governments to improve legislation and regulation. Its technical assistance programs introduce new technologies to strengthen credit unions' financial performance and increase their outreach. Worldwide, 54,000 credit unions in 97 countries serve 186 million people. In 2008, World Councils technical assistance programs reached more than 8 million people in 16 countries.  

Statistics: (as of September 2009)
Number of U.S. Credit Unions:           7,794
Consumer Member-Owners:             91.4 million
Assets:                                                $886.0 billion
Loans:                                                 $583.6billion
Surplus funds
(Cash, government securities,
and financial institution deposits):       $268.2 billion
Consumer Savings:                            $748.9 billion 
Capital to Assets:                                10.0%