Credit unions put their money where their mouths are

by. Henry Meier

Today brings further evidence that credit unions not only talk the talk when it comes to member value, but walk the walk.

According to an annual survey conducted by BankRate.com about 72% of the 50 largest credit unions offer free checking accounts with no strings attached.  An additional 24% of these institutions have free accounts for customers who meet certain conditions.  In contrast, according to the survey, only 38% of the largest banks offer free checking accounts, a big drop from the 65% that offered them in 2010.

You want some more good news?   Fees at credit unions are a lot lower than those at banks.  Overdraft fees are a little less than $6 cheaper and our charges for using an out-of-network ATM are $0.50 to $1.00 cheaper on average.

Banks love to argue that as credit unions grow larger they become indistinguishable not-for-profit competitors.  But these statistics show yet again that simply isn’t the case.

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