Credit unions are the Cubs of financial services

The Cubs and credit unions have a lot in common. Before Thursday morning, the Cubs last won a World Series in the year that the first credit Union was formed in the United States in the great state of New Hampshire.

Just as every baseball fan knows that the Cubs play in the friendly confines of Wrigley Field, every tried- and-true credit union supporter knows that credit unions are not-for-profit member owned cooperatives that provide an alternative to commercial banking. Even people who don’t know much about credit unions think positively about them.

Times have changed, but when I think of the cubs I still think of Wrigley Field having no lights and an outfield padded with ivy. And even though there are many highly sophisticated, large credit unions, when I think of the industry I still think of the institutions that started with a bunch of friends passing around money in a tin and deciding to lend to one another.

continue reading »