If there were a credit union in my town I'd transfer my money in a minute. The difference between a credit union and a bank is that banks are for-profit. That means that the more fees they charge you and the less interest they give you the wealthier they become. Credit unions, on the other hand, are non-profit organizations working for and on behalf of their members. In a way a credit union is something like a banking co-operative. In general their fees are lower than banks' fees, their interest rates tend to be slightly higher, their executive salaries are lower, they have fewer branches, and they are more locally oriented. Their purpose is to work with and for you, as opposed to for their own self-preservation.

With social changes and tendencies towards more cooperation and more transparency, credit unions are becoming more and more popular because their practices are more customer oriented. It is millennials that are driving the credit union growth trend, and credit unions are growing faster than other financial institutions.

Do you have a credit union in your town?