Credit unions were given a good spot in the Economist publication this week. A story was posted that touted credit union growth worldwide. Credit union membership has doubled across the world since 2000. Savings is also up 130 percent at credit unions. The story looked at how credit unions were formed and offered three reasons that credit unions are growing.
The first reason is better rates on savings accounts and lower rates on loans, while also outpacing banks on customer service. The second factor is the resiliency of credit unions through the Great Recession and how banks were looking at short-term profits. The last factor was how credit unions work together to have a large ATM network which helps them compete more with banks.
The article gives a good look at the credit union movement from a worldly perspective. The comment section also has good posts about credit unions in Canada and how banks continue to look for short-term gains by charging fees.