The January issue of Consumer Reports magazine looks at the banking and credit union industry. The article is broken into different sections with credit unions having their own section. The magazine looks at the pros and cons of each industry. The magazine found that credit unions are among the highest rated industries for service that it has ever been evaluated. The pros also included that credit unions weren’t just seeking profits and helped the underserved.
The cons were minimal and the magazine actually turned them into a positive like some credit unions have just a few branches, but CO-OP offers 30,000 surcharge free ATMS. The magazine touched on membership requirements, but again pointed out that community chartered credit unions are easy to join and then put the NCUA’s credit union search engine in the story.
The article ended with ratings for financial institutions by size. It showed 45 credit unions including Suncoast CU, VyStar CU, Redstone FCU, and Space Coast CU. Each fared well in the ratings. Twenty seven credit unions received a reader’s score of 92 or better (on a scale of 1 to 100), while no bank was above 91.
You can see the full story by clicking here (pdf).