Newsroom

February 26, 2015

Long: More people see what CUs have to offer

The financial crisis brought about a backlash against banks, so "more people are aware of what credit unions have to offer," said NAFCU Chief Economist and Director of Research Curt Long said in a Bankrate.com article on checking fees at banks and credit unions.

The article, published yesterday, highlights how credit unions are winning the battle against banks on checking account fees.

The article says one of the reasons credit unions are performing better than banks in this area is that nearly three-fourths of credit union checking accounts, or 72 percent, feature no balance requirements or monthly maintenance fees. "That's in sharp contrast to banks, where only 38 percent of checking accounts are free, according to Bankrate's most recent survey of the nation's 50 largest credit unions," it said.

Credit unions outperformed banks in other areas besides checking account fees. For example, the article notes credit unions charge $1.50 in fees to use an out-of-network ATM,whilebanks charge $2.50. Nearly one-third of credit unions don't charge an out-of-network ATM fee at all, the article says.

The piece also discussed the growth of credit union membership since the financial downturn. Credit union membership grew from about 90 million in 2008 to more than 100 million in 2014, it says, with assets topping $1 trillion.

The article was picked up in media outlets across the country, including Yahoo! Finance and Credit Union Times.