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America's Credit Unions Have Seen Their Fastest New-Member Growth in More than a Decade
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(84 seconds)
-- How Will You Use This Story? --
(OPEN):
MONDAY, NOVEMBER 5TH, MARKS THE ONE-YEAR ANNIVERSARY OF "BANK
TRANSFER DAY"--A GRASSROOTS, SOCIAL-MEDIA CAMPAIGN THAT URGED
CONSUMERS TO SWITCH FROM BIG, COMMERCIAL BANKS TO NOT-FOR-PROFIT
CREDIT-UNIONS. DID PEOPLE SWITCH? ACCORDING TO BILL
CHENEY--THE PRESIDENT AND C-E-O OF THE CREDIT UNION
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION--OR "CUNA" ["CUE-NAH"]--THE
NATION'S SEVEN-THOUSAND CREDIT-UNIONS HAVE SEEN, OVER ROUGHLY THE PAST
YEAR, THEIR FASTEST NEW-MEMBER GROWTH IN MORE THAN A DECADE...
(CHENEY):
"MORE THAN
TWO-POINT-TWO-MILLION AMERICANS BECAME MEMBERS OF CREDIT-UNIONS,
DURING THE 12 MONTHS ENDING IN JUNE OF THIS YEAR. NOT ONLY IS THAT
THE FASTEST INCREASE IN NEW MEMBERSHIP THAT WE'VE SEEN IN OVER A DECADE,
IT'S ALSO FOUR-TIMES GREATER THAN THE 550-THOUSAND WHO JOINED, DURING
THE YEAR ENDING IN JUNE OF 2011. HERE'S SOMETHING ELSE: THE
12-MONTH INCREASE IN THE NUMBER OF NEW CHECKING-ACCOUNTS THAT WERE
OPENED AT CREDIT-UNIONS, THROUGH JUNE OF THIS YEAR, WAS ALMOST
TWO-POINT-NINE-MILLION. THAT NUMBER APPEARS TO BE A
RECORD--GOING BACK TO WHEN WE STARTED COLLECTING DATA, IN 19-89.
WHY ARE MORE PEOPLE SWITCHING TO CREDIT-UNIONS? FOR STARTERS,
ABOUT 80-PERCENT OF CREDIT-UNIONS TODAY STILL OFFER FREE-CHECKING
ACCOUNTS--WITH NO MINIMUM-BALANCE REQUIREMENT, AND NO MAINTENANCE- OR
ACTIVITY-FEES. AND, FEES, IN GENERAL, TEND TO BE LOWER AT
NOT-FOR-PROFIT CREDIT-UNIONS THAN AT BANKS."
(CLOSE):
FOR MORE INFORMATION ABOUT CREDIT-UNIONS, VISIT
"A-SMARTER-CHOICE"-DOT-ORG.
