What is a credit union?
A credit union is a financial cooperative of people who share a common bond, either by employment or by association.

Many credit unions, including Western, also include the immediate family Members of Members (spouse, child, brother, sister or parent) in their field of Membership. These people join together in a non-profit association with the purpose of doing business with one another.

The purpose of a credit union is to encourage savings, to make credit available at reasonable rates for productive purposes, and to provide a variety of consumer financial services at a reasonable cost. Credit unions are not credit bureaus, labor unions, loan companies, or finance houses. They are financial institutions incorporated under state or federal laws to provide financial services to their Members.

Who owns the credit union?
A credit union belongs to its Member/Owners. When you open an account at a credit union, you become an Owner of your cooperative institution. As such, you are entitled to a say in how the credit union is run.

The Board of Directors, which sets the policy for the credit union, is elected from the Membership. Each Member receives one vote in selecting these Directors, regardless of the amount of money that he or she might have in the credit union. Members can nominate someone for the Board of Directors, vote for the candidates, or even run for office themselves.

Are my funds safe at a credit union?
Yes! All credit unions provide some sort of deposit insurance for their Members, so you can feel confident your funds are safe at a credit union. Western Credit Union, Inc. provides two levels of deposit insurance for our Members. $100,000 in insurance through the National Credit Union Administration Share Insurance Fund, an agency of the federal government. In addition, there is an additional $250,000 of insurance through Excess Share Insurance. That means your accounts at WCU are protected up to $350,000!

If credit unions are non-profit, how do I earn interest?
Credit unions exist not to make a profit for outside stockholders, but to provide services and benefits to their Members. This means after expenses and required reserves have been met, the earnings are returned to Members in the form of higher dividend earnings on savings, lower rates on loans, or added services. Credit unions are usually able to offer higher dividend rates and lower loan rates (as well as lower fees) than other financial institutions because their financial return is used for the benefit of their Membership, not to shareholders.

Additional credit union facts include:

• There are 37,759 credit unions and 100,826,082 credit union Members worldwide.
• Nationally, credit unions are regulated by either a state regulatory agency (in Ohio, the Division of Financial Institutions) or the National Credit Union Administration, an agency of the federal government.
• Year in and year out, credit unions receive the highest customer satisfaction ratings of any financial service provider. For the last 21 years straight, credit unions have ranked first in consumer satisfaction in The American Banker/Gallup consumer satisfaction survey.

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