Difficult Times at Our Credit Union
My guess is that, given the choice, practically everyone would prefer to bank with a member-owned cooperative, i.e. a credit union, than a for-profit bank owned by outside shareholders. I mean, think about it: sneaky fees and outrageous surcharges are anathema, because it&#x27;s more important for members to be satisfied with their experience than to wring out every nickel and dime of profit at the expense of customer satisfaction. And credit unions have been around a long time, so we know the model works.<p>What&#x27;s stopping credit unions from being competitive against traditional banks are the regulatory hurdles. For instance, all credit unions&#x27; members must have some common affiliation, such as a small geographic area, or a common employer or alma mater.  So you can&#x27;t just create a credit union that competes with the likes of Capital One 360 or other online banks, even though it would be beneficial for that to happen, because the law says it can&#x27;t be open to just anyone.<p>Although credit unions are perhaps the most successful and widespread example of cooperative businesses in the U.S., we Americans have not really embraced cooperatives, and that&#x27;s a shame. Look at the U.K., where one of the most popular grocery chains is a co-op, or at Mondragon in Spain. Wouldn&#x27;t it be awesome to have something like Walmart, but entirely member-owned?  Instead of all those profits going to a relatively few wealthy shareholders, they&#x27;d go back to the members in the form of lower prices.<p>Technology has made it easier to gather like-minded people to start cooperatives. I would love to see a Kickstarter-like service take it to the next level.