The Credit Union would end up with so few members and so few persistent deposits (since all your smart members would immediately transfer assets into investment accounts, muni bonds, and ETFs), that the Credit Union would operate in the red... costing all the founding members dearly, both in time and money, when the Credit Union goes into bankruptcy. It turns out that the smartest folks, who saw through the charade, were thrown out with the bath water by not joining to begin with.  ;-)