Credit Unions vs Banks - Class trends

[Anonymous]

So my DD was doing a paper for school, and we read that most users of credit unions are lower income than the typical bank customer.

We are a boring DCUM family making $300k so not rich, but I think more income than average banking user? And we always use credit unions since they have lower loan rates and better savings rates. But talking to a teller there i definitely got the impression we were an outlier as more wealthy than most customers.

I can definitely see a full service bank if you are in private banking scene, but if you just have a checking account and take out occasional car loan or whatever, why are people choosing banks overs credit unions? Or is the stats I see just messed up somehow?

[Anonymous]

We are probably middle income, but use a credit union because it was available at work with onsite banking. It was just convenient. We continued using it and got good loan rates, etc. We've been using it for 35 years now and see no reason to change. We did add another credit union that is also conveniently walking distance from our house because we are older now and use some services where convenience is a factor. There are plenty of banks and I used one when I was younger. I don't think this has to do with how much money you have. I was a lot poorer when I used a bank.

[Anonymous]

Teachers are lower income and there are credit unions like Apple that cater to their needs with free or lower cost services. Why wouldn't they use them instead of using banks?

[Anonymous]

Credit unions have lower fees, pay higher interest rates, and have lower minimum balance requirements to avoid fees/get perks than commercial banks especially big banks. Anyone who cares about not giving their money away to big banks should use them. If you want to use a big bank and private banking services so you can impress others, go for it.

[Anonymous]

Historically credit unions were only available to very specific groups--like employees of a company or government agency. So it makes sense that more members are working class. Now there are a lot of credit unions whose B membership criteria is geographic so maybe it will change.

I've kept my Senate FCU membership even though it's been 20 years since I worked on the hill and we live in the mountain west because we've NEVER seen anyone beat their rates.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Historically credit unions were only available to very specific groups--like employees of a company or government agency. So it makes sense that more members are working class. Now there are a lot of credit unions whose B membership criteria is geographic so maybe it will change.

I've kept my Senate FCU membership even though it's been 20 years since I worked on the hill and we live in the mountain west because we've NEVER seen anyone beat their rates.

That must be the difference. Really low income don’t use banks, the “unbanked” and a lot of union jobs and such would steer working class to credit unions.

Surprised more people didn’t switch the CU after GFC.

[Anonymous]

Ummm, I'd say people who use credit unions are smart and know they offer lower fees. Same as online banking---Ally has minimal fees and is simple, safe and easy to use. Why get nickel and dimed by the large banks

[Anonymous]

We have a bank and added a credit union when my job offered NASA FCU. Better rates. Most of our cash is in CU.

[Anonymous]

Our primary personal banking relationship is with a credit union. Our net worth is about $40M.

[Anonymous]

Ivys have their own credit unions. Ask them.

[Anonymous]

We use a credit union but also have money in several banks. Honestly, after moving from DC where my credit union is, I think it was the benefit of having more in person banks/ATMs, etc. Now, of course, we are mostly virtual, but back then I wanted to have access to ATMs without paying lots of fees.

[Anonymous]

Really depends on one's need. They had nothing to offer me whether I was poor or rich. Same with the citibank actually, but at least they are everywhere and abroad.
The limited locations would have been another problem in the past.
Seems like a working class uses them, but more in the past.

[Anonymous]

I'm a lower income worker, under 100k and I only have a bank account. Never even thought of a CU.

[Anonymous]

Accounts at Chase and Capital One plus one at PenFed. Keeping PenFed for next car purchase.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So my DD was doing a paper for school, and we read that most users of credit unions are lower income than the typical bank customer.

We are a boring DCUM family making $300k so not rich, but I think more income than average banking user? And we always use credit unions since they have lower loan rates and better savings rates. But talking to a teller there i definitely got the impression we were an outlier as more wealthy than most customers.

I can definitely see a full service bank if you are in private banking scene, but if you just have a checking account and take out occasional car loan or whatever, why are people choosing banks overs credit unions? Or is the stats I see just messed up somehow?

Credit Unions are more of a conservative trend away from government run banks. Rich or poor, though most conservatives are poor to middle class.