A credit union is a member-owned financial cooperative, democratically controlled by its members, and operated for the purpose of promoting thrift, providing credit at competitive rates, and providing other financial services to its members.
Many credit unions also provide services intended to support community development or sustainable international development on a local level, and could be considered community development financial institutions.
Worldwide, credit union systems vary significantly in terms of total system assets and average institution asset size, ranging from volunteer operations with a handful of members to institutions with several billion dollars in assets and hundreds of thousands of members.
Read more about Credit Union: Differences From Other Financial Institutions, Field of Membership, Not-for-profit Status, Global Presence, Corporate Credit Unions, Leagues and Associations, History
Famous quotes containing the words credit and/or union:
“My credit now stands on such slippery ground
That one of two bad ways you must conceit me,
Either a coward or a flatterer.”
—William Shakespeare (1564–1616)
“If in madness of delusion, anyone shall lift his parricidal hand against this blessed union ... the arms of thousands will be raised to save it, and the curse of millions will fall upon the head which may have plotted its destruction.”
—Andrew Jackson (1767–1845)