{"id":2787,"date":"2018-10-26T14:20:51","date_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:20:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sites.austincc.edu\/money\/?p=2787"},"modified":"2018-10-26T14:20:51","modified_gmt":"2018-10-26T14:20:51","slug":"banks-vs-credit-unions-whats-the-difference","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/smmo-blog\/banks-vs-credit-unions-whats-the-difference\/","title":{"rendered":"Banks vs Credit Unions: What&#8217;s the Difference?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Last year my phone started turning on and off on its own, and it became clear to me it was time to get another phone. I went deep into the web to research reviews, specs, and all the information I could get so I could make an informed decision on what phone to get. I narrowed down the &#8220;finalists&#8221; and talked to my friends who are into tech about them, determining which phone would best suit my needs.<\/p>\n<p>Doing this kind of research before buying is not a new thing. We no longer rely only on word of mouth to determine what to buy&#8211;many people out there are avid reviewers and there is tons of very well thought-out articles about the pros and cons on products. To be honest, I sometimes spend more time researching than actually buying anything. And then, I wondered: why is it we are so wary about what we buy, but not where we bank?<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter size-large\" src=\"https:\/\/media.giphy.com\/media\/3o7btNRptqBgLSKR2w\/giphy.gif\" width=\"500\" height=\"500\" \/><\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>When I first started banking, I went with Wells Fargo because that was the bank my dad used. I didn&#8217;t even think about it. It didn&#8217;t occur to me that not only there were more options in terms of banks, but that credit unions are also legitimate financial institutions. I remember seeing a branch of UFCU (University Federal Credit Union) across the street from my college my freshman year, and not paying a lot of attention to it.<\/p>\n<p>Even though banks and credit unions offer the same products and services for the most part, they are very different when you look closer.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Structure<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A bank is considered a for-profit institution, meaning they are operating to make money. Banks come in all sizes&#8211;they can be national, local; large or small. They are usually publicly traded company, where they are led by board members. Banks are owned by their shareholders, who buy the bank&#8217;s stock and expect to make a profit of it.<\/li>\n<li>A credit union is a non-profit cooperative, and tend to operate on a smaller scale than most banks. A lot of the credit unions you may now operate regionally. The owners of a credit union are its members, and all decisions are made keeping the member-owners&#8217; interests in minds. Although credit unions may have board members, these are usually unpaid volunteers.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Eligibility<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A bank is open for any member of the public to come in and open an account with them.<\/li>\n<li>A credit union, on the other hand, may restrict its membership to members of the community&#8211;sometimes basing the member eligibility by where they live, work, or go to school.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Services &amp; Products<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A bank generally has a more wide variety of products and services, which may be due their larger size and resources. They can extend beyond what is called traditional consumer banking.<\/li>\n<li>Credit unions, because of their smaller size, tend to have fewer products available. However, I have personally found my local credit union to have very similar services and products to those offered by a bank. For example, you can not only get a checking or savings account at UFCU, but you can also get a car loan, a credit card, and even a mortgage.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Accessibility<\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Banks like Wells Fargo have branches not only all across the United States, but they also have a significant international presence. You are also way more likely to find an ATM for a bank than a credit union in the middle of the Texas panhandle. A downside of their ease of access is that, the bigger the bank, the trickier is to get good customer service. Dealing with my bank&#8217;s customer service is not always a pleasant experience&#8211;especially when automated messages and chatbots are becoming more prevalent.<\/li>\n<li>Credit unions make up for their lack of physical presence by providing excellent customer service. While I may not be able to find a branch of UFCU when I go to my parents&#8217; house, I don&#8217;t often go to branches physically anyway, so it is not an issue for me. Besides, online banking has come a long way!<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Hope this information helps and informs you on what&#8217;s the best banking choice for you!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Last year my phone started turning on and off on its own, and it became clear to me it was time to get another phone. I went deep into the web to research reviews, specs, &hellip; <a href=\"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/smmo-blog\/banks-vs-credit-unions-whats-the-difference\/\">Continue reading <span class=\"meta-nav\">&rarr;<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":90,"featured_media":2819,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[18,31],"class_list":["post-2787","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-smmo-blog","tag-banks","tag-credit-unions"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/90"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2787"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2787\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2819"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2787"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2787"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/students.austincc.edu\/money\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2787"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}