Credit Unions

Credit unions are member-owned financial cooperatives serving groups of members who have something in common such as employment at a company, membership in an association, residence in a particular geographic area or common purpose.

Credit unions have no outside stockholders so, after reserves are set aside, earnings are returned to members in the form of dividends on savings, lower loan rates or additional services.

Credit Union members are the owners of the institution and elect the board of directors and have a voice in setting policies and objectives.

In the US more than 129,000 members volunteer to their credit unions to serve as board members, committee members or provide similar services.

Credit unions are considered to be nonprofit organization, which is the foundation for credit unions restricting membership.

A credit union is a member-owned organization whose focus is to help their members improve their economic lives through cooperative thrift and the wise use of financial resources.

More than 82 million US consumers are member-owners of and receive all or part of their financial services from the nation's 10,425 credit unions.

Internationally there are more than 53,000 credit unions serving 190 million members and overseeing $1.5 trillion in assets. These credit unions can assume different characteristics from those in the US including:

• Funds clearing
• Operational support
• Forming cooperatives with other credit unions

Credit unions vary in size from a few hundred members to several hundred thousand members with billions in assets. Services range from basic savings and personal loans to sophisticated financial services.

The Credit Union industry model set consists of Enterprise, Business Area, and Data Warehouse logical data models designed to address the integrated, comprehensive data requirements of a credit union.