With over 90 million members nationwide, U.S. credit unions offer an alternative to banks. These non-profit financial institutions are member-owned. Members pool their money, which in turn is used to provide loans for those members.
According to Mark Wolff, Senior Vice President of Communications for the Credit Union National Association (CUNA) (via email), U.S. credit unions have largely avoided the sub-prime meltdown. In fact, according to CUNA's website credit unions mortgage lending has increased over the past year.
Credit Unions' Structure Keeps These Financial Institutions in the Lending Market
There are two major reasons why credit unions have largely been able to avoid the worst consequences of the recent mortgage/foreclosure turmoil.
