Are credit unions living up to DEI promises?

Are credit unions really worth it?

Credit union perks sound great on paper. They promise better interest rates and competitive customer service. But does this really translate to financial benefit for members? A new report dives deep into transaction data and answers with a resounding “yes.” Credit unions yield benefits of $179 per member or $376 per household. Dive deep into the data and read the report here.

16 credit unions with almost no membership requirements

One of the hallmarks of credit unions is that they tend to be exclusive. For instance, one of the largest credit unions only does business with Boeing employees. However, this roundup introduces 16 credit unions that have practically no membership requirements. Interested customers may need to guarantee $5 minimum deposits and in some cases, make a donation to an affiliated charitable organization.

Although credit unions offer many of the same services as traditional banks, they differ in that credit unions operate with not-for-profit status and are run by and for their members.

Credit unions, explained

Proponents of credit unions often point to the fact they’re not-for-profit cooperatives instead of for-profit businesses as a key selling point. This explainer dives into what this looks like in action—instead of pocketing the profits from interest rates, credit unions reinvest that money into the products and services they offer. For customers, this tends to create a more personal and community-oriented experience.

Facts and figures on the largest credit unions

As of early 2024, credit unions had $2.31T in assets under management and were growing exponentially. Some of the biggest players limit access to military personnel, residents of specific states, and those with active religious affiliations. If you want to bank with some of the top names in the US, this list will help you check to see if you qualify.

Five steps to start your credit union journey

Once you’ve decided you want to start banking with a credit union, you’ll need to fill out an application. This will ensure that you meet all of the institution’s membership requirements. You’ll need to hand over basic information like your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and your driver’s license. This tutorial walks you through the process so that you can make your first deposit in no time.

Inside one credit union’s big NFL bet

Herndon, Virginia-based Northwest Federal Credit Union is working to bring credit unions into the spotlight. The relatively small institution just made a big splash when it struck an $8M-per-year naming rights deal with the Washington Commanders. Northwest is now the official credit union partner for the team and has turned FedEx Field into Northwest Stadium. Banking nerds and sports fans alike are paying close attention. Read this article to learn more.

Master the banking basics

Before deciding on a credit union, it’s important that you understand the basics. That way you can know exactly what’s happening with your hard-earned money behind the scenes. Flip through these flashcards to make sure you understand key terms like “deposit” and “checking account.” Then, you can read up on top banking products and start to find a credit union that works for you. Click here, then scroll down the page to find the cards.

Find an accredited credit union near you

The National Credit Union Administration is to credit unions what the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation is to traditional banks—it insures deposits of up to $250,000 per customer per account. This lookup tool allows you to search for nearby credit unions so you can check that a business is accredited by the NCUA before you begin your banking journey.

It has historically been tough for minorities to rise through the ranks in investment banking

According to a Barron’s article, only about 1.3% of the $69T asset management business is managed by firms led by women or minorities—even if their performance is comparable to those led by white men.

A study followed a cohort of Black graduates beginning in the 1995–96 school year

While access to higher education led to improved outcomes across minority groups in the US, a significant gap exists in the average amount of debt held and the time it takes to pay back loans. This study found median Black borrowers still owed 95% of the principal two decades later.

In 1862, Friedrich Raiffeisen created cooperative banks to help farmers escape loan sharks

These cooperative banks offered fair loans and community-owned financial services. His vision spread worldwide, leading to credit unions with over 140 million members in the US alone today.

Meet Alphonse Desjardins, a credit union pioneer

The first credit union opened in Germany in 1864, but the bank alternative didn’t reach North America until 1901. That’s when Canadian journalist Alphonse Desjardins introduced the concept to his hometown with a starter 10-cent deposit. Desjardins helped launch the first US credit union just eight years later. This engaging timeline highlights Desjardins, his contributions to credit unions, and how the institutions have evolved over the last 100-plus years. Scroll through the timeline here.

Some argue that credit reporting promotes economic inequality in the US

Although today's credit scoring system is much more objective than, say, the credit assessment system of the 1700s, some argue there's still room for improvement, with critics saying the current system is still discriminatory. For example, while mortgage payments have long been automatically reported to credit bureaus, rent payments (the primary housing expense for most lower-income Americans) historically haven't been reported unless a payment was missed.

Research shows that payday lending advertisements target minorities

A University of Houston Law Center study found that despite only making up 23% of payday loan recipients, Black people appear in 35% of advertisements. Similarly, 77% of the physical payday lending and auto title lending storefronts in the study targeted racial minorities.

Fintech could help democratize access to banking

More than 1.3 billion adults worldwide do not have access to basic banking services as of this writing—but some experts believe that the fintech industry can help with that by targeting groups of people who have historically been underserved by traditional banks.

Near-universal banking masks a large underbanked shadow system

FDIC data indicates 128 million households have a checking account, the vast majority (96% in 2024). But more than 14% of households are underbanked, meaning they have accounts but also rely on nonbank services such as check cashing, payday loans, or prepaid cards.

Direct lending is the most common form of private credit

Other types include opportunistic credit, special-situations credit, mezzanine finance, venture debt, infrastructure debt, real estate debt, and more. All of these sources of capital technically create private transactions, so they can all call themselves private credit.

One in five Americans has an error on their credit report, according to the Federal Trade Commission

In 2026, four US senators sent letters to two of the nation's major credit bureaus (TransUnion and Experian) after an investigation revealed that they were fixing fewer errors on consumers' credit reports.

Direct lending typically involves 'senior loans'

Direct lending, the most common subtype of private credit, typically involves senior loans which are secured by a company's assets. "Junior capital," on the other hand, is a type of private credit that is not secured by a company's assets, making it generally riskier than direct lending.

Examining golf's problems with race

In 1961, the PGA removed the "Caucasian-only" membership clause, marking the last major professional sports organization to desegregate. But unlike other sports, golf didn't see an influx of Black players following the change. This article from The Ringer's Lex Pryor examines golf's complicated history with race and gender, showing both the progress made and the challenges that remain.

Privacy concerns in the credit scoring system

Because credit scores use a lot of personal information (such as whether or not someone makes credit card payments on time), some worry their privacy is being compromised in the data collection process.

Not all companies with bank-sounding names are actually FDIC-insured banks

When purchasing a certificate of deposit, it's important to know if you are purchasing a “deposit” product issued by an FDIC-insured bank.

Visualize the balance sheets of US banks

The US banking industry is the most profitable in the world, with loans and leases driving the lion’s share of those profits. In fact, at the end of 2022, 53% of all bank assets fell into the loan and lease category. This rich visualization makes sense of that and highlights how traditional banks operate in stark contrast from their not-for-profit credit union peers. See it here.

Financial institutions check for lots of things before authorizing a purchase

Before authorizing a purchase, card issuers consider whether or not the cardholder has a high enough available credit limit to make the purchase, where the purchase is being made in order to reduce fraud, and more.

Retail investors cannot directly invest in private credit funds—but other financial vehicles can offer exposure to the industry

For example, as some US regulations have loosened in recent years, retail investors have begun to get exposure to the private credit market via ETFs that invest in publicly traded financial vehicles with private credit exposure, such as BDCs.

How is credit reporting regulated in the US?

While the three main credit bureaus and the credit scoring companies aren't government entities, they are subject to certain US government regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

Borrowers were increasingly defaulting on private credit loans as of early 2026

Risks in private credit investing include the industry's lack of transparency and the ability of businesses to borrow more than a bank might allow against their debt. Some borrowers in early 2026, for instance, likely did not expect interest rates to be so high for so long, which could be contributing to an uptick in defaults.

Understanding why graduate fellowships from the NSF have exacerbated funding inequities

In 2017, 86% of Graduate Research Fellowship Program awardees came from institutions with high research activity, while just 0.3% were from HBCUs. Although the National Science Foundation mandates that all grant proposal reviewers undergo bias training, anecdotal data suggests that well-resourced schools take significant steps to prepare applicants, and they submit proposals at a higher-than-average rate. (Some readers may experience a paywall.)

BankFind is a tool that helps you find current and former FDIC-insured banking institutions

The tool from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (also known as the FDIC) allows users to search for these institutions by name, location, and more.

The market share of institutional investors in the US housing market is less than 1%

Institutional investors have drawn negative media attention for their purported role in limiting housing supply and driving housing unaffordability. This report separates myth from fact in the nuanced discussion around institutional investors' role in the US housing market.

To avoid a total collapse of the housing market, the US government took control of the two leading mortgage companies, Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac.

The private credit industry—which offers nonbank loans directly to businesses, particularly privately held midmarket companies—grew from a $250B asset class in 2010 to around $1.5T in early 2024.

Black women offer a solution to racial health disparities

Black women in the US face higher rates of obesity, heart disease and more diseases. This article explores the historical and systemic racism underpinning the disparity, and the solutions Black women are creating.

Banks have increased small loan programs since 2018, upping competition for payday lenders

One of the reasons payday lending flourished for nearly two decades is that most banks charged high overdraft fees and didn't offer small loans. However, since 2018, banks have increased their small loan options. Supporters say this provides safer alternatives for consumers, as banks are subject to more regulatory measures and are less likely to allow consumers to keep rolling over loans.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federal housing enterprises originally established to offer affordable housing loans to buyers

The Federal National Mortgage Association is commonly called Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation is called Freddie Mac. Since Fannie Mae’s creation in 1938 and Freddie Mac’s in 1970, they’ve become staples of the housing market.

For every $100 you deposit, your bank puts a few cents in the FDIC insurance fund

This is a result of the 1933 Banking Act that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund. The law sought to prevent bank runs like those that decimated the banking industry amid the Great Crash and subsequent major depression. Today, individual depositors are insured up to $250K at each bank where they have an account.

Some semi-liquid private credit funds saw a surge in investor redemptions in early 2026

This raised red flags about the state of the private credit market at large. However, experts have cautioned that the idea that private credit is on the verge of collapse is overstated.

The three major credit bureaus were created in the mid-1900s to sort local credit reporting into national databases

In the 1800s, credit bureaus went into business to help lenders make decisions. But today's three major credit bureaus, Experian, Equifax, and TransUnion, didn't become the industry leaders they are today until the 20th century, around the same time FICO was founded.

Different CDs can have different term lengths, interest rates, and more

For instance, if a bank needs more deposits to fund loans, then it may offer high interest rates to attract deposits. Alternatively, a large bank with sufficient deposit reserves may have less incentive to grow its CD portfolio, offering lower rates as a result.

Find out ways to get lower rates on private loans, such as applying with a cosigner.

The CD whose rates change based on Villanova basketball games

Ardent Credit Union in Philadelphia tied the interest rates of one of its certificates of deposit to whether Villanova won or lost a basketball game. A win moved the rate to 4.25%, while a loss reduced it to 3.9%. Financial experts say its only beneficial for a narrow group

Credit reporting's earliest origins in the 1700s resemble a game of telephone, with rural merchants asking their most esteemed neighbors to vouch for them to sleuthing urban lenders.

The private credit industry offers nonbank loans directly to businesses, particularly privately held midmarket companies.

'Floating rate' loans periodically adjust their interest rates in accordance with economic conditions

When the Federal Reserve began raising interest rates in 2022 to combat inflation, interest payments borrowers owed to private credit lenders increased accordingly. Private credit funds benefited as loan returns increased, making the asset class attractive to investors at the time.

Before the Great Recession, lax requirements to get a mortgage resulted in mass defaults that left nearly 19 million homes vacant.

The Consumer Financial Protection Bureau is looking closely at BNPL

Given the lack of data around BNPL services in comparison to other financial products such as credit cards, the CFPB has conducted research to better understand BNPL products and how they could harm and benefit consumers.

Title IX compliance relies on a three-part test

In 1979, the Office for Civil Rights issued Title IX’s three-part test to evaluate whether schools offer nondiscriminatory athletic opportunities: proportionate participation, program expansion, or meeting women’s interests. The guidelines offer flexibility without quotas and include specific factors for each item.

American Express intentionally targets wealthy cardholders, who spend higher amounts per transaction and tend to make more transactions than the average cardholder, thereby reducing the company's risk.

Minorities are largely underrepresented in medical research, which compromises our understanding of how conditions and treatments may affect various populations, but recent efforts, like the African Ancestry Neuroscience Research Initiative and new genome research studies, are seeking to close that gap.