Wall Street Journal, Other National Media Tout CUs

CUNA News Now
May 15, 2008 | COMMENTS

The Wall Street Journal, MarketWatch and Dow Jones News Service are among the national media piling on to recommend consumers check credit unions for better deals.

Credit Union National Association (CUNA) chief economist Bill Hampel and California Credit Union League economist Daniel Penrod were quoted extensively in an article carried by the Journal and MarketWatch on Sunday and by Dow Jones on Monday.

"When it comes to low fees and generous rates, credit unions match banks head-to-head," it said, noting that credit unions' products " should be among the options you consider when searching for savings and checking accounts, certificates of deposit, small-business, mortgage and auto loans, and credit cards--particularly now, given that credit unions in large part sidestepped the subprime crisis."

Hampel explained that credit unions' not-for-profit cooperative status means they don't charge as much. "We don't have to charge as much, we're not going for profit, and we don't have to pay taxes on the net income we do make," he said.

Both Hampel and Penrod pointed out credit unions have weathered the subprime crisis better than some larger banks because credit unions didn't loosen their lending standards to boost profits.

"Credit unions essentially make no subprime loans," said Hampel. "They made a few loans to borrowers who had subprime credit histories, but these were not under a subprime loan program."

> Click here for the WSJ/Marketwatch article

This article originally appeared in CUNA News Now and is reprinted with permission.