You probably know the basics of how your local or national bank works. This program is designed to educate you on another financial institution - the credit union. We'll discuss what it is, how it works, and who it serves. We'll also go over the various types of credit unions and talk about credit union service organizations.

Even though credit unions are cooperatives, they're still supervised and regulated by their chartering and insuring agencies. Their primary federal regulator is the National Credit Union Administration or NCUA. The NCUA charters, insures, regulates, and examines all federally chartered credit unions and completes insurance reviews for all state-chartered credit unions whose shares are insured by the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund, or NCUSIF. The primary regulators of state-chartered credit unions are state regulatory agencies. I know that's a lot of information! In this course, we'll talk specifically about the NCUA and the regulations it applies to credit unions.

Credit unions offer a multitude of services to their members. In this course, we'll look at many of those amenities, including savings products, transaction services, loan services, and other extras they provide in addition to accounts and loans. These also include insurance, financial counseling, safe deposit boxes, and U.S. savings bond sales and redemptions.

As you consider whether a credit union is a good choice for you personally, you may be wondering... what exactly are the differences between credit unions and banks? Why would you choose one over the other? Does it even matter? Well, despite their similarities as financial institutions, credit unions DO differ from banks in some respects. In this program, we'll go over those differences and discuss the pros and cons of both, to help you determine which is a better fit for you and your needs.