Wisconsin CU League News Release - 1/23/12
Credit unions delivered $201 million to Wisconsin consumers in 2011,
and more, report says
Pewaukee, WI - Credit unions, which are
member-owned financial institutions that do not have stockholders, saved
2.2 million Wisconsin consumers $201 million through competitive rates
on savings and loans and lower and fewer fees for financial services,
according to the REAL Solutions Scorecard for Wisconsin Credit
Unions, a report by the Wisconsin Credit Union League.
Members of credit unions, the report says, saved more than $128 million
on loans, earned more than $36.6 million on savings products and paid
$36.5 million less in fees than if they had used a for-profit bank. Most
credit unions still offer free checking, a member of any credit union
can save almost $1,000 on a five-year new car loan, and the average
household saves $164 a year by using their credit union’s
services, the report said.
The report also cited additional value from credit unions via
services like almost 30,000 hours of free financial counseling that have
prevented home foreclosures and improved borrowers’
creditworthiness, free tax preparation for low-income filers,
outreach to new Americans, financial education within schools and more.
Those services are part of a voluntary – not mandated –
effort by credit unions called REAL Solutions to help families and small
businesses in ways that for-profit financial institutions typically
won’t extend themselves.
Since the start of the recession in 2007, the report says, credit unions
increased their lending to small businesses 51.8% to compensate for a
lack of available business credit from banks. A whopping $44 million of
the savings on financial product usage accrued to lower-income
consumers; credit unions, in fact, operated 40% of all the financial
institution branches in low-income areas.
The vast majority of credit unions offered loans of $500 or less at
modest interest rates – an alternative to costly payday loans. And
credit unions also outperformed non-credit union lenders by approving
65.2% of home loans for low-income borrowers and 71.1% of home loans for
minority borrowers, compared to a 56.6% and 57.2% approval rate by
others, respectively.
Credit unions also run 97 branches inside schools to teach young people
to save; students statewide stashed $3 million in their in-school
accounts. Credit unions delivered 5,460 presentations to 34,104
consumers to improve their financial savvy, sponsored Wisconsin teachers
to attend summer workshops that help them improve financial lessons
offered in classrooms, and purchased 49,700 copies of a personal finance
magazine to help 405 teachers at 350 high schools teach money management
in line with state teaching standards.
Additionally, credit unions engaged close to 15,000 students in
financial decision-making through reality fairs and the online game
Money Mission®, supported close to 3,000 charities, granted
$114,150 in scholarships and delivered 60,000 hours of online training
to 5,476 employees from credit unions and Wisconsin companies to
encourage investing activity.
Because of credit unions’ member-ownership – which centers
credit unions’ values on people, not profits – every
credit union is fundamentally different from every bank. Learn
more at www.theleague.coop/scorecard.
- END -
| Credit unions delivered $201 million to Wisconsin consumers in 2011, and more, report says |
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Credit unions delivered $201 million to Wisconsin consumers in 2011, and more, report says (Adobe PDF File)
