Credit Unions Must Do More to Curry Favor With Consumers

With all the bad publicity generated about the banking industry, I expected the results of a recent poll I posted on LinkedIn to be vastly different. The poll consisted of only one statement with two possible choices: “If I need a new financial institution, my first choice is a (1) bank or (2) credit union.” The poll was set up to gather 500 responses over four days, but, in less than 24 hours, I had received 508 responses.

The volume of responses was unexpected, but they were also downright disappointing. Overall, respondents chose banks 75% of the time over credit unions. The size of the company did not make a difference; large companies chose a bank 81% of the time, medium-size business 78% of the time and small business only choose a credit union 18% of the time. Credit unions claim their member business lending programs are for the small businesses, but we are not reaching out to them according to this low response.