It wasn't until Lindsay Thomas started working at a credit union that she realized what a bad job the industry was doing in terms of sharing what it has to offer.

As a teenager CU Times' latest Trailblazer 40 Below, fueled by anger and frustration with her bank, made the switch to a local credit union. But she didn't really grasp the credit union difference until she had the opportunity to fill a newly created marketing position there the summer before she graduated from college.

"It's funny, when I signed up for my account at 18 years old, I was given an ATM card instead of a debit card and never questioned it. I didn't even know our credit union offered online banking until I started working there," Thomas, the marketing manager at the $575 million Honor Credit Union in St. Joseph, Mich., said.