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CUs are not for profit. Without the traditional profit motive, CUs made decisions based on what’s best for you, our valued member.
When you join a CU, you become a member-owner, and every member owns an equal share.
The Board of Directors is comprised of dedicated volunteers.
To join a credit union, you must fit into a group specified by the credit union’s charter. The CU serves members of this group only. (For Belco, it’s people who live/work in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York counties.)
CUs don’t pay federal income tax, so the savings are returned to members as better rates and fewer fees.
Income that CUs generate throughout the year is returned to the members in the form of better rates and fewer fees.
CUs are financial cooperatives. Members pool their savings to provide low-cost loans and low-fee services to each other.
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Banks put their shareholders first. Decisions are based on what will deliver the most profit to their shareholders.
Only those who purchase shares of the bank own the business. A Board of Directors makes the decisions for the bank.
The Board of Directors is paid a salary.
Anyone can open an account at a bank.
Banks, like other for-profit businesses, must pay taxes to the federal government.
Income generated at a bank is only returned to stockholders (not customers) in the form of dividends on their shares of stock.
Banks are commercial businesses. They are in business to make a profit.
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