Credit unions have lots to offer when it comes to helping members feel financially secure, Dakota Credit Union Association Jeff Olson wrote in The Minot Daily News. Olson responds to effects of inflation and other economic factors on communities' financial well-being, and notes credit unions have a long history of helping consumers through hard times. 

"From their founding days in the United States in the early 1900s, credit unions have thrived under the motto 'Not for profit, not for charity, but for service.'" he wrote. "During the recent pandemic, credit unions did so much to help both consumers and small businesses that they became known as 'financial first responders' by many in the trades."

Olson notes CUNA research that shows credit unions provided $12,557,606,745 in direct financial benefits to the nation’s 127,848,853 members in 2021, equivalent to $98 per member or $206 per member household.

In the Dakotas, those savings are even greater: North Dakota’s credit union members save an average of $118 per year, or $249 per household; South Dakota’s members save $144 per year, or $302 per household," Olson wrote. "While that is a good start, credit unions offer so much more."