Schenk: CU structure produces wide variety of positive outcomes

CUNA Chief Economist Mike Schenk shared the findings from CUNA’s recent white paper during a recent interview with CUBroadcast. The paper—based off CUNA’s 2022 National Voter Poll—shows credit union members generally fare better than non-members in terms of financial resilience.  

“At a high level what this data shows us is that structure matters. Businesses that are owned by their customers behave differently in the marketplace,” Schenk said. “We have a different incentive structure than for-profits and by extension, we p[produce a wide variety of pro-social outcomes we don’t see in the for-profit sector.”

The poll found credit union members are more likely to:

• Believe their financial Institution “cares about my financial well-being” (42% of members compared to 29% of non-members).
• Think their financial institution “has improved my financial well-being” (44% of members compared to 29% of non-members).
• Believe their financial institution “makes it easy to get loans” (44% of members compared to 22% of non-members).
• Think their institution “provides low-cost loans to meet family needs” (49% of members compared to 23% of non-members).
• Use personal financial education and counseling services (44% of members compared to 22% of non-members).