A credit union is an institution that is administered by its members for the purpose of pooling together money from these very members. And rather than making a profit, the credit union gives that money back to its members in the form of better interest rates. To put it simply, it’s a non-profit bank: no shareholders, no profit making bank fees. You also treated like a member and not a customer. You will get personal attention with all your financial dilemmas, and will never find yourself talking to those annoying automated customer service representatives .