Find an accredited credit union near you

Facts and figures on the largest credit unions

As of early 2024, credit unions had $2.31T in assets under management and were growing exponentially. Some of the biggest players limit access to military personnel, residents of specific states, and those with active religious affiliations. If you want to bank with some of the top names in the US, this list will help you check to see if you qualify.

How credit unions compare to traditional banks

Although credit unions offer great perks like higher-than-average interest rates, they aren’t the right fit for every customer. This handy guide helps would-be bankers identify their top financial priorities. To see how credit unions stack up against traditional banks across key areas like branch locations, customer service, and digital technology, click here.

Five steps to start your credit union journey

Once you’ve decided you want to start banking with a credit union, you’ll need to fill out an application. This will ensure that you meet all of the institution’s membership requirements. You’ll need to hand over basic information like your name, address, date of birth, Social Security number, and your driver’s license. This tutorial walks you through the process so that you can make your first deposit in no time.

16 credit unions with almost no membership requirements

One of the hallmarks of credit unions is that they tend to be exclusive. For instance, one of the largest credit unions only does business with Boeing employees. However, this roundup introduces 16 credit unions that have practically no membership requirements. Interested customers may need to guarantee $5 minimum deposits and in some cases, make a donation to an affiliated charitable organization.

Are credit unions living up to DEI promises?

Credit union insiders often say their institutions better serve minority bankers through a combination of a not-for-profit ethos and community focus. However, a recent probe found that the largest US credit union rejected more than half of all Black applicants for conventional mortgages. To dive deep into Navy Federal Credit Union’s mortgage practices, read this journalistic investigation.

Inside one credit union’s big NFL bet

Herndon, Virginia-based Northwest Federal Credit Union is working to bring credit unions into the spotlight. The relatively small institution just made a big splash when it struck an $8M-per-year naming rights deal with the Washington Commanders. Northwest is now the official credit union partner for the team and has turned FedEx Field into Northwest Stadium. Banking nerds and sports fans alike are paying close attention. Read this article to learn more.

BankFind is a tool that helps you find current and former FDIC-insured banking institutions

The tool from the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (also known as the FDIC) allows users to search for these institutions by name, location, and more.

For every $100 you deposit, your bank puts a few cents in the FDIC insurance fund

This is a result of the 1933 Banking Act that established the Federal Deposit Insurance Fund. The law sought to prevent bank runs like those that decimated the banking industry amid the Great Crash and subsequent major depression. Today, individual depositors are insured up to $250K at each bank where they have an account.

Accredited investors are people or other entities allowed to participate in investments that aren’t registered with the SEC

The accreditation is meant to protect retail investors from potential losses. Financial professionals with Series 7, 65, or 82 licenses qualify, but so do individuals with over $1M in net worth.

In 1862, Friedrich Raiffeisen created cooperative banks to help farmers escape loan sharks

These cooperative banks offered fair loans and community-owned financial services. His vision spread worldwide, leading to credit unions with over 140 million members in the US alone today.

College endowments FAQ

​The National Association of College and University Business Officers (NACUBO) is a membership organization representing chief administrative and financial officers at colleges and universities. This page addresses 10 common questions about college endowments, including their purposes, management, and spending policies. Learn more about how endowments support institutional missions and financial sustainability.

Financial institutions check for lots of things before authorizing a purchase

Before authorizing a purchase, card issuers consider whether or not the cardholder has a high enough available credit limit to make the purchase, where the purchase is being made in order to reduce fraud, and more.

Near-universal banking masks a large underbanked shadow system

FDIC data indicates 128 million households have a checking account, the vast majority (96% in 2024). But more than 14% of households are underbanked, meaning they have accounts but also rely on nonbank services such as check cashing, payday loans, or prepaid cards.

Certificates of deposit are low-risk savings tools that offer a stable way to grow your money over time

Unlike standard savings accounts, CDs require you to lock in a fixed deposit for a set term, earning higher interest rates in exchange for limited access to your funds.

How is credit reporting regulated in the US?

While the three main credit bureaus and the credit scoring companies aren't government entities, they are subject to certain US government regulations, such as the Fair Credit Reporting Act.

The first steps to rebuilding your credit score include getting to know exactly what's on your credit report and figuring out how far you are from the '700 club,' or 'good score' range.

Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are federal housing enterprises originally established to offer affordable housing loans to buyers

The Federal National Mortgage Association is commonly called Fannie Mae, and the Federal Home Loan Mortgage Corporation is called Freddie Mac. Since Fannie Mae’s creation in 1938 and Freddie Mac’s in 1970, they’ve become staples of the housing market.

The name Visa was conceived by the company's founder, Dee Hock.

Visa was previously called National BankAmericard Inc. (NBI), but as other banks began to license the network and it expanded internationally, it needed a name less associated with both Bank of America and America itself. Hock believed that the word "Visa" implied no national identification and was relatively easy to pronounce in any language.

North Carolina was the first state to ban payday lending

In 2001, the North Carolina state legislature let a 1997 law that permitted the small-dollar loans expire—effectively banning payday loans. In 2005, the NC bank commissioner ruled that Advance America, a payday lending company, had been operating in the state illegally.

Flexible spending accounts are operated by employers

Unlike health savings accounts, which can be opened at banks and credit unions, FSAs are employer-owned and operated—meaning you can only access an FSA through an employer benefit, and the account doesn't follow you if you move jobs. To use an FSA to pay for a medical service or product, purchases typically have to be uploaded, approved, and then employees can be reimbursed.

A third of Americans don't have the cash they need to cover a $500 emergency

That's according to a 2023 Federal Reserve survey. So what does the average American in this camp do when, say, their car breaks down? This video compares six of the most common ways Americans get money when they don't have it. As it turns out, some of them opt for payday loans, which this video argues are predatory.

CUDA was Nvidia’s first step into artificial intelligence

CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) is a parallel computing platform that was developed by Nvidia in the mid-2000s. By letting people perform computations in parallel, rather than sequentially, CUDA allowed people to compute large amounts of data quickly. CUDA has been used to build machine-learning models as well.

Explore a timeline of research from the NSF National Center for Atmospheric Research

Since its founding in 1960, the group of research institutions has pooled together observational and computational resources to make significant advancements in the atmospheric sciences. These include the discovery of coupled atmospheric systems, the development of increasingly accurate climate models, and the creation of the National Scientific Balloon Facility.

Napa was the second officially sanctioned wine-growing region in the US

In 1979, the ATF created the American Viticultural Area system. Modeled on similar European systems, it delineated wine-growing regions in the United States. Napa Valley was the second AVA established—the first was in Missouri. Now, any wine labeled with the Napa Valley AVA must source 100% of its grapes from that area.

The FCS is Division I’s second tier with its own playoff system

The Football Championship Subdivision (FCS) features 128 Division I programs that offer fewer scholarships than the FBS. Instead of bowl games, the FCS crowns its champion through a 24-team playoff each season.

The Y Combinator startup directory includes every company YC has funded

The startup accelerator has funded more than 5,000 companies over the years. This YC-specific search engine lets you look up any company to find out if it's a YC alum.

Roughly 43 million US borrowers owe roughly $1.7T in student debt, the second-largest source of consumer debt behind mortgages.

The idea for the Federal Reserve was conceived in secret in 1910—with bankers donning duck hunt gear for disguise while traveling to a remote country club on Georgia's Jekyll Island

The United States is one of only around two dozen countries with a fully federal system of government, in which power is divided between national and state governments.

Venture capital is a form of funding provided to early-stage companies with high growth potential, typically in exchange for an equity (or ownership) stake

Some coin denominations have ridges etched on their sides, partly to prevent counterfeiting, in a practice called 'reeding.'

The American Society of Civil Engineers' infrastructure report card gave the US a C in 2025, its highest grade since the project launched in 1998.

Abraham Lincoln was almost assassinated weeks before his inauguration as he traveled from Illinois to DC through Baltimore in 1861; it took two independent claims for Lincoln to be convinced the threat was real

The Nasdaq's 'Magnificent 7' companies are responsible for roughly 40% of the Nasdaq 100 index's gains, while the remaining 93 companies account for the other 60%.

Use this tool to calculate the dollar value of your parental mental load, from meal planning to coordinating after-school care, then see resources that help generate solutions.

Explore an interactive map built from more than 100,000 survey responses on where people find joy in their lives

For centuries, Niagara Falls has been a magnet for daredevils seeking to conquer one of nature's most powerful wonders, with its 200-foot drop and water rushing at 32 feet per second with 280 tons of force.

Explore fun facts from the USPS, including unique post office buildings, a stamp that traveled past Pluto, and more.

When you complete a CAPTCHA on a website to prove you are human, you may be unknowingly training algorithms for self-driving cars, whose systems require training data to help identify crosswalks, bicycles, and other outdoor objects.

Legendary architect Frank Lloyd Wright designed the SC Johnson headquarters in Wisconsin, aiming to make a cathedral-like workplace

Explore what it's like inside a patient isolation unit, used in situations such as treating a patient or suspected patient with Ebola.

Power lines are dotted with large, brightly colored balls to improve the visibility of these thin wires to helicopters and small planes and help prevent potential crashes.

Sunflowers have long been a symbol of nuclear disarmament because they can extract large amounts of radioactive cesium from soil.

A Yale student wrote a profound essay about the consulting industry's influence on elite college students that was published in a book of her writing after she died in a post-graduation car accident.

The syncytiotrophoblast is the outer layer of the placenta and the largest human cell, spanning an area about twice that of a king-sized bedsheet.

The 1987 Nintendo video game 'Stadium Events' isn't known for being particularly fun, but its scarcity has made it a highly sought-after item that has sold for up to $35K at auction.

Most of the observable universe's volume consists of voids and supervoids—enormous regions of space with little to no galaxies, stars, or light.

Corals are themselves not coral reefs—the term refers to the tiny marine invertebrates that build the rigid reef.

Louisiana's 'Cancer Alley' is infamous for having some of the highest industrial pollution, toxic air emissions, and cancer risks in the US.

Lesser-known phobias include turophobia, or the fear of cheese, and nomophobia, the fear of being without your cell phone.