About Credit Unions A Brief History of Credit Unions in the United States
The first credit union in the United States was established in Manchester, New Hampshire in 1909. That same year, the Massachusetts Credit Union Act became law, which served as the model for subsequent state credit union laws and the Federal Credit Union Act. In 1934, the Federal Credit Union Act became law and allowed credit unions to be organized anywhere in the United States under either state or federal law. The Federal Credit Union Act also established the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions to oversee federal credit unions. | In 1970, the Bureau of Federal Credit Unions became an independent federal agency with the establishment of the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA). This year also marked the creation of the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF). The NCUSIF was fully capitalized by credit unions without the use of federal tax dollars and designed to protect credit union deposits against loss. |
Today, there are more than 85 million credit union members in the United States, with deposits worth over $520 billion. Credit unions continue to operate as member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperatives that are democratically governed by a volunteer member-elected board of directors.
USA Federal seeks to shine more light on the credit union movement and the factors that distinguish our credit union from our competitors with Project Differentiation. Related Pages: | 
