Credit Unions: Members Funding Members

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Are New England business owners taking advantage of the Five Financing Trends for 2011 featured on Entrepreneur.com? Last week's blog post touched upon Microlending - but how are Credit Unions supporting our entrepreneurs?

Credit Unions

Credit unions are cooperative financial institutions owned by its members.  Members' savings are used to make loans to other members.

"Credit unions by their nature are designed to serve the underserved," said Frank Amantia, president of Mid-Atlantic Financial. Banks, he said, "have not stepped up to the plate and filled that need" of local businesses seeking loans. In 2009 credit unions made more than $33 billion worth of business loans (up from $12 billion in 2004).

How Are We Using This Trend?

Credit unions are far from trends in New Hampshire - in fact, the very first credit union in the United States opened in Manchester, NH in 1909. (Have you seen Manchester's America's Credit Union Museum which opened in 2002?)  According to Credit Unions Online, NH boasts 24 credit unions with 438,000 members and $4.6 Billion assets.

Find a credit union near you.

Now let's hear from you - have you tried a credit union?  If you haven't, what keeps you from trying it out?