What is a credit union? Experts share everything you need to know before joining one.

Many people across the country still have more money than they did before the pandemic.

Despite median account balances having dropped over the past three years, account holders still have 10% to 15% more cash in the bank than they did in 2019, according to analysis released last week by the JPMorgan Chase Institute.

While that report is based on the checking and savings accounts of 9 million Chase customers, it serves as a barometer for the broader state of personal finances nationwide.

And with interest rates high and ongoing uncertainty about the economy’s future, you may be reassessing what to do with your remaining pandemic savings.

One option is to join the growing number of Americans who have put their money into credit unions in recent years.

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Nearly 6 million consumers joined federally insured credit unions in 2022, bringing total membership above 135 million, and assets rose by more than 5%, according to the National Credit Union Administration, which insures deposits at credit unions.

But many younger generations, particularly millennials and Gen Z-ers (read: those in their teens, 20s, and 30s), prefer to big banks to credit unions, several national surveys have found, with some informal reports showing that many college students don’t know what a credit union is.

We asked three financial experts questions you may have about credit unions.

Historically, “the basic idea behind credit unions was that it was meant to be a ‘family’ of workers,” said David Becher, professor of finance at Drexel University’s LeBow College of Business. “It is a financial institution like all others, but it has a common bond.”

Members can put money in checking and savings accounts, apply for a credit card, and take out loans just as they can at other banking institutions.

And over the past 100 years, credit unions have evolved. Now, experts said, almost everyone, regardless of profession or geography, can likely find a local credit union where they’d be accepted as a member.

Yes, they are owned by members, not stockholders.

It depends on the institution.

Some, such as the Police and Fire Federal Credit Union, restrict membership to people who work in certain professions, as well as their relatives.

Others are open to residents or workers in a certain geographic area.

“Go to the association of credit unions in your town or in your state and ask them for a list of credit unions that anybody could join,” said Ed Mierzwinski, senior director for federal consumer programs at the U.S. Public Interest Research Groups. “You’d be amazed at how many there are.”

“There are a lot of credit unions that are open to everyone or almost everybody,” said Ted Rossman, senior industry analyst at Bankrate.com.

“Some credit unions have membership opportunities that are open if you just make a donation to a nonprofit that they work with. Maybe you have some nominal fee,” Rossman said.

Remember that you may be eligible via your relationship to certain kinds of professionals, too.

Rossman noted that membership to Navy Federal Credit Union, for example, is open to relatives, including grandchildren, and roommates of service members.

In some ways, yes. In other ways, no, experts said, though it all depends on the institution.

“If fees and interest rates are all you care about, credit unions by their structure offer more competitive rates,” Becher said.

Because credit unions have fewer members, they also get to know you better, he said, so they often rate highly for customer services.

But “there are two areas where banks often rank higher than credit unions. Technology is a big one,” he said. “They have a lot more resources that they can put into the technology. ... If you want a really tech-savvy financial experience, it’s often a bank” that you want to use.

The second area: “In terms of ATM access and branch access, credit unions typically have much smaller branch footprints,” he said, though some partner with larger institutions to allow customers to use more ATMs without a surcharge.

After the March collapse of Silicon Valley Bank, fear has risen about the potential for runs on other small and midsize institutions. National data show credit unions do collapse, but rarely, with some regulatory experts saying they are safer than traditional banks.

Just like larger institutions, credit union deposits are insured up to $250,000 per member. However, they are insured by the National Credit Unit Administration, or NCUA, not the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp. (FDIC).

It depends. Experts say to do your research before making a decision.

“I think a lot of people would be well-served by mixing and matching [accounts] a little bit,” Rossman said,

Some people, he said, might prefer to have their checking account somewhere they can access more easily. Though if you don’t often take cash out, he added, “higher-touch access” may be less of a concern.

“Bank at a credit union not at a bank because credit unions have lower costs and lower fees,” said Mierzwinski, a consumer advocate who lobbied for the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act of 2010.

“I know it sounds like: What the heck? What is the trick? There is no trick: Credit unions are easy and almost anybody can join some credit union,” Mierzwinski said.

The National Credit Union Administration’s website is a good place to start.

You can browse by location or credit union name at mapping.ncua.gov, which also offers an option to add additional search criteria, such as the availability of drive-through banking, ATMs, bilingual service, or a first-time homebuyers program.

You can also find more detailed information about specific credit unions here.