STOCK MARKET WATCH, Friday, December 16, 2011

[Demeter]

32. Move Your Money, Change the System

http://www.truth-out.org/move-your-money-change-system/1323195139

"Change the system"? Not simply move money to demonstrate anger at the big banks? To be sure, for some, the move was simply one of anger. For others, however, there was a clear sense that the humble, down-home American credit union was somehow a cleaner, better institution. In fact, credit unions are more than that; they are democratized "banks" that suggest practical ways to begin to build, however tentatively, in the direction of a more democratic economy. Nor are they marginal: credit unions hold roughly a trillion dollars in deposits, and involve more than 90 million Americans as participant owners.

Most credit unions help finance routine consumer investments - especially the purchase of homes and automobiles. But credit unions start to get interesting when they go beyond simply being nonprofit, one-person/one-vote cooperative banks and start working actively to open a more expansive direction. The Bronx's Bethex Federal Credit Union, founded in 1970 by Joy Cousminer and the "welfare mothers" in her adult education class, is a good example.

Bethex began as a purely volunteer project to meet the needs of its immediate community. It now serves over 9,000 members, has $16 million in deposits and continues to empower local residents with a range of financial services, including savings and checking accounts; children’s accounts; holiday accounts; ATM and Visa cards; and, importantly, student, auto, mortgage and business loans. Other examples include the Alternatives Federal Credit Union, which lends to cooperatives, worker-owned enterprises, small businesses and community groups in Ithaca, New York. It also invests in programs such as the BR MicroCapital organization at Cornell University, which provides customized services and microloans to self-employed community residents.

Nor are all efforts small-scale. The Hope Credit Union in Memphis has lent over $1.6 billion to more than 90,000 individuals in the Mississippi Delta region of Tennessee and in Katrina-impacted areas and other distressed communities throughout Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi and Tennessee. In 2010, it lent millions to companies operating in poverty-stricken communities, provided two-thirds of its mortgages to low-income borrowers and financed the renovation of a 62-unit apartment complex...

MORE THAN I EVER KNEW ABOUT CREDIT UNIONS AT LINK