MADISON, Wis. -
The fourth edition of "Who Uses Credit Unions?" by Filene research fellow Jinkook Lee, analyzed data from the Federal Reserve's 2004 Survey of Consumer Finances. Rather than putting all households into just two groups-members and non-members-this study separates households into five categories: those who use banks only (59.4% in 2004); those who use credit unions only (7.4%); those who use both banks and credit unions, but have more of their savings in banks (15.2%); those who use both banks and credit unions, but have more of their savings in credit unions (12.2%) and the unbanked (5.7%).
Other findings included:
* Age. The youngest and oldest households are more likely to be unbanked.
* Income. Credit-union-only households tend to have less income than bank-only households. There is no significant difference between households that use only credit unions and those using both banks and credit unions.
* Wealth. There is no significant difference in wealth between credit-union-only and bank-only households.
* Education. Households headed by an individual with less than a high school education are the most likely to be unbanked.
* Race/Ethnicity. The proportion of African-American households using credit unions, either solely (8.8% in 2004) or predominantly (13.1%), has been increasing in recent years. This suggests that credit unions may be doing a better job than banks of identifying and meeting the needs of primarily African-American neighborhoods and communities.
