Credit unions in the northwest delivered an impact of $7.8 billion to their local economies last year, according to a report released Tuesday.
A significant portion of the economic impact, the authors found, came in the form of at least $603 million in direct financial benefits to the region’s 7.3 million credit union members. CUs remain popular in the northwest, the study adds, pointing out that while national membership is about 32 percent, more than 55 percent of consumers in the three-state region NWCUA covers belong to a credit union.
Membership is also outpacing population decline in the northwest, with Washington and Oregon CUs growing by 14 percent since 2016 compared to just 3.4 percent population growth. Idaho’s credit union membership has risen by more than 8 percent since 2017, hitting 992,000 members last year, according to this report. And CUs in the region have maintained a presence in rural areas, unlike many competitors.
ECONorthwest wrote that “while many out-of-state, for-profit financial services institutions have closed branches in rural communities, local credit unions remain committed to serving these populations, providing services such as agricultural, home, vehicle, and small business loans that area consumers need.”
NWCUA said the findings in the report will be shown to Washington politicians at the CUNA Governmental Affairs Conference in March, and is being shared with the region's state legislatures this month.
“It’s our policy officials who originally gave us the opportunity to be cooperatives in this marketplace,” Troy Stang, NWCUA’s president and CEO, said in a statement. “That authority came with the promise that real, tangible benefits would be delivered to the participants, the consumers, in the markets credit unions serve.”
