No, I am not your father. The truth you need to be aware of is what makes a credit union what it is; something that seems to be a well guarded secret these days. Sounds super boring, I know (hang in there, I’m going somewhere with this). So here is a quick and dirty overview of the core principles of a co-op (borrowed from here and the complete list can be found here):
The 7 Cooperative Principles:
Principle #1 (inclusive): membership should be open to all
Principle #2 (voice): members should call the shots
Principle #3 (benefit): rates and fees should benefit our members
Principle #4 (independent): autonomy and independence set us apart
Principle #5 (education): financial education should be free and available to all
Principle #6 (cooperation): cooperation among cooperatives is vital
Principle #7 (community): concern for community
While we serve our members on every one of those levels, I wanted to focus on number seven: concern for community. Sounds like typical corporate speak…except it isn’t. You see, we just invested a lot of time, energy, and money to launch an online community called Addison Avenue Groups where you can go join a discussion (or start your own) about any financial issue, topic, or question that comes to mind. You can now leverage the wisdom of thousands, online, any time, for free. Instead of typing a bunch of instructions here, I will let you explore it for yourself. Just go groups.addisonavenue.com and enjoy.
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