Credit unions in the United States

Credit unions in the United States serve 100 million members, comprising 43.7% of the economically active population. U.S. credit unions are not-for-profit, cooperative, tax-exempt organizations. As of March 2016, the largest American credit union was Navy Federal Credit Union, serving U.S. Department of Defense employees, contractors, and families of servicepeople, with over $75 billion USD in assets and over 6.1 million members. Total credit union assets in the U.S. reached $1 trillion as of March 2012. Approximately 236,056 people were directly employed by credit unions per data derived from the 2012 NCUA Credit Union Directory.

Due to their small size and limited exposure to mortgage securitizations, credit unions have weathered the financial meltdown of 2008 reasonably well. However, two of the biggest corporate credit unions in the United States (U.S. Central Credit Union and WesCorp) with combined assets of more than $57 billion were taken over by the federal government National Credit Union Administration on March 20, 2009.

St. Mary's Bank of Manchester, New Hampshire holds the distinction as the first credit union in the United States. Assisted by a personal visit from Desjardins, St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association (now named St. Mary's Bank) was founded by French-speaking immigrants to Manchester from the Maritime Provinces of Canada on November 24, 1908. As the leader of St. Marie's church, Monsignor Pierre Hevey was instrumental in establishing this credit union. Attorney Joseph Boivin managed the credit union, as a volunteer, out of his home in the evenings. America's Credit Union Museum now occupies the location of Boivin's home, where St. Mary's Bank first operated.

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