The Story Behind #MakeYourMoneyMatter

This post is brought to you in partnership with PSCU and and local Kansas City credit unions who are helping to keep our money local through sustainable local banking. Learn more at makeyourmoneymatter.org.

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Late last year we teamed up with PSCU to help promote their campaign Make Your Money Matter. We were inspired to do so because we wanted to help educate people about all the good things that come with joining a credit union.

So what is a credit union? It is a nonprofit cooperative that provides financial services to its members, ie. checking and savings accounts, loans, mortgages, credit cards, ATM, wire transfers, etc. On average, credit unions have lower interest rates on loans and higher interest returns on investments when compared with big banks. Anyone can join a credit union and the unions are collectively owned by credit union members.

Because members, not shareholders, own credit unions, all the profit that credit unions bring in goes right back to members in the form of dividends, rebates and lowered interest rates. This means your money stays in Kansas City instead of lining the pockets of shareholders at big banks. With a traditional bank, up to 97% of our money leaves the community. Last year the big banks amassed over $45 billion dollars for their shareholders. We believe that those profits could stay within towns like Kansas City to keep our business and opportunities growing.