In the United States, credit unions have more than 86 million members, which is 43.47% of the economically active population. U.S. credit unions are not-for-profit, cooperative, tax-exempt organizations.

U.S. credit unions can be chartered by either the federal government ("federal credit unions") or by a state.  All federal credit unions and 95% of state-chartered credit unions have federal deposit insurance (called "share insurance") through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund of at least $250,000 per member.  This federal deposit insurance is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States government and is administered by the National Credit Union Administration.  As of December 2006, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund had a higher insurance fund capital ratio than the FDIC Bank Insurance Fund.  U.S. credit unions also typically have higher equity capital ratios than U.S. banks.

As of the end of 2007, the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund insured more than $560 billion in deposits at 8,101 not-for-profit cooperative US credit unions.  For comparison, the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation insured more than $4,000 billion in deposits at 8,560 banks and thrift institutions.  The NCUA and the FDIC are both independent federal agencies backed by the full faith and credit of the US government.

United States credit unions typically pay higher dividend (interest) rates on shares (deposits) and charge lower interest on loans than banks.  Credit unions therefore often have a higher cost of assets (i.e. interest expense as a percentage of average assets) than commercial banks, with aggregate U.S. credit union cost of assets being higher than the aggregate U.S. bank cost of assets in eight of the thirteen years between 1995 and 2007.  Credit union revenues (from loans and investments) do, however, need to exceed operating expenses and dividends (interest paid on deposits) in order to maintain capital and solvency.

Unlike banks, which were caught redlining underserved areas in the 1970s, credit unions are not subject to federal "community reinvestment" requirements—essentially because credit unions, by their nature and mission of "people helping people," already meet the financial needs of a broad spectrum of people that fall within their fields of membership, and play an active role in community development and growth. Because of that, credit unions have successfully lobbied to exempt themselves from the (U.S. federal) Community Reinvestment Act, the law that forces banks to provide services in low-income areas.

2006 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data shows that U.S. credit unions approved 69% of low- and moderate-income borrowers' mortgage applications that they received, versus a 47% low/mod-income borrower approval rate for other U.S. mortgage lenders, and also that U.S. credit unions approved 62% of minority members' mortgage applications, versus a 51% minority approval rate for other U.S. mortgage lenders.  The 2006 Home Mortgage Disclosure Act data also shows that 25.2% of all U.S. credit union mortgage originations were mortgages for low- or moderate-income borrowers, versus a 20.6% low- or moderate-income borrower mortgage origination percentage for other U.S. mortgage lenders.  The National Credit Union Administration, however, has long discouraged U.S. credit unions from giving members loans that they may not be able to afford to repay and has forbidden other types of predatory lending and abusive credit practices.  Federal credit unions are also forbidden from charging prepayment penalties on loans.

Members needed, Sponsors needed, Volunteers needed