By 1995 there were 400 credit unions with a membership of 130,000. Here also there are credit unions run by employers for their employees. Note that in the USA over 75 per cent of credit unions are run by employers which in this way may control the lending and investing of over USD 151 billion. In the UK there are also credit unions run by employers for their employees. In the USA in 1990, credit unions were undercutting banks unsecured loan interest rates like credit cards by 4 per cent to about 15 per cent.
Members can borrow anything from a car loan to a mortgage.
Credit unions also offered interest on current accounts with no minimum balance and generally charged no fees. The interest rate charged by credit unions in the UK each year is thus 12.68 per cent or less. This compares with interest rates of between 20 and 30 per cent charged by banks and finance houses, and with say 15 per cent charged by banks for authorised overdrafts. Savings deposited in UK with banks and building societies, earn interest of about 2 to 6 per cent. Credit unions are not allowed to pay out more than 8 per cent and tend to pay out between 4 and 6 per cent.