The difference between banks and credit unions

Sir, – Further to recent correspondence (Letters, September 9th), the then-minister for finance Michael Noonan made provision for between €500 million and €1 billion to support the credit union movement after the crash. The same crash cost taxpayers €64 billion to rescue the banks. By way of thanks, over 180 bank branches have closed in Ireland in the last six years, which equals approximately the total number of credit unions in Ireland.

However, the main and ongoing point of difference between banks and credit unions is that credit unions still actually welcome customers into their branches and onto their books, unlike banks, which see us as an irritating nuisance. Recently I entered a bank and said that I wanted to open a current account. The “customer relations/support assistant” returned and handed me a note with a code written on it “that I could use at home to go online and open an account”.

Credit unions, with all their faults, are friendly, welcoming and owned by their members. Banks are ruthlessly avaricious in pursuit of profits for their shareholders, with no local point of contact to discuss business or personal loan options or opportunities. Credit unions have learned from their mistakes and implemented improved control and oversight systems and should be unshackled and allowed compete with the old order banking system, which is clearly fearful of credit unions, if one looks at the extent of lobbying by the banks to restrict them from expanding their services. – Yours, etc,

TOMÁS FINN,