Seattle: A Credit Union Town

A recent article in the Seattle Times claims that this famous city in the Pacific Northwest has become America’s No. 1 metro area for people converting from banks to credit unions.

The paper’s Gene Balk, citing Nielsen Scarborough data, said that a full 31.5% of people in the Seattle metro area are using credit union as their primary bank. This is up from just 23.2% in 2008.

Of course, 2008 was the year of the financial crisis, and many people were angry at the banks. But, while this anger has subsided over the years since, people are still switching to credit unions.

Balk said that Seattle-area credit unions have benefited at the expense of banks – especially Bank of America. In terms of market share, B of A and credit unions were nearly tied in 2008. Balk said that twice as many people in the area now use a credit union as their primary bank as compared to B of A.

It seems that the hard times following the recession convinced many Seattle residents to keep their money local — in a not-for-profit credit union.