On November 19, 1863, President Abraham Lincoln gave one of the most well known speeches in our country's history, The Gettysburg Address. At the end of his speech President Lincoln said "....this nation under God shall have new birth of freedom, and that government of the people, by the people, for the people shall not perish from the earth." These are the ideals that our country was formed on, and it is on these same fundamental ideas that credit unions were formed. Today they are still run by the same principles. It is also through this notion that credit unions get their motto, Not for profit, not for charity, but for service.
             Our society is run by profit-making industries that serve the people, but look out for their own interests first. Banks are one of these money-making industries. The main goal of a bank is to serve its investors by making loans, investing money, or through many other options. Banks also have employees that they have to pay and stockholders( some of whom invest millions of dollars) who expect a return on their investments. These two factors divert some of the money made by the bank to pay these two groups. Because of this the rates of interest are lower and loan rates are higher for a bank's customers.
             Credit unions are non-profit organizations whose members are the share holders of the organization. The accounts that the members have are called "share accounts," implying their ownership of the organization. Many credit unions were originally formed by people who had a common bond (e.g. church groups, civic clubs, or people who worked for a specific employer.) In these situations, people involved in credit union management were volunteers who received no money at all. The goal of these credit unions was to help its members by providing low interest loans and interest bearing accounts.
             Today some credit unions have grown into large organizations with many membe...