By: Danielle Ulman

When you hear the words credit union, what other words immediately come to mind? How about private or exclusive?

If so, it seems you’re not alone.

The people over at SECU (that’s the State Employees’ Credit Union) have been doing their research, and they’ve found that the words “credit union” alone have stopped people from leaving banks to join credit unions.

“The term credit union is a barrier,” Rod Staatz, chief executive at SECU, said. “People believe it’s a club and it’s exclusive. They don’t want to be rejected.”

It turns out SECU is sort of a misnomer in that you don’t have to work for the state to join. Rather, a whole list of other people — alumni, students, staff and faculty of most Maryland colleges and universities are welcome, as are current and former employees of state, city, county or town agencies and labor union employees representing state employees.

Even spouses and family members of the above people can bank there. That opens membership up to a huge number of people.

SECU is working to get the word out that membership isn’t all that exclusive, because the team there is confident that once you go credit union, you never go back (to your bank). The main problem beyond the whole name thing is that most people don’t know what a credit union actually does.

So what’s the big difference between banks and credit unions? Banks are working to make money for their shareholders, while credit unions are nonprofits owned by their members. Any earnings the credit union makes, it filters back to its members through lower fees and loan rates.

Federally insured and state chartered credit unions are highly regulated, and held to the same or higher standards than banks.

And it’s not just SECU that’s on the scene. While it does have a large footprint in Maryland with 19 branches, a quick search of the National Credit Union Administration reveals that there are 108 credit unions in the state.

For a look at how credit unions are trying to market themselves, check out the above take on the Mac vs. PC commercial, subbing in credit unions and banks. It’s much better than this rap battle between banks and credit unions.