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Comment by T-A | Hacker News Reader

https://iafcu.org/special-posts/membership/

"Persons who live, work, worship, attend school, or participate in associations headquartered in New Brunswick or Highland Park, New Jersey"

Am I misunderstanding what this means, or are they saying you have to live there in order to be a member?

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I looked into the feasibility of starting a web-based credit union a few years ago and I discovered that federal regulations require credit unions to serve some distinct community -- whether it be a physical community (like a town) or an affinity community (like an alumni association).

This makes it more difficult to establish an open-to-everyone web-based credit union; you basically have to have some sort of online community already in place, and attract members from that community.

Nevertheless, there are some web-based credit unions that have been able to successfully meet the requirements ... however, this explains why you don't see the cooperative equivalent of an ING Direct/Capital One 360.

Even so, I do hope that either the regulations change or some established web-based credit unions are able to attract people away from the for-profit banks, because credit unions, being member owned, never put profits before people. (But if they DO happen to make a profit, it goes back to the members, not to some outside shareholder.)

Or it goes to the CEO. Locally the head of OnPoint - formerly Portland Teachers Credit Union - makes $2 million a year.

http://www.oregoncreditunionfacts.com/wp-content/uploads/OnP...

No, you don't have to live there. As part of the account creation process, you donate a small amount of money ($5, iirc) to one of their local partners, and that satisfies the "participates in associations" aspect of the rule.

EDIT: See "Persons participating in programs to alleviate poverty or distress that are located in the approved area" on the members page

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