Beacon is a "Safe Harbor" for Your Savings

During these times of economic uncertainty and problems in some sectors of the financial services industry, Indiana’s credit unions continue to enjoy strong growth in new deposits and loans, including mortgage lending, and remain well-positioned to serve their 2.2 million members across the state.

“Credit unions have been around since the early 1900s through economic ups and downs, and since they are structured as member-owned, not-for-profit financial cooperatives, they take a more conservative approach to their business than other types of financial services industry organizations,” explained Indiana Credit Union League President John McKenzie.

“Credit unions take in deposits and make loans to people and business owners within their fields of membership. Because they are owned by their members, instead of worrying about generating profits for a separate group of stockholders, there is not an incentive for them to take on risks like subprime mortgage lending that have resulted in problems for other types of financial institutions that were chasing profits.”

McKenzie also noted that leaders in Congress have pointed to credit unions as an example of the right way to approach providing financial services compared to other types of service providers that have gotten into trouble.

Other facts about how Beacon Credit Union serves our members:

• Beacon Credit Union invests its Member/Owners capital in safe, conservative instruments. Funds are not used to purchase corporate bonds, stocks, or equities.

• Beacon Credit Union has no affiliation with the large banks and Wall Street Investment firms facing devastation and collapse that has taken place in recent weeks and days.

• Beacon’s reserves and net worth provide $1 of protection for every $5 Member/Owners had on deposit as of August 30, 2008.

• Each Beacon Credit Union account is insured up to $250,000 by American Share Insurance. 

Learn how American Share Insurance protects your money (PDF Format)

Visit the American Share Insurance website

• Beacon is very well-capitalized, operates with local control and has a strong management team.

• In times of uncertainty, credit unions represent a safe harbor, as reflected in the strong growth in new deposits from consumers at credit unions this year.

• Not only are credit unions a place consumers can trust to be safe and sound, they are also a place to receive a good deal. Indiana’s 2.2 million credit union members benefit by close to $150 million annually through better rates and lower fees compared to if the only choice available to consumers was for-profit financial institutions. This is because credit unions are member-owned, not-for-profit, cooperatives, with earnings not needed for reserves and operations being returned to members through better rates and lower fees.

Want to learn more about how Beacon works to keep the credit union strong and your money safe?  Read our most recent Annual Report.

Beacon 2007/2008 Annual Report