Ownership: Understanding who owns the business is the key to understanding many of the differences between credit unions and banks. A credit union is owned by the people (members) who deposit money into their checking or other accounts. The owners of a bank are the stockholders.
Dividends: Stockholders in a bank expect a dividend on their investment. For a credit union, financial "dividends" are paid to members in the form of lower fees and interest on loan products or higher interest paid on deposit accounts.
Motivation: The single most noticeable difference will be the priority a member (depositor) of a credit union is given. Credit Union employees are focused on service to the member.
Volunteers: Credit unions draw on the members to staff the board of directors and key committees. Those individuals work without compensation. As such, their motivation is likely to be much different than those of bank directors.
Cooperation: A cooperative form of ownership lays the basis for cooperation in other areas as well. It is not uncommon for credit unions to help each other in times of need or for several credit unions to work together to be able to provide financial products to their members. For example, you may see branches of more than one credit union within the same building.
Democracy: The election of a credit union board of directors, and other key decisions by the members, is achieved by each member having one vote, no matter how large your deposits. In a bank, greater ownership provides more votes for higher levels of investment.
Capital: In a credit union, the only way to increase capital to support asset growth is to earn it by having more income than expenses. Capital to support the growth of a bank may come from the sale of additional stock.