As one Wall Street banking scandal after another has unfolded, the credit unions have been a bright spot in the financial industry. Credit unions did not break this economy. They did not build business models around tricking their customers. When the economy faltered, they did not turn their backs on the families and small businesses that needed them. The credit union motto says it all: “Not for profit, not for charity, but for service.”

A generation ago, the price of financial services—credit cards, checking accounts, mortgages, and signature loans—was pretty easy to see. Both borrowers and lenders understood the basic terms of the deal. But by the time the financial crisis hit, those days were gone. While credit unions continued to provide clear, high-quality service, for millions of Americans, a different form of pricing had become all too prevalent elsewhere. Too many credit card companies and mortgage lenders used a low advertised price on the front end to entice customers and then made their real money with fees and charges and penalties and repricing on the back end. The costs and risks of products became harder to see, which meant that comparison shopping was almost impossible, and the market became less and less efficient. Credit unions that wouldn’t adopt a business model based on tricks and traps were competing with slick outfits that pretended to underprice them. In other words, the game was rigged against consumers and small financial institutions.