Banks and Credit Unions

In today's world there are possibly no more powerful institution than banks and investment houses. Our whole world is dominated by buying and selling, and banks provide the currency with which we make transactions on a daily basis. Whether it be receiving your paycheck, buying a house or car, or simply buying a pack of gum, you have had to interact with a financial institution along the way somehow.
Since the fall of 2008, people around the world have seen how financial institutions have greatly been able to determine the course of world events. What started out as banks creating new kinds of home loans for possible buyers, turned into a global financial crisis, which has caused many on all sides of the political spectrum to question the way that business is done. If there is to be a change in the business policies of the world, what should that policy be?
Banks have always be a necessity in the modern world. Currency has been a necessity in almost all civilizations, and since currency is considered valuable there is a need to protect it. There are also times when a person does not have available currency for something one needs or wants. The bank then provides currency on loan for the person in need. In these ways banks provide valuable service to society.
However, the function of a financial institution is above all to make profit. The bank does not care how this is done. In recent years banks have found different profit making devices, that have increased their wealth and power. One way banks have done this is by controlling greater amounts of credit. More and more people have requested or needed access to some kind of credit in the years past. With more loans given out, the banks would naturally receive more profit. It was usually understood, that a bank took substantial risk on giving a loan, but with the financial bailouts of late 2008, it showed that financial institutions were able to secure a generous bailout for themselves from the federal government in their time of need.
Another way that banks have been able to make a greater profit is by increasing the rates of fees that they have charged. From increased charges for using the ATM's of competitors, to excessive overdraft and late fees, banks have been able to charge fees on things they never could have done in the past. For instance, the advent of debit cards has been particularly useful to banks profits. A debit card allows a bank customer to directly transfer money from their account to a merchant. However, if a customer does not have sufficient funds in their account, the bank covers the transaction, and then charges the customer a huge fee for overdrawing their account. This is a classic example of the banks making a profit at the customer's expense. The customer would be better served to just have the transaction declined and face the initial embarassment, rather than be charged a fee which many times exceeds the actual price of the goods purchased.
One possible solution to this, would be to reform the banking industry and the ways that financial institutions conduct their business. However, this is very unlikely. The financial industry is one of the most powerful lobbies in the federal government, and therefore they hold a tremendous amount of influence with lawmakers. Even if large scale reform of the banking industry could take place through legislation, financial institutions would find new ways of profitting at the expense of consumers. Banks, like all large corporations are driven by creating profit. If the company carries out practices that fail to net it profit, the stock holders will find some other kind of practice.
There is a simpler way to bring more equity to our financial system. The solution to this is to stop using the big financial institutions and reallocate our money in local credit unions. Unlike a bank, a credit union is controlled by the people who have accounts. Its leaders are selected by the customers, so thereby the credit union creates a democratic practice. If the credit union creates policies that the consumers do not like, the consumer has a voice and actual power to change the policies. As credit unions do not have the same corporate structure, they often give better interest rates on loans and on deposit accounts. Finally, since credit unions are not driven by creating profits, they are not likely their customers' money to make risky financial decisions that will collapse our economy.
Credit unions are a simple solution to a larger financial problem. With less currency to work off of, the large banks will lose influence. If credit unions become a substantial competitor, banks will also have to change their business practices to compete with them. When this becomes a reality, there will be more equality in the business practices and with this greater equality will develop over all of society.