Why are U.S. credit unions not open to everyone?
Credit unions are mutually-owned (i.e. customer owned) financial institutions that provide banking services.  They take deposits from their members (customers) and loan them to other members.  Members vote on a board of directors who manage operations.   They are considered not-for-profit, but they pay interest on deposits.  They get some preferential tax treatment and regulation and their deposits are insured by a separate organization if federally accredited.  State-chartered credit unions don't have to maintain deposit insurance at all.   Their charters specify who can join.  They can be regionally based, employer based, or based on some other group with common interests.  Regulators restrict them so that they don't interfere too much with banks.  Otherwise their preferential tax and regulatory treatment would leave banks uncompetitive.   Other organizations with similar limits have gone on to be competitive when the limits were released.  For example, there used to be an insurance company just for government employees, the Government Employees Insurance Company.  You may know it better as GEICO (yes, the one with the gecko advertisements).  Now they offer life and auto insurance all over.   Credit unions would like looser limitations (or no limitations at all), but not enough to give up their preferential tax treatment.  Banks oppose looser limitations and have as much political clout as credit unions. "It's required by law.  12 USC 1759 (b) requires that membership in a credit union be limited to one or more groups with a ""common bond"", or to people within a particular geographic area. For lots more gory details on how this is interpreted and enforced, you can read the manual given to credit unions by the National Credit Union Administration, which is their regulatory agency."
If *everyone* earned enough credits during the summer so they don't have to pay for their energy use in the winter then who is paying the people to produce the energy in the winter?  It's mathematically impossible for net metering (crediting people at the same rate they are debited for each unit of energy) to work when everyone is on it.  That's why a reduced credit (the same rate wholesale energy producers receive for their energy) is inevitable. "You're asking an intensely debatable question.   You'll have some people believe that the short-term effects on tax cuts will be an increase in the deficit, but long-term provide more economic prosperity that then eventually translates into higher tax revenue (the Laffer Curve). You'll have others state that it'll simply increase government debt and make us even more indebted, and the benefits of tax cuts will be marginal at best.  Large enough shocks, such as a war, cause market downturns due to heightened uncertainty. These are pretty unavoidable (we had a small shock with North Korea's nuke test).   &gt; I ask because the economic fundamentals of U.S/Western Europe are strong.  Why do you think this?   &gt; B. What will be the geopolitical result? Does China back NK to prevent a immigration crisi/power vacuum or do they side with the UN/U.S and allow military destruction of NK in the event of a NK-started war?  Also intensely debatable. Does China grow too tired of NK and simply acquire it itself? Does it keep it separate as a distraction to pin down U.S. attention? Does the U.S. pre-emptively strike NK leadership? Does it leave a vacuum there, close enough that China can keep an eye on it, or does it ""surge"" like Iraq? Would South Korea get it?   These are extremely open-ended questions that could have debates rage around them for years." "The account I have found that works best as a HSA is Alliant Credit Union. They have fee-free HSA (no fees for almost all types of transactions or monthly fees) and a fairly decent online banking website. I've been with them for about 5 years now without trouble. FYI - They are a credit union not a bank so you do have to make a small $10 donation to one of their charities to become ""eligible"" for opening the account." "I opened several free checking accounts at a local credit union.  One is a ""Deposit"" account where all of my new money goes.  I get paid every two weeks.  Every other Sunday we have our ""Money Day"" where we allocate the money from our Deposit account into our other checking accounts.  I have one designated as a Bills account where all of my bills get paid automatically via bill pay or auto-pay. I created a spreadsheet that calculates how much to save each Money Day for all of my upcoming bills.  This makes it so the amount I save for my bills is essentially equal.  Then I allocate the rest of my deposit money into my other checking accounts.  I have a Grocery, Household, and Main checking accounts but you could use any combination that you want. When we're at the store we check our balances (how much we have left to spend) on our mobile app.  We can't overspend this way.  The key is to make sure you're using your PIN when you use your debit card.  This way it shows up in real-time with your credit union and you've got an accurate balance.  This has worked really well to coordinate spending between me and my wife.  It sounds like it's a lot of work but it's actually really automated.  The best part is that I don't have to do any accounting which means my budget doesn't fail if I'm not entering my transactions or categorizing them. I'm happy to share my spreadsheet if you'd like." Banks are not your friends, they are not performing services for you because they like you. They are a business, and they make money by borrowing money from you at low interest and loaning it out at higher interest. They are trying to persuade you to deposit more money (however briefly) in their bank so they can loan out more money. They are probably also counting on the fact that most folks won't go to the trouble of setting up accounts at multiple banks with the interlocking automatic transfers, in order to meet the required deposit threshold. That lets them save on the interest payments to consumers that are individually tiny, but significant in the aggregate. "Credit unions require you to open an account because of their history. A credit union is just that: a union. Only instead of a union of workers collectively bargaining for better pay or worker's comp, they are lending each other money. They are chartered to offer their services to members of the union, rather than the public at large.  For that reason, credit unions historically had targeted niche memberships (ie, employees at a specific company, or property with a specific hobby such as fishing). Most credit unions these days attempt to skirt the issue, by claiming to serve members of a specific geographic area. Anyway, membership is defined a owning a stake in the union, which is usually termed a share. By opening the account and ""purchasing a share,"" you are becoming both an owner and member of the union, and are eligible for their services. That's why the account is required before you can have a loan." CUs are now starting to adopt some of the bank's tricks, like using a longer float during online bill paying and for outside transfers.  Also for overdrafts they are now starting to kick into fees or automatic loans rather than transferring money from your savings account.  I've been a member for decades and my CUs weren't doing this previously. "If ""Bank of America"" is truly a hard-and-fast requirement, the best solution is to go to a branch and see what they can do. If they turn you down, it likely can't be done."