I wonder why CUs are so much more popular in WA than in OR.
Well they are pretty close currently in terms of usage (~39% in OR vs ~41% in WA from 2010Q3) but I think Washington has a longer history with them than Oregon.
I do think having a statewide one (BECU) is an advantage in terms of advertising/raising awareness. We're due for some consolidation down here.
I probably should've been more specific and asked why they grew so much more in WA last year. BECU probably helps. It's only in the Puget Sound area, though.
Oh wow, all this time I thought BECU was all over the state: http://www.becu.org/locations.aspx
That does make me wonder why WA credit unions are growing faster. Obviously a bit of the difference is due to population (~3.87 million people in OR vs. ~6.83 million people in WA from 2011) but that wouldn't explain the 5x difference for the 2011 numbers.
Well that's still where a majority of the population is, of course.
FDIC data for banks is far more detailed. It uses individual branches to calculate deposit shares, instead of lumping an entire bank with it's HQ location... Although I don't think they have membership/customer numbers. It's still more interesting though since it goes down to the zip code. Hopefully the NCUA starts offering better data soon.
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