ALPENA — More and more Michigan residents are skipping the bank and instead are heading to credit unions for their financial needs, according to experts in the field.

A June report from the Michigan Credit Union League stated that Michigan’s financial health “directly impacted the demand for loans” by credit seekers in the state. Experts said this caused credit union loan grow to rise by 11.1 percent.

According to further statistics there are 5.1 million credit union members in Michigan, nearly half the state’s population. The statistics also showed there were substantial increases in the Alpena region with 1.3 percent growth in the fourth quarter of 2016.

Nick Montie, CEO of Thunder Bay Credit Union, said there has been an increase in credit union memberships since the financial crisis of 2008.

One of the reasons more people are going to credit unions instead of banks, Montie said, is because they represent safety to a lot of people.

“With credit unions we are 100 percent member owned, so we don’t have to generate profits for any shareholder. Anything we do we try to return back to our member owners,” he said.

According to Montie the main difference between a bank is the fact the members are owners, meaning they can offer lower loan rates, higher saves rates and lower costs on other banking services.

Montie said the local growth’s primary driver is loans.

“It’s mostly loans right now and we’re starting to see an up tick in new home buying and most of the real estate lending has been in pre-built homes,” Montie said.

As far as the rules of credit unions versus banks, Montie said the organizations play by the same federal rules and the attraction for many is better rates.

“Chances are they are going to receive a better rate, a slightly lower rate and chances are our origination fee — the basic closing costs for getting a mortgage — they’re running around $2,000,” he said.

Montie said Thunder Bay Credit Union’s growth has been smaller compared to other area credit unions in the last five years and the credit union is in the process of merging with Besser Credit Union, with two locations in Alpena, in the coming month.

“In the last five years we’re looking at 10 percent growth rate,” he said.

Another reason that many prefer credit unions over banks is the ability to have a say, or help mold the institution into something they want, Montie said.

“With the credit union it’s a democratic process, those are democratically elected by the rest of the membership. If there is something you don’t like about it you can get out there, volunteer and serve on the board. From the average person’s standpoint you’re just going to save money in the long run due to the fact that you’re going to be running lower fees across the board,” he said.

Besser Credit Union CEO Nancy Montie said although credit union involvement by the public is on the rise, there still are fewer involved in credit unions compared to banks.

“Credit unions still fall way below as far as members, but through our advertising through the years credit union membership has grown,” Montie said.

She said one misconception about credit unions that some members of the public have is that you have to belong to a certain organization or work for a certain company to be able to access credit union benefits.

“Most all of our (area) credit unions are community credit unions, where people thought that you could only belong to Besser if you worked at Besser and that has not been the case for many years. That means that anyone can walk in the door,” she said.

There also is credit union growth that is going to take place in the community. Northland Area Federal Credit Union is expanding its headquarters into Alpena.

Montie said that is one of the reasons for the merger with Thunder Bay Area Credit Union.

“We will be able to offer services we were not able to offer before. We didn’t have the staffing or the technology things that are so needed and desired,” she said.

LeAnn Schultz, director of marketing for Alpena Alcona Area Credit Union, said many credit unions work to be advocates for their members.

“We’re not afraid to say that the vehicle that you’re looking at may not be affordable to you. We want someone to pay a less expensive payment and just because you want something doesn’t mean that is something you should have,” she said.

Schultz said she thinks that credit unions have a healthy future.

“I think we’ll see fewer buildings being built and more eServices being offered.” she said. “We already added remote deposit capture, text banking, and other services for our members.”