INDIANAPOLIS (WISH) — Each week in Community Link Carolene Mays-Medley and Marco Dominguez take a look at an organization or business that is making a positive impact on the community.

When you drive around, you see credit unions everywhere, but not too many people know about the importance of a credit union in this society.

John McKenzie, the president of the Indiana Credit Union League, stopped by the WISH-TV studios to talk about the difference between a bank and a credit union.

“Credit unions provide all the consumer financial services anybody could want,” explained McKenzie. “Many of them also offer business lending and business services. The primary difference is in the structure and the purpose of the credit union, how they operate. Credit unions are member-owned, not-for-profit cooperatives, so there isn’t a group of stockholders that exists where the organization has to generate profits in order to pay dividends to those stockholders.”

McKenzie explained that any excess earnings generated from services provided that aren’t needed for reserves or operations are returned to the members.

Click the video to learn more about the difference between banks and credit unions.