What Is a Shared Branch Credit Union? | Banking Advice

Credit unions are designed to support the financial needs of the surrounding community. You may be apprehensive to join one if you travel a lot or need to perform banking services outside of your home neighborhood. The good news is that many credit unions have a solution for that concern: shared branching.

Credit union shared branches are part of a network that allows members of one credit union to make transactions at another participating credit union as if it were their own. This is possible because of cooperative agreements among the participating credit unions.

In other words, if you’re a member of a credit union that is part of a shared branch network, you can walk into any other credit union in that network and conduct business as though you were at your home branch.

This shared branching greatly extends the reach and convenience of credit unions, allowing members to access their accounts even when they’re far from their home branch. “While credit unions don’t have thousands of branches as some national banks do, shared branches bridge the gap and are one way to combat the myth that credit unions aren’t a fit for people who need to make financial transactions outside their local area,” says Mike Squire, senior vice president and chief experience officer at Kinecta Federal Credit Union.

There are a handful of credit union shared branch networks. CO-OP is the most extensive one, with more than 5,600 shared branches and 30,000 shared ATMs throughout the country.

Allpoint is another surcharge-free ATM network. There are about 55,000 ATMs in the network globally, some of which are Allpoint+ ATMs that allow users to deposit cash into their accounts in addition to making fee-free withdrawals.

At a credit union shared branch, you can generally perform many of the same transactions you would at your home branch, even if the shared branch is part of a different credit union. “At a shared branch, credit union members can complete just about any transaction they could make at their local branch,” Squire says.

Here are some typical services that shared branches usually offer:

The specific services available can vary from one shared branch to another, so it’s always a good idea to check in advance if you need a particular service.

If you visit a shared branch to perform basic banking services, you’ll need to provide a valid government-issued ID, your account number and the name of your home credit union, according to Squire.

Although shared branches offer a wide variety of services, there are some limitations due to the fact that you’re not at your own credit union’s branch. These limitations can vary based on the specific agreement between credit unions in the shared branch network, but typically include:

Thousands of credit unions throughout the U.S. participate in shared branching. A few examples of major credit unions that are part of shared branch networks include: