Sure, but consider the marketing. Opening an account at a credit union requires: - Knowing the credit union exists and which ones someone can join (not all of

Sure, but consider the marketing. Opening an account at a credit union requires: - Knowing the credit union exists and which ones someone can join (not all of them are "anyone in [region]") - Going to the credit union during business hours (no mean feat; several of the credit unions around me have shorter hours on Friday and three hours on Saturday) - Qualifying for an account, and not just membership. Lots of credit unions pull Chexsystems--credit reports for checking accounts--and a report from the traditional Big Three and having poor credit will be a bar to an account (something that the ProPublica article points out as a reason people use Chime). Those steps even presuppose that you find a credit union that, itself, isn't abusive. I was a member of one that was outright terrible and had miserable fees, but I had to stick with them for a year longer than needed because of a bankruptcy. There's nothing endemic to a credit union that requires it to be a "nice" entity, just that their structure makes it more probable. And it all comes down to how many of us on this site are financially savvy or at least have a better understanding of the pros/cons of how banks and credit unions and "fintech apps" work. The people being targeted by the marketing for Chime are less likely to have that same set of information, and are winding up abused as a result.