About PlainCU

Our Mission

We believe consumers deserve transparent, unbiased financial data when choosing where to bank. Credit unions serve over 140 million Americans, yet comparing their financial health, rates, and performance requires digging through dense regulatory filings that were never designed for public consumption.

We built PlainCU to change that. Our mission is to transform the quarterly financial reports that credit unions file with the federal government into clear, searchable intelligence that anyone can use, whether you are choosing a credit union to join, a researcher studying the cooperative banking sector, a journalist covering financial services, or a credit union professional benchmarking against peers.

Every metric on PlainCU comes from the same data that federal examiners use to assess credit union safety and soundness. We simply make it accessible.

Our Data Sources

All data is sourced from the NCUA 5300 Call Report - the official quarterly financial filing submitted by every federally-insured credit union to the National Credit Union Administration. This is public domain data, filed with the federal government under regulatory mandate.

• Source: NCUA 5300 Call Reports (quarterly filings)
• Coverage: 4,370+ federally-insured natural person credit unions across all 50 states
• Historical data: Q4 2023, Q4 2024, Q4 2025 (enabling multi-year trend analysis)
• Rate comparisons: Credit union vs. bank average rates across 13 loan and deposit product categories, sourced from NCUA and FDIC aggregate data

The NCUA collects these filings to monitor the safety and soundness of the credit union system. We repackage the same data for public use, adding no proprietary data or third-party sources.

How We Process the Data

Our methodology transforms raw regulatory filings into intuitive financial profiles through the following steps:

1. Data ingestion - We download the complete 5300 Call Report dataset from NCUA for each reporting quarter, covering every federally-insured natural person credit union in the United States.
2. Financial metric extraction - From each filing, we extract key financial indicators: total assets, total shares (deposits), total loans, membership count, net worth, delinquent loans, net income, and derived ratios (net worth ratio, delinquency rate, return on assets, loan-to-share ratio, member growth).
3. Health score computation - Each credit union receives a composite health score (0-100) based on five metrics that mirror what NCUA examiners evaluate: net worth ratio, delinquency rate, return on assets, member growth, and loan-to-share ratio. See our health score methodology guide for the full breakdown.
4. State aggregation - Credit unions are grouped by state, with aggregate statistics computed for each state: total credit unions, combined membership, combined assets, and average health score.
5. Quarterly trend tracking - By retaining data from multiple quarters, we compute year-over-year growth rates and trend indicators for every credit union.
6. Rankings - Credit unions are ranked by health score, total assets, membership, and growth rate at both the state and national level.
7. Full-text search indexing - Credit union names, cities, states, and field-of-membership descriptions are indexed for instant search across the entire portfolio.

No financial data is estimated, extrapolated, or adjusted. We present NCUA-reported figures with only the scoring and organizational transformations described above.

Data Currency

NCUA publishes 5300 Call Report data quarterly, typically 60-90 days after the quarter ends. Our current dataset reflects Q4 2025. We update our database when each new quarterly release becomes available from NCUA.

Credit union financial data can change between quarters due to mergers, charter conversions, liquidations, and normal business fluctuations. The data shown on PlainCU is a snapshot as of the most recent reporting quarter and may not reflect events that occurred after that date.

What We Cover

• Individual credit union profiles with financial metrics and health scores
• State-level credit union data and rankings
• Portfolio-wide rankings: healthiest, largest, fastest-growing
• CU vs bank rate comparisons across 13 loan and deposit products
• Full-text search across all 4,370+ credit unions
• Educational guides on membership eligibility, safety, rates, and how to choose a credit union

Editorial Independence

Content on PlainCU is compiled by our editorial team. Raw data from the NCUA 5300 Call Report, FFIEC aggregate data, and CUDATA public releases is transformed into readable credit union profiles by our automated pipeline, then validated against the source before publication. The PlainCU editorial team, is responsible for editorial standards, methodology, and corrections.

We do not accept payment, sponsorship, or promoted placement from credit unions, banks, or any covered institution. Our only revenue source is contextual display advertising served by Google AdSense - advertisers do not influence which entities we cover or how we present data, and they do not receive preferential placement.

YMYL notice: PlainCU is an informational resource. Nothing on this site is financial, investment, banking, or insurance advice. Always verify details directly with a credit union and consult a qualified professional before making financial decisions.

Limitations and Disclaimers

Users should be aware of the following limitations when using PlainCU:

• Not affiliated with NCUA - PlainCU is an independent project and is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or connected to the National Credit Union Administration or any government agency.
• Not financial advice - Financial health scores are quantitative screening tools based on publicly-reported data. They do not constitute financial advice, investment recommendations, or a regulatory safety assessment. A high health score does not guarantee a credit union will not fail; a low score does not mean it will.
• Quarterly snapshots - Data reflects the most recent quarterly filing and may not capture recent events such as mergers, rate changes, or membership policy updates.
• Aggregated rates - Rate comparison data represents national averages for credit unions vs. banks. Individual institution rates vary significantly based on product terms, creditworthiness, and local market conditions.
• Membership eligibility - PlainCU does not determine whether you are eligible to join a specific credit union. Always verify eligibility requirements directly with the credit union.

Always verify information directly with the credit union and consult a qualified financial professional for major financial decisions.

Contact

Questions, corrections, or feedback? Email us at hello@plaincu.com or visit our contact page.