When consumers are looking to make new decisions regarding their finances they generally have a lot of questions and they want to be able to go to a local branch where someone can help them in person and answer all of their questions. When consumers are upset or financial issues arise they want to be able to confront a real live person. For most, their money is the most important thing to them and if something seems askew people like the idea of being able to "corner" a specific individual who cannot walk away or put them on hold; someone who will have to answer their questions because they are in their face. It gives them someone specific to hold accountable and they like the comfort that gives them. .
Technology is very important for all institutions that want to remain relevant in the future, even for credit unions which are traditionally known to offer better service and rates then banks; maintaining current consumers and growing their consumer base. Those opposed to the financial industry needing to maintain branches would argue that banks that operate completely online offer lower or no fees, higher dividend rates of return on savings and investments, and more options for their consumers because not having branches provides lower overhead costs. However, online institutions are not the only institutions offering great rates and low or no fees for their consumers. Online banks may have less overhead to make up for but they are still banks and therefore out to make a profit. Credit unions are member owned and not for profit organizations. This means the money credit unions make is returned to the members who own them by offering some of the lowest loan rates available to consumers, and higher dividend rates of returns on deposits. Also, since they are not for profit, credit unions have the lowest fees in the financial industry. Most of these banks have required minimum balances to avoid fees while "72 percent of the institutions surveyed in the 2012 Bankrate Credit Union Checking Survey had no minimum.