Credit Union:

Credit unions are non banking depository financial institutions. They are either coopertives or mutually owned. There is no corporate stock ownership. Credit unions differ from commercial banks and savings institutions in that they (1) are nonprofit and (2) restrict their business to the credit union members, who share a common bond (such as a common employer, geographical area, organizational affiliations like churches or social groups, or a communitychartered credit union.).Because of the common bond characteristic, credit unions tend to be much smaller than other depository institutions. Credit unions obtain their funds primarily from the deposits of their members and often are the cheapest source of funds available to individual borrowers. They use most of their funds to provide loans to their members, generally for auto purchases, home improvements and mortgages. The dual purpose of credit unions is to serve the members saving and borrowing needs. As credit unions are owned by their members, member deposits are called shares. The distribution is paid to members in the form of dividends and it also offers their members lower loan rates, higher savings rates and fewer service fees. Credit unions do pay taxes - payroll taxes, sales taxes, and property taxes. At a credit union, every customer is both a member and an owner.
Sources: y http://www.creditunion.coop/what_is_a_cu.html y https://www.tcunet.com/News_Info/AboutTCU/WhatIs/ y http://www.tameside.gov.uk/creditunion y http://www.med.govt.nz/templates/MultipageDocumentPage____8480.a spx y http://www.cuna.org/gov_affairs/legislative/cu_difference.html y Credit Unions-page 61, Foundations of Financial Markets and Instituions. Frank J. Fabozzi; Franco Modigliani; Frank J. Jones and Michael G. Ferri y Credit Unions-page 13, Financial Markets and Instituiotns, 8th edition; Jeff Madura

Savings and Loan Association:

A savings and loan association (S&L) is a financial institution that specializes in savings deposits and mortgage loans. Like commercial banks, savings and loan associations (also known as Building Associations, Cooperative Banks or Homestead Associations) offer deposit accounts to surplus units and then channel these deposits to deficit units. Whereas commercial banks have concentrated on commercial loans, however, savings and loan associations have concentrated on residential mortgage loans. It offers mortgage services to people from the savings and deposits received from private investors. Depositors earn interest on their deposits, often at a higher rate than is offered at commercial banks. Depositors and borrowers are members with voting rights and have the ability to direct the financial and managerial goals of the organization.
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http://savingsandloanassociation.com/ http://www.investorguide.com/igu-article-1132-banking-what-is-asavings-and-loan-association.html Savings and loan association-page 13, Financial Markets and Instituiotns, 8th edition; Jeff Madura

Money Market Mutual Funds (MMF):

Those financial markets that facilitate the flow of short term funds (with maturity of one year or less) are known as money markets. There are some specific debt securities which are traded in money markets such as treasury bills, commercial paper, negotiable certificate of deposit, repurchase agreement, federal funds and bankers acceptances etc. Money market mutual funds invest in these money market securities which generally have a large size of denominations. Money market funds are portfolios of money market instruments constructed and managed by investment companies. The portfolio is divided into shares that are sold to individual investors. Because investors can participate in some MMFs with as little as $1000 which is insignificant to

the actual denomination size, they are able to invest in money market instruments that they could not afford on their own. Most MMFs allow check writing privileges, although there may be restrictions on the number of checks written per month or on the minimum amount of the check. Because the sponsoring investment company is willing to purchase MMFs back at any time, investors can liquidate their investment whenever they desire which means that money market funds are very liquid investment. The fund's Net Asset Value (NAV) remains constant, generally, at $1 per share to simplify accounting but the interest rate does fluctuate. A money market mutual fund is popular among risk-averse investors, due to the low volatility of the money market mutual fund's investments.

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http://www.investopedia.com/articles/mutualfund/04/081104.asp http://www.investorwords.com/5922/money_market_mutual_fund.html http://www.capital-flow-analysis.com/definition-sectors/F121_def.html http://www.investorglossary.com/money-market-mutual-fund.htm Money Market Mutual Funds-page 634, Financial Markets and Instituiotns, 8th edition; Jeff Madura