Freedom Federal Credit Union Revenue and Competitors

It all began in Germany in the mid-1800s when Herman Schulze-Delitzsch and Fredrich Raiffeisen were forced to do something to compensate for the crop failure and famine of 1846. Schulze-Delitzach organized a cooperatively owned mill and bakery that sold bread to its members at substantial savings. Within four years Schulze-Delitzsch organized the first cooperative credit society by using the cooperative notion to address the needs of credit. This society was called “people’s bank.” By 1864, Raiffeissen had formed the Heddesorf Credit Union to help farmers. By lending money to these farmers, they were able to purchase livestock, equipment, seeds and other farming needs. This concept managed to cross the Atlantic into Canada by 1900 and Alphanse Desjardins organized LaCaisse Populaire de Levis. Desjardins’s desire to establish such an institution came when he realized the outrageous interest that was being charged by loan sharks. His intentions were to provide relief to the working class.