What is the impact of the government's financial rescue plan on credit unions?

The impact on credit unions seems quite minimal. These nonprofit cooperatives do not hold many of the investments that are poisoning other financial institutions, so they have weathered the crisis fairly well.

Credit unions have kept about 70 percent of their mortgage loans on the books, meaning that they did not sell them off to other institutions, according to the Credit Union National Association. The group said that less than 1 percent of credit union mortgages were in delinquency at the end of the first quarter. Delinquencies on other loans have edged up to 1 percent.

"If they've got their money in a federally insured credit union, they're just hunky dory," CUNA spokesman Patrick Keefe said.

Still, credit unions are lobbying Congress and the Treasury Department to be included in any legislation that would allow financial institutions to unload bad mortgages. Keefe said few CUNA members would likely need the help, but the group wants to make sure that they have the same options as other lending institutions.

-- Washington Post Staff Writer Ylan Q. Mui