<prompt> Human: My colleagues and I were discussing the possiblity of opening a credit union in a low-income area of the city in an attempt to alleviate the problem of the underbanked and unbanked portions of society. Besides the cost of real estate, renovations, installing a vault, and day-to-day operating costs, I imagine there must be a baseline amount necessary to do the actual business of banking. Can anyone out there give me an idea? If we were to approach a philanthropist or do some fundraising, how much would we need?  <response>: The NCUA publishes a booklet on this subject that you may be interested in. It depends on whether youre also looking for a basic or full service credit union.Pre-chartering costs are listed between 50-150K, and after chartering, 50-350K. So at least 150K prior to accepting your first deposit. The NCUA does provide quite a few resources worth a read. I havent had time looking at it, but as youd have to be insured with the NCUA Id suggest it should be pretty authoritative. 