Hi @ai-ai! Like you I have savings in both a bank and a cooperative bank at our local area. I prefer to avail loans on the cooperative bank because I am part owner of it. Unlike the bank where you just save money and earn little interest.
There are also many types of loans that I can avail in our cooperative bank with low interest and as you have mentioned an additional patronage refund as well. I have been a member of a cooperative for 10 years and my share and savings have increased. There is also a dividend that will be given every time there is a general assembly. The amount one will received depends on the amount of share one has. We were able to get quite a substantial dividend since our share increase over the last 10 years.
My bank accounts are usually for bank to bank or PayPal to my bank transactions with the credit card and that's it.
I am encouraging my friends to join our local cooperative here in our city because the terms of payments are very easy and if they will just have a good credit history they will be able to avail many types of loans. They also have pension plans and my husband and I avail of this because the maturity is quite high when we compared to most bank here in our place.

We usually call a credit union a multi-purpose cooperative because they are about the same thing. Credit unions are owned by their members and because of that, you usually can get a better loan rate there than at a bank. Since they are owned by their members, the credit unions usually offer a better interest rate on loans and will offer more interest on your savings that a regular bank. If you are looking for a small kind of loan like an auto or a consolidation loan, the credit union probably would be your best bet. However, if you are looking for a place to loan you money for a house such as a mortgage, a larger bank may be better for you.

Your money is protected either way you go. A lot of it is just personal preference and possibly location. Also, since many smaller banks are being bought out by bigger banks, the employees of a credit union usually are more personable and get to know their customers more than bigger banks. :-)