Having been in the wonderful world of credit unions for 14 years now, I have grown accustomed to discovering that credit unions exist for some really great organizations. But I realize that not everyone is aware that some of these fine institutions HAVE credit unions because they often fly under the radar. Here are just a few of the best credit unions I’ve run across that you probably haven’t heard of before:
White House Federal Credit Union – Yes, the employees of the West Wing have their own credit union. Is POTUS a member? Have previous POTUSes (Potusii?) been members? We’ll never know since their membership roster is not public information. White House FCU has been around since 1935, one year after FDR signed the Federal Credit Union Act making credit unions possible in every state in the nation. And EverythingCU is proud to have two employees there as members of our site.
Kennedy Space Center Federal Credit Union – We’ve put a man on the moon, helped set up the international space station using our space shuttles, sent rovers on to Mars’ surface (and it tweets), and even set up stereo satellites so that we can better understand emissions from our sun. There’s a credit union at Florida’s space coast that has been serving the fine men & women on the leading edge of space exploration since 1963, and EverythingCU has had members there since our inception.
Treasury Department Federal Credit Union – I think this must be one of the most delicious credit unions of all. Think about it….. the employees of the Department of the Treasury, that is, the organization charged with the stewardship of the U.S. economy and the security of the U.S. and international financial systems, saw fit to create their own credit union in 1935. And it’s still going strong today. EverythingCU.com doesn’t have any members from this special credit union on our site, but we’d welcome them with open arms if they discovered our credit union resource.
What does it say that some of the best and brightest people in our financial system have their own credit union?
Tags: credit unions, DC, economy, Federal Credit Union Act, Field of Membership, Florida, FOM, KSCFCU, membership, POTUS, specialization, Treasury, Treasury Department FCU, White House FCU
EverythingCU.com World 2.0 Adventure 
January 7, 2010 at 10:58 pm |
When I was at CUNA Management School in Madison, the class before me had a student from White House Federal Credit Union. They brought some cool swag to auction off at the annual auction. Was pretty cool! I didn’t win it though.
Love to hear about some of the more interesting credit union charters out there!
January 8, 2010 at 12:20 am |
Don’t forget about the FDIC FCU…
https://www.thepartnershipfcu.com/
January 8, 2010 at 8:33 am |
One of my favorites is the FRB FCU, which is the credit union for the Federal Reserve. They are also a customer of ours for Item Processing and Check 21. We’re working with them now to implement ATM image capture. That’s right, the Fed’s credit union uses a CUSO for check processing. Gotta love it! http://www.frbfcu.org
January 8, 2010 at 9:48 am |
@Robbie – It was actually Jeff Pilcher’s name change summary blog post that inspired me to write this one. I saw that FDIC FCU had changed their name to The Partnership FCU… perhaps they were sick of taking grief about what their CU represented…. I can just see it now: “FDIC Federal Credit Union: A better way to bank.” ha ha ha ha ha
January 8, 2010 at 12:38 pm |
If the theme here is gov’t sponsored credit unions, there’s also the Department of State CU and Congressional CU.
January 8, 2010 at 2:00 pm |
@Jeff – Well, I purposely included Kennedy Space Center FCU so that all my examples would NOT be DC/gov’t based. 🙂 At least KSCFCU is in Florida, even though their mission is to serve people working for gvt agency NASA. But there are scores of other special CUs that are just as interesting, even if not “sexy” by Hollywood or other standards. For instance, higher education is pretty darn special. There’s MITFCU, Harvard Employees FCU, UMass/Five College FCU, and those are just three of the higher-ed CUs in Massachusetts. Then you have CUs like Coors CU in Golden CO, and MassMutual EFCU, which serves a Fortune 100 corporation exclusively. Then there is Realtors FCU… the new national CU with a specific FOM that makes a ton of sense. United Nations FCU in New York is special, as is Progressive CU in NY that specializes in lending for taxi cab medallions. Then you have Financial Resources CU in NJ that serves Johnson & Johnson employees. The list goes on and on… they are all special in their own way. That’s one of the beauties of the movement to me.
January 8, 2010 at 2:17 pm |
A personal favorite 🙂
Jack Daniel Employees CU – http://www.jdecu.org/
January 8, 2010 at 2:24 pm |
From first hand experience, I can tell you it is much easier to build a brand for a credit union with a single sponsor or T.I.P. charter than any other.
At one point in time, every credit union knew exactly who it served and why it existed. Focusing on a narrowly-defined target audience makes it easy to figure out which products and services to offer, where you should put branches, and a host of other decisions.
These days, many credit unions are choosing “community charters,” which is something that presents its own set of problems — Who are we and why are we special? Why should anyone choose us vs. all the other credit unions with community charters? How are we different?
When you target a wider audience, you have to work harder to find something that everyone wants and thinks is important. If you don’t, you risk watering-down your value proposition which forces you to compete on price/rate/fee.
January 8, 2010 at 2:30 pm |
The folks who make Dixie Cups have their own CU (http://www.dixiefed.com), as do the people working for the Centers for Disease Control in ATL (http://www.cdcfcu.com), although both of those are now community-based.
The point of your original blog post is right on though Morriss. No matter how famous or infamous a company, the employees probably have access to a credit union. I was raised in an IBM family and started my career at an IBM CU. At one time, there were about 27 different IBM CUs across the country, which only served employees in specific geographic areas.
January 8, 2010 at 2:39 pm |
Actually Kennedy Space Center Federal Credit Union is now community chartered servicing all those that live, work and worship in Brevard and Volusia counties. Although, it is true we service most of NASA and government contracted employees, we also serve many others in 12 branches. Quess, we have grown up with EverythingCU. Thanks for thinking of us Morriss.
January 8, 2010 at 3:26 pm |
@Mark – I found out while visiting America’s Credit Union Museum that in the early days of CUs, one of the principles was that they not grow too big (like not more than 500 people), especially in light of the very limited technology available (pre-affordable computing power!). I heard there were even separate CUs for each floor of an office building…i.e. IBM Detroit First Floor Credit Union, IBM Detroit Second Floor Credit Union…. can you imagine that today?
January 8, 2010 at 3:30 pm |
Just in case Mike Bartoo doesn’t add his comments here, he points out that there is a Bank-Fund Staff Federal Credit Union as well as a Library of Congress FCU.
January 10, 2010 at 7:25 pm |
To my taste, CHOCOLATE BAYOU CFCU is the sweetest.
January 13, 2010 at 6:45 pm |
There’s a Rogue FCU in my neighborhood. It’s perfect for rebels, rascals, knaves, scamps and scalawags.
😉
January 20, 2010 at 6:10 pm |
Wow. FDIC and Fed credit unions. The head spins. Delicious is the word. If I weren’t about to suspend my blog I would help spread the news that the bankers don’t (necessarily) use their own products. I suppose it is a bit like sober drug dealers – they’ve seen the damage their product can do more than anyone else.
January 22, 2010 at 3:44 pm |
Actually the reason FDIC FCU changed their name is because they actually formed a “partnership” with NSF (National Science Foundation) FCU. Instead of just one taking over the other they truly “merged”. The board of directors is made up by BOTH cu’s. So they changed to The Partnership FCU. That way if other credit union decide to merge they don’t “just go away” they become part of The Partnership. The branch offices still say FDIC and NSF.
I think it’s a really cool way for credit unions to join together!