New Year Means New Name for Two More Credit Unions

Two more credit unions will begin the new year with new names.

The Circle, Mont.-based McCone County Federal Credit Union announced that it has become Grasslands Federal Credit Union, and the Ticonderoga, N.Y.-based Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union announced that it will become TrailNorth Federal Credit Union. Both credit unions said they changed their names to reflect broader fields of membership.

“We are joined together as a community by our choice of the grasslands region that we call home,” Grasslands Manager and CEO Emily Guldborg said in a press release earlier this month. “It made sense to move to a name that represented not only our original core county, but was inclusive of our other 12 counties. It also helped us solve the misperception that we only offer membership to those in McCone County.”

Ticonderoga Federal Credit Union President/CEO Shawn Hayes and Board Chair Richard Carpenter shared similar thoughts in a letter posted online to members earlier this year.

“We weighed our affection for a name that we’ve been proud to carry for all these years against our responsibility to prepare the credit union for the future. In the end, our board of directors unanimously agreed, we need a name that lets people in these new communities we serve know that they can be part of our credit union. A name that reflects our local roots in an area we are proud to live in as well as our commitment to being a force for good,” it said.

Grasslands, which has $80 million in assets and about 3,500 members, decided it was time to change its former McCone County name after merging with Fallon County Credit Union back in October. The credit union said that in 2013, it expanded from serving one county to serving six; in 2018, it expanded again, from six counties to 13.

Ticonderoga, which has $114 million in assets and about 9,800 members, said member surveys helped it decide to change names. Its new name takes effect on Jan. 1, 2020.

“In more than 65 years, we have grown from serving the workers of International Paper to now include membership to anyone that lives or works in Essex, Washington, Warren, Clinton and Franklin Counties in New York and Addison County in Vermont,” it said on its website’s FAQ page about the name change. “We recently conducted a number of surveys – both of current members and those in outlying counties and communities. The survey results indicated that our current name limits our ability to demonstrate our services are available to those outside of Ticonderoga.”

Several other credit unions changed their names during 2019, and at least one other credit union will start 2020 with a new name as well.

The Brigham City, Utah-based Box Elder County Federal Credit Union announced it will become Elevate Credit Union on Jan. 1, 2020. The credit union, which has $140 million in assets and about 12,000 members, said it was changing its name in order to better reflect its current membership base.