Great Lakes Credit Union of Illinois just got greater with the expansion of its field of membership to include the entirety of Cook County, which encompasses Chicago and more than five million people.
Great Lakes Credit Union ($1 billion, 78,518 members) is based in Bannockburn, Ill., in Lake County, which is in the northeast corner of the state on the western shore of Lake Michigan and just above Cook County. Its field of membership now includes seven counties in the “Chicagoland” area around Cook County, plus Kenosha County, Wis., just north of Lake County.
The credit union’s fold already included parts of Cook County. The expansion added Chicago’s lakefront, its North Shore communities and the western suburbs including Skokie, Albany Park and North Park.
“This is a milestone in GLCU history,” President/CEO Steven Bugg said in a news release Wednesday. “With all of Cook County now in our field of membership, we will be able to make an even greater impact in our communities.”
As a low-income designated credit union, the credit union said the core of its strategy is ensuring a portion of its people and profits serve its local underserved communities.
“If you take at face value our expansion into communities in northern Chicago and its North Shore suburbs, it’s tempting to suggest we’re going off-strategy,” Bugg said. “But serving our mid-market and upscale consumers enables us to generate resources to invest in the underserved markets that need us now more than ever.”
And Bugg said those more affluent consumers appreciate doing their banking with a mission-driven financial institution.
“They feel good knowing they’re not just bettering their own finances,” he said. “It’s wonderful to get good rates but when you know that in addition, you’re helping to provide financial education that empowers generations of families, you feel you’re a part of something bigger than yourself. That matters to a lot of people.”