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Meriwest Credit Union in San Jose, Calif., has an expanded field of membership as a result of a new partnership with a San Francisco-based non-profit, the $2.1 billion credit union announced last week.
Meriwest's partnership with the Financial Fitness Association (FFA) will allow the credit union to serve consumers in Arizona and California who are existing members of FFA or join FFA, and do not meet any of Meriwest's other membership eligibility requirements. In addition, Meriwest said it would pay the initial membership fee for new members joining the credit union through FFA.
Currently, Meriwest membership is open to people who live, work, worship or attend school in California's Alameda, Contra Costa, San Francisco, San Mateo and Santa Clara counties as well as Arizona's Pima county; work for one of Meriwest's participating member companies; or are related to or live with a current Meriwest member.
The new partnership between Meriwest and FFA will also enable the credit union to help its members gain financial control in their lives, Meriwest said. According to the announcement, the FFA, which was founded in 2004 and partners with credit unions and other organizations, assists consumers with common financial concerns including understanding and improving credit scores; guarding against identity theft; making the transition from college to career; managing credit cards efficiently, benefitting from new financial products and services, managing finances easily and effectively, and planning for a prosperous future.
Meriwest Vice President of Marketing Teresa Caseras stated, "We are so excited to be partnering with FFA because it will allow us to help those outside our footprint and give our community another resource and set of tools to help them manage, protect and conserve their money at every stage of their life."
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Natasha Chilingerian
Natasha Chilingerian has been immersed in the credit union industry for over a decade. She first joined CU Times in 2011 as a freelance writer, and following a two-year hiatus from 2013-2015, during which time she served as a communications specialist for Xceed Financial Credit Union (now Kinecta Federal Credit Union), she re-joined the CU Times team full-time as managing editor. She was promoted to executive editor in 2019. In the earlier days of her career, Chilingerian focused on news and lifestyle journalism, serving as a writer and editor for numerous regional publications in Oregon, Louisiana, South Carolina and the San Francisco Bay Area. In addition, she holds experience in marketing copywriting for companies in the finance and technology space. At CU Times, she covers People and Community news, cybersecurity, fintech partnerships, marketing, workplace culture, leadership, DEI, branch strategies, digital banking and more. She currently works remotely and splits her time between Southern California and Portland, Ore.
