Credit Unions Continue Adding Branches

Six new branches are opening from Oregon to Georgia as credit unions make up for locations lost during the pandemic.

Oregon Community CU employees and others at the opening of its Roseburg branch in June. Credit/OCCU

Six credit unions serving more than 800,000 members have announced plans for new branches from Oregon to Georgia, including one postponed by the COVID-19 pandemic.

NCUA data showed credit unions shed 449 branches and other locations from December 2019 to December 2020 during the height of pandemic restrictions. Credit unions had added back only 216 locations from that December 2020 low to March 31 this year, including 34 added in the first quarter.

Commonwealth Credit Union of Frankfort, Ky. ($2.1 billion in assets, 120,234 members) bought land in November 2019 for a branch in Richmond, about 52 miles southeast of Frankfort in central Kentucky. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic in March 2020 stunted those plans, which were further impacted by construction supply chain shortages.

President/CEO Karen Harbin said the credit union never wavered from its goal to build the branch. The credit union announced Thursday it has begun construction and plans to open the branch in 2024.

“Adding a branch in Richmond has been a project in the planning stages for a while,” Harbin said. “The challenges of 2020 caused our plans to be placed on hold, but now we are ready to forge ahead.”

Karen Harbin

NCUA data showed Commonwealth Chad 17 locations on March 31, up one from a year earlier. It also plans to open branches in August at Nicholasville, 31 miles southeast of Frankfurt, and Shelbyville, 22 miles west of Frankfurt.

UW Credit Union of Madison, Wis. ($5 billion in assets, 332,385 members) has also continued to expand its branch footprint. NCUA data showed it had 35 locations on March 31, three more than a year earlier. And on July 6 it announced plans to open a new branch in Oak Creek July 21 and one in Greenfield next spring. Both locations are within about 12 miles of downtown Milwaukee.

UW Credit Union now operates 11 branches in the Milwaukee area. The expansion was part of the credit union’s targeted branching strategy. This approach identifies specific metro areas with high concentrations of UW alumni, current members and high school students bound for UW schools.

Fe Cooper, the credit union’s Milwaukee director of member sales and service, said accessible branch locations allow the in-person consultations members want as they embark on milestone financial decisions like purchasing a home.

“Our growth in Milwaukee has been swift but focused,” Cooper said. “Our long-term approach is to center our expansion efforts here to support the growing member presence. As many of our members embark on milestone financial decisions, including purchasing a home, accessible branch locations and in-person consultations can ease those transitions.”

The six credit unions announcing expansions had 808,886 members as of March 31, up 6.9% from a year earlier. Nationally, credit union membership rose 5% to 138 million in that time. NCUA data also showed the six had 84 branches and other locations March 31, having added six over the previous 12 months, including three in the first quarter.

The other four credit unions were:

1. Oregon Community Credit Union of Eugene ($3.5 billion in assets, 264,849 members), which announced July 6 it has opened its first branch in southern Oregon. The branch is in Roseburg, Ore., 72 miles south of Eugene. It has both drive-up and walk-up interactive teller machines, which facilitate video calls to OCCU representatives to handle more complex transactions than traditional ATMs. NCUA data showed it had 14 branches, including Roseburg, and two corporate offices on March 31, three more locations than a year earlier.

2. Evergreen Credit Union of Portland, Maine ($517.4 million in assets, 28,529 members), which broke ground June 19 for a new branch in Scarborough, about seven miles southwest of Portland in southern Maine. The credit union plans to open the 3,000-square-foot branch in York County in spring 2024. NCUA data showed it had four locations on March 31, unchanged from a year earlier.

3. Interstate Credit Union of Jesup, Ga. ($325.9 million in assets, 30,360 members), which opened a new branch June 23 in Douglas, 64 miles west of Jesup in southeast Georgia. NCUA data showed it had six locations on March 31, unchanged from a year earlier.

4. University of Hawai`i Federal Credit Union (UHFCU) of Honolulu ($807.8 million in assets, 32,529 members), which opened a new branch June 21 in Kapolei Commons, about 22 miles west of Honolulu. NCUA data showed it had four locations on March 31, unchanged from a year earlier.