Dade County FCU Adds 2 Million Potential Members

Dade County Federal Credit Union is expanding into Broward County with at least one new branch after winning NCUA approval to expand its field of membership into its northern neighbor.

Dade County FCU ($1.2 billion, 101,562 members) added nearly two million members July 12 when the NCUA approved its request to expand its field of membership to Broward County.

In an email to CU Times, President/CEO George Joseph said the credit union plans to open its first branch in Broward County in early 2024.

“We continue to evaluate the demographics of Broward County to determine how many physical locations are necessary to serve our existing membership as well as the potential membership of this community,” Joseph said.

According to the U.S. Census Bureau, Miami-Dade County had nearly 2.7 million people in 2022, and Broward County, which includes Fort Lauderdale, had 1.9 million. Together the two counties are home to 21% of the state’s population.

Census data also showed:

• More than half of households in 2021 earned at least $57,815 in Miami-Dade County, $64,522 in Broward County and $61,777 in Florida.
• More than half of owner-occupied homes were worth at least $332,800 in Miami-Dade County and $299,700 in Broward County in 2021. The U.S. median was $244,900.
• Minorities account for 86% of Miami-Dade County’s population, and 67% of Broward’s. Most are Hispanic.
• People ages 65 and over accounted for 17% of Miami-Dade County’s population, the same as the U.S. average. They were 18% in Broward County and 22% for Florida as a whole.

“While Miami-Dade County’s population has grown significantly since our founding, Broward has exploded,” Joseph said. “Since 1940, the county’s population has increased 50 times over, with many of Dade County FCU’s members making the move north.”

For this reason, Joseph said the credit union has owned branches near the Miami-Dade/Broward County line and an extensive shared branching footprint within Broward County.

NCUA data showed credit unions had 81 branches and other locations in Miami-Dade County and 60 in Broward County in June.

Those with the most locations in Broward County were Space Coast Credit Union in Melbourne, Fla. ($8.6 billion, 621,100 members) with 13 locations, BrightStar Credit Union of Fort Lauderdale ($796.5 million, 59,201 members) with eight locations and Memorial Employees Financial Credit Union in Hollywood, Fla. ($89.4 million, 8,991 members) with seven locations.

Joseph said that despite the clearly strong link between the two counties, Dade County FCU had to regularly turn away would-be members from Broward County who were not eligible to join because they didn’t live, work or have other connections to Miami-Dade County.

The two counties are part of the same Combined Statistical Area, which normally would have qualified the expansion because the counties are part of a “presumptive community” under NCUA rules.

However, things were complicated by the two counties’ combined population, which is well over the 2.5-million threshold set by the NCUA for any proposed community, trumping the community status.

Faced with this roadblock, Dade County FCU sought the assistance of CUCollaborate, a Washington, D.C., consulting firm founded in 2014 that specializes in field of membership consulting services.

The credit union and CUCollaborate developed a plan that would allow the credit union to achieve its two main goals — expanding into Broward County and maintaining its community charter.

All it would take was to go through the NCUA’s open hearing process, required for any proposed community of over 2.5 million with boundaries that extend beyond a single political jurisdiction. Joseph said it was something that had never before been attempted.

Step one involved a written application with a narrative justification showing the common interests and interactions between the two counties, as well as the credit union’s ability and intent to serve the entire new service area.

CUCollaborate and several other credit union leagues and organizations made presentations supporting the expansion at the NCUA’s June 7 public hearing.

CUCollaborate Founder and CEO Sam Brownell said he was “grateful for Dade County FCU’s patience and trust as we navigated this new process together.”

“The outcome means the credit union will now be able to offer its products and services to even more people in its community,” Brownell said. “This progress and expansion are vital for any institution looking to grow and better serve its members.”