VyStar Continues Expansion in Florida & Georgia
VyStar plans to open three more branches by year’s end, while four other credit unions plan or open five branches.
VyStar Credit Union of Jacksonville, Fla., has opened a branch in Brunswick, Ga., and said Monday it plans to open three others before the end of the year.
Meanwhile, four other credit unions have opened or announced plans to open five branches, three of them on college campuses.
VyStar ($13.7 billion in assets, 901,612 members as of June 30) said it plans to open branches this year at Stockbridge, Ga., on Oct. 10, Johns Creek at Suwannee, Ga., on Dec. 4 and Altamonte Springs, Fla., on Dec. 11.
VyStar said it plans to open additional Georgia branches by early 2024 in Marietta, Smyrna and Norcross, and by late 2024 in Pooler and Kingsland.
The Brunswick branch, which opened Aug. 25, is VyStar’s 72nd full-service branch and its third in Georgia. VyStar opened its first George branch in Thomasville in August 2022 and its second opened in July in Savannah.
VyStar EVP/COO Chad Meadows said the newest branch establishes VyStar’s footprint in the port city of Brunswick, 80 miles south of Savannah and 70 miles north of Jacksonville.
“This branch in the economic center of Southeast Georgia enables us to better serve residents in Brunswick and across the Georgia coastline,” Meadows said.
VyStar expanded its field of membership in Georgia earlier in 2022 to include 26 counties in the south, southeast and metro Atlanta regions with a population over 4.7 million. At the time it said it planned to open at least 25 branches in Georgia over “the next several years.”
The other four credit unions with branch expansions were:
1. Sunmark Credit Union of Latham, N.Y., just north of Albany ($1.1 billion in assets, 89,944 members), which opened a new branch Sept. 12 in Wilton, N.Y., 33 miles north of Albany. The branch is its third in Saratoga County. The NCUA showed it had 16 locations as of June 30.
2. TLC Community Credit Union of Adrian, Mich. ($705.4 million in assets, 54,911 members), which held a ground-breaking event Sept. 18 for its new branch in Dundee, 24 miles east of Adrian and 50 miles southwest of Detroit. The branch will be the credit union’s first in Monroe County when it opens next summer. The NCUA showed it had seven locations as of June 30.
3. Education Credit Union of Amarillo, Texas ($472.8 million in assets, 37,701 members), which plans to break ground this fall for a branch on the campus of Amarillo College to open next summer the NCUA showed it had nine locations June 30, up from seven a year earlier.
4. Desert Financial Credit Union of Phoenix ($8.5 billion in assets, 439,230 members), which opened two branches late last week on the Tempe and downtown Phoenix campuses of Arizona State University. The NCUA showed it had 46 locations as of June 30.
The Sept. 22-23 openings are the result of a partnership established earlier this year that made Desert Financial the exclusive provider of ASU-branded debit and credit cards, and the provider of all bank branches and ATMs at ASU’s downtown Phoenix and Tempe campuses.
“Desert Financial has come full circle: We were founded by teachers and now have the opportunity to be a resource for thousands of Arizona’s brightest students,” President/CEO Jeff Meshey said.
NCUA data showed the nation’s 4,780 credit unions had 21,835 locations as of June 30, having added 84 since Dec. 31. June’s count was still 134 fewer than in December 2019, before the pandemic.