The new credit union to serve union members and their families opened in February in Kennewick. The Union Credit Union’s Kennewick branch is at 3021 West Clearwater Avenue.
Members of Bricklayers Local 3 in Spokane started the Union Credit Union in 1968 and it is still run by union members for union members. “Union workers don’t have to settle for a non-union place to bank now that The Union Credit Union is in town,” said Jeff Burckhard, Tri-Cities branch manager.
The Spokane-based credit union opened the Kennewick branch so that area union members, their families and employees would have an “all-union” shop, Burckhard said.
Demaris Krummel, CEO of The Union Credit Union, the banking facility is unique in Washington state and might be the only financial institution in the country that is run and managed by an all union staff and board. Even Krummel is a union member, she said.
“Instead of giving dividends to shareholders we give profits back to members in the form of lower interest rates on homes and car loans and Step-Up loans for workplace equipment such as laptops, stethoscopes and other tools,” Krummel said.
The Union Credit Union has about 4,500 members and assets of $12.9 million. The Kennewick location is the credit union’s second branch.
The credit union pays 3 percent interest on checking and Krummel said it saves the average family $200 a month through its Need Relief credit card balance transfer program, which helps families get out from under high-interest credit cards by transferring them to one of its lower-interest cards.
For more information, go to www.TheUnionCreditUnion.com
Source: Tri-Cities Journal of Business