ORNL FCU 75 Years

That year, ORNL Employees Federal Credit Union hired its first employees: a full-time treasurer and part-time assistant treasurer. This allowed the office to open for business each afternoon, Monday through Friday. The credit union also launched a payroll deduction plan. Approved by and in collaboration with the lab’s payroll department, it was considered the credit union’s first major initiative aimed at simplifying and empowering members’ financial lives. This move eliminated the need for field collections and provided increased bookkeeping efficiency. It also resulted in a substantial increase in member transactions.

OUR OWN WORDS When I was nine years old, my mom took me down to the Kingston branch and said: “This is where we bank,” and she opened a savings account for me. When I was 13, I opened my first checking account. My first student loan, my first car loan, my mortgage . . . they’re all here. I’ve been a member of this credit union all my life. I’m not only on the board, I’m a member. I use these services as well. JAMES PAYNE Vice Chair, Board of Directors

Its 1950 annual report reflected this impressive increase. “The number of Laboratory employees participating, amount of shares, amount on loan, and the profits made give evidence to the service rendered to the employees,” the credit union’s report stated. Throughout the year, membership increased from 420 to 898, and shareholdings increased from $34,831 to $120,091. There were 103 loans that totaled $221,443.

DID YOU KNOW . . . According to the National Credit Union Administration, credit unions have provided financial services to their members in the United States for more than one hundred years. But the earliest financial cooperatives date back to the 1800s in England. At the start of the twentieth century in 1900, the credit union concept crossed the Atlantic to Levis, Quebec. Eight years later, the United States saw its first credit union when St. Mary’s Cooperative Credit Association opened its doors in Manchester, New Hampshire. The first legislation overseeing credit unions was introduced in 1909 in Massachusetts. This served as a basis for subsequent state credit union laws and then the Federal Credit Union Act, which was passed twenty-five years later.

18 | 75 YEARS ORNL FEDERAL CREDIT UNION