ORNL FCU 75 Years

The Credit Union Service Center’s Knoxville location was ORNL EFCU’s first venture in Shared Branching.

A year later in 1974, things were looking up. The credit union had not only weathered the economic storm of 1973, but it recorded tremendous operational growth. A 7 percent dividend was paid, the organization exceeded $1 million in gross loans for two months, and savings insurance was doubled to $40,000. Business was so strong there was talk of a second Knoxville branch. Throughout the year, the credit union computerized its financial and statistical operations.

At the end of 1974, ORNL EFCU found itself on the top one hundred credit unions listed by the National Association of Federally Insured Credit Unions (NAFCU).

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OUR OWN WORDS It’s common practice for people to come together in the credit union industry and share with other credit unions. It’s for the greater good, and it’s ingrained as part of the credit union philosophy. We’re always working with other local credit unions to assist in many ways. Anything we can do to help them make good decisions; we’re going to do that because they would do the same thing for us. CHRIS BOLER President & CEO, 7 LLC

In 1975, assets increased to an impressive $29 million and membership increased to 7,900. Due to this tremendous growth and prudent investments, the credit union was able to pay dividends at a 7 percent annual rate for two quarters (the maximum permissible under the National Credit Union Administration for Federal Credit Unions) and 6.75 percent for the remaining two quarters.

32 | 75 YEARS ORNL FEDERAL CREDIT UNION