ORNL FCU 75 Years

indicated real progress toward that goal: membership grew to 157,310 and total assets exceeded $1.4 billion at the year’s end.

Much of the credit union’s efforts that year involved developing and maintaining compliance with the Dodd-Frank Act of 2010, which mandated the most sweeping overhaul of the nation’s financial regulatory system since the Great Depression. With only a portion of the act’s four hundred rules finalized, the bottom-line implications of these regulatory burdens were just being understood. Higher operating costs and additional staff hours were anticipated for the work that would be needed.

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In 2013, during its sixty-fifth year of service, ORNL FCU participated in advocacy efforts coordinated by the National Association of Federal Credit Unions (NAFCU) to raise congressional awareness of the credit union movement. The Don’t Tax My Credit Union campaign began that year as well, aimed at protecting the credit union’s not-for-profit tax status and preventing new taxes on credit union members as part of tax reform efforts. With the economy once again on the move, the credit union was helping members reduce their cost of home ownership by refinancing over $170 million in higher-rate mortgages. The financial health of small business was supported through the new Small Business Counts program,

a monthly cash mob event that spotlighted and supported local merchants. Members were quickly becoming comfortable with online banking services, with enrollment increasing by 70 percent. In 2014, ORNL Federal Credit Union teamed with Roane State Community College to offer a two year associate degree in financial services and sponsored FoolProof, a financial literacy curriculum for use in high schools throughout East Tennessee. New products and services included Focus Money Manager, an online single view of all member finances, and deposit services at its Deposit ATMs. That year, mortgage loan balances increased by $16.9 million, ending the year at $576.9 million. Within its sixteen-county charter area, „ „ „

LENDING A VOICE THROUGH ADVOCACY ORNL Federal Credit Union has strongly committed to raising awareness and advocating for change on legislative and regulatory issues that affect the organization, its membership, the communities served, and the financial services industry as a whole. ORNL FCU lends its voice as a proud member of the Knoxville Area Chapter of Credit Unions, the Tennessee Credit Union League (TCUL), and the Credit Union National Association (CUNA).

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