Did you know that credit unions really began in Europe in the mid nineteenth century, and since then, all sorts of credit unions have literally “served” their members.
In 1846, because of a crop failure and famine in Germany, a cooperatively-owned mill and bakery was opened. It sold bread to its members at substantial savings, and two years later began providing credit to farmers to purchase livestock, equipment, seeds, and other farming needs. Even then, the not-for-profit "people's bank" was volunteer based and democratically governed. The members elected a board of directors and each member was entitled one vote.
In 1900, a Quebec court reporter, became aware of the outrageous interest being charged by loan sharks and organized the first credit union on this side of the Atlantic to provide relief to the working class. In 1909, some New Hampshire Franco-Catholics were the first to organize a credit union in the United States.
Since then, millions of people have used credit union’s help to get the “stuff” that makes their lives better. In the 1920’s, banks did not give consumer loans, so credit unions lent money to many people who bought things like cars and washing machines.
By 1930, there were a total of 1,100 credit unions. And by 1960, credit union membership was more than 6 million people at over 10,000 federal credit unions. That’s a lot of washers!
Our Jordan Credit Union was founded in 1950, and is now the eleventh largest credit union in Utah. It serves over 19,000 members, has over $87 million in assets, and like that first German co-op, is still providing loads of loaves of what makes our lives good!
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