America First Credit Union is a federally chartered

credit union A credit union is a member-owned nonprofit organization, nonprofit cooperative financial institution. They may offer financial services equivalent to those of commercial banks, such as share accounts (savings accounts), share draft accounts (che ...

headquartered in Riverdale, Utah, United States. America First was the fifth largest credit union in the United States in terms of total membership and seventh largest credit union in assets in the U.S.

Description

America First has 124 branch locations, more than 1 million members, and has over USD 19.35 billion in assets. America First is also a member of the

CO-OP Network CU Cooperative Systems, Inc. was a company providing services to credit unions in the United States. It is now a part of Velera, although the combined organization continues to use the ''Co-op Solutions'' brand. Other names it has used include ...

of ATMs which provides its members free ATM access to the network's almost 30,000 ATMs nationwide. Eligibility for membership at America First is open to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school, conducts business, or volunteers in any counties or cities within their field of membership in Utah, Idaho, Oregon, New Mexico, Arizona, Nevada and California. Eligibility is also open to all those who live within a 12-mile radius of the

Mesquite, Nevada Mesquite is a city located in the northeast corner of Clark County, Nevada, Clark County, Nevada, United States adjacent to the Arizona state line and northeast of Las Vegas on Interstate 15 in Nevada, Interstate 15. As of the 2020 United State ...

, city post office and the members of the immediate family or household of an existing member or those eligible for membership, as well as owners, employees, suppliers and their employees, or associated companies and their employees involved in the food industry, an affiliated association, or select employee group in the state of Utah.

History

America First Credit Union was founded on March 16, 1939. It was established at

Fort Douglas Fort Douglas (initially called Camp Douglas) was established in October 1862, during the American Civil War, as a small military garrison about three miles east of Salt Lake City, Utah. Its purpose was to protect the overland mail route and te ...

Salt Lake City, Utah Salt Lake City, often shortened to Salt Lake or SLC, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of cities and towns in Utah, most populous city of the U.S. state of Utah. It is the county seat of Salt Lake County, Utah, Salt ...

after 59 members of the

National Federation of Federal Employees The National Federation of Federal Employees (NFFE) is an American labor union which represents about 100,000 public employees in the federal government. NFFE has about 200 local unions, most of them agency-wide bargaining units. Its members wo ...

, Local No. 650, instituted the Fort Douglas Civilian Employees Credit Union. On June 23, 1947, the finance office of the U.S. Army at Fort Douglas was moved to the Utah General Distribution Depot in Ogden, Utah, and the credit union moved with it and renamed itself Federal Employees Credit Union. In 1960, with the addition of the Naval Supply Depot in

Clearfield, Utah Clearfield (Shoshone: , "Place where the wind blows hard") is a city in Davis County, Utah, United States. The population was 31,909 at the 2020 census. The city grew rapidly during the 1940s, with the formation of Hill Air Force Base, and in ...

, the credit union was now affiliated with five Federal Government installations, the others being the Utah General Depot,

Hill Air Force Base Hill Air Force Base is a major U.S. Air Force (USAF) base located in Davis County, Utah, just south of the city of Ogden, and bordering the Cities of Layton, Clearfield, Riverdale, Roy, and Sunset with its largest border immediately adja ...

, Fort Douglas and the Internal Revenue Service Building in Ogden, Utah. Utah-chartered credit unions began serving anyone in the state and the credit union changed its name to America First Credit Union in 1984. This is the year when the credit union opened its membership to the public. In 1994, it marketed residential mortgages with incentives such as no fees for first mortgage refinancing, a quarter-point reduction in the interest rate if payments were to be deducted automatically from an America First checking account, and a quarter-point reduction for mortgages of less than half the residence's appraised value. Beginning in 1998, a series of legal and legislative restrictions were placed on America First Credit Union's field of membership and its ability to make business loans. In 2003, America First became federally chartered to protect its membership and serve its business members. In 2004, it opened its first branch in

Summit County, Utah Summit County is a county in the U.S. state of Utah, occupying a rugged and mountainous area. As of the 2020 United States census, the population was 42,357. Its county seat is Coalville, and the largest city is Park City. History The cou ...

, since the federal charter allows it to serve that county as well. In 2005, it announced that it would offer

Small Business Administration The United States Small Business Administration (SBA) is an independent agency of the United States government that provides support to entrepreneurs and small businesses. The mission of the Small Business Administration is "to maintain and str ...

loans to its members. In 2007, the credit union, many of whose members serve in the military, hosted Operation Best Wishes. On August 12, 2009, America First acquired

Las Vegas Las Vegas, colloquially referred to as Vegas, is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Nevada and the county seat of Clark County. The Las Vegas Valley metropolitan area is the largest within the greater Mojave Desert, and second-l ...

-based Community One Federal Credit Union following its closure by the

National Credit Union Administration The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is an American government-backed insurer of Credit unions in the United States, credit unions in the United States, one of two agencies that provide deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. deposi ...

. In June 2018, America First announced it would be merging with the Arizona based Altier Credit Union, expanding to include Maricopa County within America First's field of membership. In November 2019, America First announced it would be merging with the Utah County based City Center Credit Union. On March 14, 2022, America First opened its first branch in the state of New Mexico, following its approval to add several counties and cities in New Mexico to its field of membership in 2020. On June 12th, 2024, America First merged with the California-based 1st Valley Credit Union, expanding its field of membership to include San Bernardino County.

Technology

In 1999, the credit union used

Novell Novell, Inc. () was an American software and services company headquartered in Provo, Utah, that existed from 1980 until 2014. Its most significant product was the multi-platform network operating system known as NetWare. Novell technolog ...

NetWare NetWare is a discontinued computer network operating system developed by Novell, Inc. It initially used cooperative multitasking to run various services on a personal computer, using the IPX network protocol. The final update release was ver ...

. In 2001, it began to offer wireless banking to its members using technology from SensCom Inc. In 2006, it agreed to adopt

Oracle Corporation Oracle Corporation is an American Multinational corporation, multinational computer technology company headquartered in Austin, Texas. Co-founded in 1977 in Santa Clara, California, by Larry Ellison, who remains executive chairman, Oracle was ...

's Siebel Branch Teller application to capture check information at the teller's terminal.

Field of membership

America First Credit Union is approved by the National Credit Union Administration to accept members who live, work, regularly conduct business, worship, volunteer, or attend school in the following areas:

References

External links