And because of technology, out-of-state customers can access their accounts online.
“(The loss of the headquarters) was not a good thing for Dayton, for our community,” said Universal 1 Chief Executive Officer Loren Rush. “But on the credit union front, because of our diversified base ... (and) of all the ways we serve our members, the impact was minimal.”
A credit union is a nonprofit financial institution that invests its earnings back in the organization in the form of dividends to its member customers or capital investments.
Over the years, the NCR credit union merged with the credit unions established for manufacturing company Copeland and the former St. Elizabeth’s Hospital in Dayton, for example.
Select employer groups were added as members as well, including Miami Valley Hospital, Rush said. The credit union changed its name to Universal 1 in 1995.
Community charters expanded membership to include anyone who lives, works, attends school or worships in a geographic area, not just certain employees and their families.
The national Credit Union Membership Access Act signed in 1998 was “instrumental” to opening up membership for credit unions, said Patrick Harris, spokesman for Ohio Credit Union League.
Membership grows
The number of Americans belonging to credit unions has grown steadily, from about 3 million in the 1940s to about 11 million people last year, according to statistics provided by the state Credit Union League. Assets of credit unions have surpassed the $1 trillion milestone.
Universal 1 has approximately 50,000 members and more than 100 employees at 11 locations in the Dayton area, Chillicothe and Sidney.
“I think that Universal 1 Credit Union has changed in the same way that all credit unions have changed over the years,” said fellow Dayton credit union CEO Bill Burke of Day Air Credit Union. “We’ve gone from manual, labor-intensive processes to automated, streamlined processes that are much more efficient.
“Payment channel usage has evolved tremendously, with checks being the prevalent means of payment not long ago, now supplanted by online transactions, debit card transactions and mobile transactions,” Burke said.
At one time, Universal 1 had about 20 offices, opening locations in other states as it moved with NCR.
But when Rush became president and chief executive 14 years ago, 13 out-of-state offices closed to focus business on the Dayton market. Technology has evolved so members could still access their accounts without the physical location.
“Instead of having the offices with NCR in Georgia, or in South Carolina, or Florida or Colorado, or Copeland out in Missouri, or something like that, we said, ‘Okay, those offices were serving a very small base of employees and we really couldn’t serve the community,’” Rush said.
“We’ve changed the course and I really think that’s made a huge difference in our being able to focus on being the largest credit union based in the city of Dayton,” she said.
Throughout the most recent recession, Rush said Universal 1 maintained a delinquency rate of loans below 1 percent.
Value of loans rises
The value of loans issued increased 16 percent in 2011 from the year before to $283 million. It’s up about 3 percent so far this year, mostly consumer loans such as autos and recreational vehicles, Universal 1’s “bread and butter,” she said.
“On the deposit side, I think everybody’s seeing growth and I think some of that is just a flight to safety,” said Tim Boellner, chair of Ohio Credit Union League and a credit union CEO in Fairfield of AurGroup Financial.
Consumers are paying down debt, also helping to increase deposits.
One of the biggest challenges is loan growth, with less equity in many people’s homes and drivers extending the life of their cars.
Most credit unions are seeing membership growth, Boellner said.“I think people have found out about credit unions more.”
Contact this reporter at (513) 705-2551 or clevingston@coxohio.com.
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