Community Choice Credit Union adds branches as it grows

Community Choice Credit Union is a financial institution on the rise, and it's plainly visibly from the new branches it's building.

The Farmington Hills-based financial institution opened a new branch, which it calls a member center, in Northville earlier this spring. It's also in the process of building a new branch in Shelby Township that it expects to open in October. There are also plans to build another branch in Canton next year.

"We have to look at where our membership lives and works," says Alan Bergstrom, senior vice president of retail development & chief marketing officer for Community Choice Credit Union. "So we decide to add member centers to make our credit union more convenient and accessible for our members."

Community Choice Credit Union got its start in 1935 and has grown steadily since then. Anyone who lives in Allegan, Genesee, Kent, Lapeer, Livingston, Macomb, Monroe, Oakland, Ottawa, St. Clair, Washtenaw, or Wayne counties can become a member. It currently has 75,000 members after adding 19,000 in the last year.

Mergers have made that growth possible. Community Choice Credit Union merged with two smaller credit unions (Nupath and East Side Credit Union) last year, adding a handful of branches and more than 10,000 members. The larger credit union now has 16 branches and a staff of 240 people after adding 60 people last year.

Community Choice Credit Union has also significantly grown its bottom line. It went from being a $570 million credit union last year to an $800 million credit union this year, and it's expecting similar growth this year.

"We have grown pretty rapidly," Bergstrom says.

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