Community Choice Credit Union executes second merger of year

Community Choice Credit Union has executed its second merger in four months, expanding its reach even farther across metro Detroit.

The Farmington Hills-based credit union absorbed the Eastside Family Federal Credit Union earlier this month. Community Choice Credit Union merged with NuPath Community Credit Union last April. All three of the newly merged entities will go forward as Community Choice Credit Union, but the credit union is working to retain all of the existing employees from the merger and maintain the familiarity of the old credit union.

"We want people to walk into the Eastside Family Federal Credit Union and see the same people that worked there before," says Dan Munro, executive vice president & COO of Community Choice Credit Union.

Eastside Family Federal Credit Union is a small credit union based in Eastpointe. It has $30 million in assets and 3,100 members across a couple of branches. The addition means Community Choice Credit Union now has 13 branches and 67,000 members. NuPath Community Credit Union brought in 11,500 members and $100 million in assets. Community Choice Credit Union now has 250 employees after hiring 55 people in the last year.

These mergers follow a recent trend of smaller credit unions merging with larger ones in the wake of the Great Recession. Many of those credit unions tapped their cash reserves to ride out the economic downturn and were left depleted of resources in a newly competitive banking environment.

"They will draw that capitol down as they try to compete in a very competitive financial services industry," Munro says.

Those that can’t compete have to choose between folding or merging with a larger credit union. Fast-growing credit unions like Community Choice Credit Union end up as desirable targets for a merger.

Source: Dan Munro, executive vice president & COO of Community Choice Credit Union
Writer: Jon Zemke

Read more about Metro Detroit's growing entrepreneurial ecosystem at SEMichiganStartup.com.