In 1951, 10 employees of the City of Corpus Christi took action to charter a credit union.  Their intent was to assist poorly paid city employees who often went to “loan sharks” for high interest payday loans.  This activity would create a nuisance around city division offices on paydays from the “loan sharks” waiting to collect on loans made to the employees.  To minimize these problems, the original founders petitioned the State Banking Department for a credit union charter to help city employees obtain credit at reasonable rates.  With $65 in original “share” deposits the City Employees Credit Union received a charter in June, 1951.  By September, 1951 the credit union had $13,504 in assets and an operating loss of $8.78 following $100.57 in expenses.

 

After the charter was received, the credit union moved into a small, cramped office at the Broadway Treatment Plant.  The credit union was managed by volunteers on a part-time basis in an 8 foot by 30 foot office shared by a secretary, payroll clerk, the sewer superintendent, the assistant superintendent, and a cocker spaniel named Taffy.  Most credit union business was handled by division clerks and through interoffice mail.  Employees enjoyed basic services such as personal loans and savings using the convenience of payroll deduction.

 

By the mid 1960’s the credit union hired its first full time manager. In 1970, our name was changed to Corpus Christi City Employees Credit Union.  From these humble beginnings the credit union grew and moved to bigger offices over the years until finally building our 2140 Gollihar Road office in 1989 where we are located today. On June 18, 2009 we had the Grand Opening of our newest facility located at 3131 Holly Road.

 

Since our inception, volunteers have been critical to our success.  In the early years, a volunteer staff ran the day-to-day affairs.  Volunteers served on loan and other committees.  Throughout our history we have been governed by a member elected board of directors comprised of unpaid volunteers.  As the credit union has grown into a muti-million dollar organization, daily operations are now run by a full time professional staff delivering a full array of financial services to our members.

 

For over 57 years, new generations of directors, volunteers, committee members, and staff  have built upon the original vision of our founders to provide a place where our members can borrow money at reasonable rates and save money receiving competitive dividends.  We continue to expand products and services to meet the changing needs of today’s consumer.  However, our goal since the beginning remains unchanged—working to improve the lives of our members and their families.

 

Corpus Christi City Employees Credit Union has grown from a vision of a few to a reality of thousands.  We are proud of our growth, our history, but most importantly our future!