The credit union idea is a simple one: People should be able to pool their money and make loans to each other. It's an idea that evolved from cooperative activities in 19th century Europe. Since that time, the idea's guiding principles have remained the same: (1) Only people who are credit union members should borrow there; (2) loans are made for "prudent and productive" purposes; (3) a person's desire to repay (character) is considered more important than the ability (income) to repay. Members are, after all, borrowing their own money and that of their friends. These principles still govern most of the world's credit unions.
Our Credit Union was chartered in 1941 under Federal regulations as the Gulf Research Employees Federal Credit Union. During 1986, the name was changed to Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union to better serve our membership.
A credit union is a cooperative, not-for-profit financial institution organized to promote thrift and provide credit to members. It is member-owned and controlled through a board of directors elected by the membership. The board serves on a volunteer basis and may hire a management team to run the credit union. The board also establishes and revises policy, sets dividend and loan rates, and directs certain operations. The result: members are provided with a safe, convenient place to save and borrow at reasonable rates at an institution which exists to benefit them, not to make a profit.
Most financial institutions are owned by stockholders, who own a part of the institution and intend on making money from their investment. A credit union doesn't operate in that manner. Rather, each credit union member owns one "share" of the organization. The user of credit union services is also an owner, and is even entitled to vote on important issues, such as the election of member representatives to serve on the board of directors.
The first credit union cooperatives started in Germany over a century ago. Today, credit unions are found everywhere in the world. The credit union movement started in this country in Manchester, New Hampshire. There, the St. Mary's Cooperative Credit Association, a church-affiliated credit union, opened its doors in 1909. Today, one in every three Americans is a credit union member.
The primary purpose in furthering their goal of service is to encourage members to save money. Another purpose is to offer loans to members. In fact, credit unions have traditionally made loans to people of ordinary means. Credit unions can charge lower rates for loans (as well as pay higher dividends on savings) because they are nonprofit cooperatives. Rather than paying profits to stockholders, credit unions return earnings to members in the form of dividends or improved services.
Yes. All savings accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the NCUA, the National Credit Union Administration, an agency of the federal government.
A credit union exists to serve a specific group of people, such as a group of employees or the members of a professional or religious group. This is called a "field of membership." The field of membership may include where they live, where they work, or their membership in a social or economic group.
Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union provides and promotes the use of a variety of financial services which feature particular benefits and advantages over those generally available from other banking sources, with the specific intent of helping members gain some particular measure of personal financial success.
Regulation and Supervision
Credit unions are chartered under either federal or state law. Federally chartered credit unions are regulated by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA), an independent agency of the U.S. Government. NCUA's three board members are nominated by the President and confirmed by the Senate. State chartered credit unions are regulated by their state credit union department. NCUA administers the federal insurance fund (NCUSIF), which covers all federal credit unions and most state chartered credit unions. No taxpayer money is used for regulating and overseeing federal credit unions, as all activities of NCUA and the NCUSIF are funded by credit unions.
Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union is a federally chartered and regulated credit union.
In accordance with Section 326 of the USA Patroit Act of 2001,which requires the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union to help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laudering activities, the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union is required to obtain basic identifying information from you and verify that information when you open a new account.
This means the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union staff will ask you for some basic information such as your name,address,date of birth and other information designed to help us identify you. Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union staff will also ask to see documents identifying you such as, social security card, driver's license, passport, school photo ID, U-PARC security badge(or similar work identification badge), credit reports, and /or other government-issued documents.
In some cases, identification will be requested for those conducting business with the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union prior to the effective date of the member identification requirements. This is because original documentation was not obtained with the opening of the account or the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union is unable to form a reasonable belief that it knows the true identity of the existing account holder.
In all cases, protection of our member's identity and confidentiality is the Credit Union's pledge to you. The Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union appreciates your patience and understanding as we all do our part in complying with new account identification procedures required by the federal USA Patroit Act of 2001.
Respectfully,
The Board of Directors,
Staff and Members of the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union
Persons who live, work, worship or attend school in, and businesses and other legal entities located in the Borough of Springdale, Pennsylvania are eligible for membership with the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union.
This means that anyone and their families (regardless of their home address) who work, go to a church located in Springdale, attend any of the schools, any businesses or organizations and people that belong to those organizations that meet in Springdale are eligible to join our Credit Union.
Please call the office for eligibility 412-826-5248.
To sign up you:
In accordance with Section 326 of the USA Patriot Act of 2001, which requires the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union to help the government fight the funding of terrorism and money laundering activities, the Allegheny Valley Federal Credit Union is required to obtain basic identifying information from you and verify that information when you open a new account.
This means the Allegheny Valley FCU staff will ask you for some basic information such as your name, address, date of birth, and other information designed to help us identify you. The Allegheny Valley FCU staff will also ask to see documents identifying you such as social security card, drivers license, passport, school ID photo, U-PARC security badge, (or similar work identification badge), credit reports, and / or other government-issued documents.