History

1939 - At Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah, 59 people sharing a common focus but possessing limited financial resources formed their own cooperative. A Prince Albert tobacco can was sufficient storage for all cash transactions.

1947 - On June 23, 1947, the finance office of the U.S. Army at Fort Douglas was moved to the Utah General Distribution Depot in Ogden, Utah, and the credit union moved with it. The named was appropriately changed to Federal Employees Credit Union.

1954 - In December of 1954, the credit union hired its first full-time employee, who worked as treasurer/manager.

1960 - The Board of Directors voted in 1960 to accept members stationed at the Naval Supply Depot in Clearfield, Utah, in addition to those at the Utah General Depot, Hill Air Force Base, and Fort Douglas.

1984 - Utah-chartered credit unions began serving anyone in the state and Federal Employees Credit Union's name was changed to reflect its growing membership and mission: America First Credit Union.

1989 - America First's 50th anniversary revealed that assets exceeded $500,000,000 and membership totaled over 150,000. The credit union was the Intermountain West's largest and the 18th largest in the country.

1998 - Local and national banks sued to invalidate America First's Utah charter to serve all residents of the state; a compromise was brokered by the Utah State Legislature in 1999, which restricted America First's field of membership to five counties along the Wasatch Front.

2003 - Banks wrote, sponsored, and funded legislation that would penalize and tax large credit unions. Any taxation issues were tabled, but business lending by large credit unions like America First was eliminated. America First, in order to protect its members, converted its charter from state to federal in May of 2003, giving us a reasonable field of membership and the capability to make loans to business members.

2005 - In early 2005, America First reached $3 billion in assets, serving over 375,000 members at 66 branches in Utah and Mesquite, Nevada.

2009 - The organization has 88 branches, assets of over $4.7 billion, and membership in excess of 487,823.