The Foundation for a Lifetime of Financial Health
In 1939 at Fort Douglas in Salt Lake City, Utah, 59 people sharing a common focus but possessing limited financial resources formed their own cooperative.
These members of the National Federation of Federal Employees, Local No. 650, instituted the Fort Douglas Civilian Employees Credit Union, with themselves comprising their charter membership and their sharing $25 in assets.
The credit union was then bonded and utilized by members for deposits and loans. A Prince Albert tobacco can was sufficient storage for all cash transactions.
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.
After 10 years in operation, the credit union held its annual meeting on January 28, 1949, at Bonneville Park in Ogden. Officials reported total assets of $13,063.45.
In December of 1954, the credit union hired its first full-time employee, who worked as treasurer/manager.
The volunteers serving on the Board of Directors voted in 1960 to accept membership applications from those stationed at the Naval Supply Depot in Clearfield, Utah, bringing the credit union’s total number of military installations with which it was affiliated to four, with the Utah General Depot, Hill Air Force Base, and Fort Douglas.
In 1984, an independent survey of Utah residents concluded that Federal Employees Credit Union was the state’s finest financial institution. That same year, Utah-chartered credit unions began serving anyone in the state and the Federal Employees Credit Union’s name was changed to reflect its growing membership and mission: America First Credit Union.
America First’s 50th anniversary in 1989 revealed some significant benchmarks the credit union had achieved: assets exceeded half a billion dollars and membership totaled over 150,000. The credit union was the Intermountain West’s largest and the 18th largest in the country.
The credit union’s growth – and the strengthening of its services – continued through the 1990s, with America First becoming a $1 billion institution, then a $2 billion institution as thousands of consumers recognized the wisdom of choosing a strong cooperative at which they could conduct their financial business.
In 1998, local and national banks sued to invalidate America First’s Utah charter that allowed the credit union 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.
In 2003, banks wrote, sponsored, and funded legislation that would penalize and tax large credit unions. Members and many legislators responded to the credit union cause. Any taxation issues were tabled until 2005, 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, 2003. This gave the credit union a more reasonable field of membership, the capability to make loans to business members, and the ability to more effectively deal with banker attacks that were increasingly prevalent at the Utah State Legislature.
In early 2005, America First reached the $3 billion in assets mark, serving over 375,000 members at 66 branches in Utah and Mesquite, Nevada.
