NAFCU’s Founding Story

From Iron Wills to Silver Anniversary, NAFCU Turns 25

Credit Union Times, April 22, 1992

By Frank Diekmann, CU Times Managing Editor

Los Angeles — They were a frustrated group when they met for that first time at the Cockatoo Inn in Inglewood, Calif. The idea had been hatched out of the disappointment felt by a handful of managers at federal credit unions who believed the dominant CU trade association had little interest in them—and even less interest in federal share insurance similar to that insuring bank deposits.

No one even knew how many of their compatriots would show up at the luncheon that was held to explore interest, yet more than 50 did. Now, some 25 years later, the proposal that federally chartered credit unions ought to be federally insured is not just accepted as fundamental—it’s one of the movement’s proudest accomplishments.  And the little credit union group that could has evolved into the National Association of Federal Credit Unions, which today has 750 members and a budget of $4.6 million.

There have been bumps, bruises and victories since the group was issued its charter in 1967 and set off on its engaging journey. The comparably huge Credit Union National Association made a determined effort first to eradicate the new association, then to absorb it via merger, and finally—conceding that the upstart was here to stay—to patch up differences so that the movement could present a unified front on Capitol Hill. . .

The CU Times story continues in these further sections on page 8:

First meeting in 1966

Putting the National in NAFCU 

Early opposition

Early support in Florida 

Trade group tension

Early signs of (some) cooperation 

An electronic future. . .

(Source: Credit Union Times Vol.  3, No.16)

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