HISTORY OF STATE EMPLOYEES CREDIT UNION

In the early 1960s, the State Merit System realized that many state employees were denied the fringe benefit of a Credit Union. Several departments had credit unions, but each was confined to the particular department in which it was located.

The leaders of the Merit System were ever looking for ways to improve personnel policies to benefit State Employees, and they felt that a credit union could be a self-supporting valuable fringe benefit. The Merit System knew that such an endeavor should, of necessity, start small and grow.

Nine small agencies and one large one combined to charter the Small Agencies Credit Union in the later part of 1961. The small agencies were the State Merit System, the Employees Retirement System, Workmen's Compensation, the State (Law) Library, Attorney General's Office, etc., and the largest one, Agriculture.

A Board of Directors adopted policies to assure soundness. A supervisory committee was formed with an accountant member, a law member, and a general member. They were responsible for bookkeeping, reconciliation, legal affairs and the general overview of credit union operations.

The Credit Committee was authorized to process loan applications. Each department had its own credit union representative and that person forwarded loan applications to the Committee. In its consideration of a loan application, the only criterion considered was the probability that the loan would be repaid.

Deposit money was scarce early on. The first deposit in the amount of $2.50 was made by the Merit System Deputy Director. When an application was approved by the Credit Committee, it was often necessary to call around to get one or several members to make deposits in a like or greater amount so that the loan could be made.

At first all of the activities were performed by volunteers. It was not long before part-time paid employees were required. At first a person was hired to keep the books on his own time, however, the work became too much, and it was necessary to employ someone full-time. The first bookkeeping machine used by the credit union was donated by one of the State Agencies.

At the end of its first year, the credit union had grown from zero to more than $19,000 in deposits and it was on its way to offering State Employees an important self-supporting fringe benefit. The credit union was growth minded from the very start. It was not long before it absorbed several existing credit unions, such as Revenue, Department of State, Building Authority, etc. The Board admitted many departments from time to time until it was necessary to change the name to its present name. By that time, it was recognized that the credit union was sound and the new name chosen, State Employees Credit Union formed the first four letters of the word SECUrity. The credit union has grown to more than 130 million dollars in assets and remains one of the safest institutions in the country.