By Kyle Kuhn

Central Washington University Federal Credit Union (CWUFCU) has been falling behind on the times and has been lacking the ability to provide their members with all of the banking services. By Aug. 1, CWUFCU will have fully merged with the Washington State Employee Credit Union (WSECU.)

For the first part of the transition, Farrell Hall will remain the temporary place of business for CWUFCU while WSECU and CWU try to work out where the main branch will be in Ellensburg.

CWUFCU had been looking for a way to better serve its members for a while. They were only able to provide minimal services.

“CWU wanted to merge with someone who had experience serving public servants and government workers,” Ann Flannigan, public relations representative at WSECU, said.

By merging with WSECU and their nearly 200,000 members, CWUFCU account holders will have many more banking services at their disposal such as: online banking, mortgages and shared branching. WSECU is the second largest credit union in Washington with branches on both sides of the mountains.

As with many of the larger banking companies you will also be able to access account information with your smart phone. Current CWUFCU members will be able to now enjoy the benefits of the modern era of banking.

WSECU began to build modular units in the CWU Welcome Center lot. However, while talking with the current CWUFCU Branch Manager, Sue Schwab, I was informed that the Welcome Center lot is not currently zoned for modular units.

The two possibilities at this moment for the new WSECU branch to be set up are the Welcome Center and Munson Hall. WSECU just needs to acquire the right zoning permits.

Everything considered this is a great move for CWUFCU and its members. Since CWUFCU only served current CWU employees and their family members as well as CWU retirees they just weren’t able to grow fast enough. They began falling behind on the times.

The main reason CWUFCU has been established was to serve the people of CWU and fulfill their banking needs. This became more difficult to do as each year passed.

Merging with credit union that has more members, can handle larger loan portfolios and has more modern technology was just the smart thing to do in order for CWUFCU members to be properly taken care of.