Drive around Moab and you’ll see a number of banks and credit unions, including one housed in a smaller building on the south end of Main Street: the Eastern Utah Community Credit Union.
EUCCU is not large, as financial institutions go; it has three Eastern Utah branches located in Moab, Castle Dale and Price, and its membership is only open to businesses, legal entities and people that live, work, attend school or worship in Grand, San Juan, Carbon, Emery, and Duchesne counties.
While EUCCU’s size is relatively small, the ideas behind credit unions like it are lofty.
EUCCU Moab Branch Manager Anthony Lupu explained that the main difference between a bank and a credit union is that, while banks are for-profit financial institutions, credit unions are member-owned nonprofit organizations.
“As a nonprofit organization, we are member-service-driven rather than profit-driven,” he said. “The EUCCU is for people, not profit.”
While banks return profits to stockholders, EUCCU, like other credit unions, returns profits to members in the form of lower loan rates, higher savings rates, and free or low-cost services. A full-service financial institution, EUCCU offers mortgages and home equity loans, as well as consumer and commercial loans in addition to checking, savings, IRA, money markets, and certificate of deposit accounts.
In addition to mobile banking services, a unique service EUCCU provides is 24-hour access to an Audio Response Teller. EUCCU members may access their accounts by calling the Audio Response Line and can transfer money in between accounts that have the same primary account holder.
Members also may opt for online account access, monthly e-Statements, automatic payments, online bill pay and more.
A person who deposits money in a credit union is a member with a share of ownership; members elect a board of directors to represent their interests. And, unlike banks, credit unions only serve a defined service area.
“Because we are local…we are able to better serve our members because we better understand the area in which we serve,” Lupu said, adding that this focus on community is also expressed in EUCCU’s participation in charitable events such as the yearly Angel Tree holiday giveaway, food bank donations and other causes. He added that EUCCU is looking for a COVID-safe community event to participate in this year.
According to Lupu, EUCCU started in 1952 as a credit union for teachers in Price and merged with the Carbon Government Employees Credit Union in 1968. It was granted a federal charter and became the Eastern Utah Community Credit Union in 2003.
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Eastern Utah Community Credit Union is ‘community-driven’
“As a nonprofit organization, we are member-service-driven rather than profit-driven.”
– Anthony Lupu
Where: 860 S. Main St.
Contact: 435-259-8200; www.euccu.com
