Southwest Teachers Credit Union gets new moniker

The credit union serves school districts and higher learning institutions, including Missouri State University, Drury University and Southwest Baptist University, in a 24-county geographical region from the Missouri-Arkansas state line to the lakes and the Missouri-Oklahoma state line to West Plains.

Anyone in the educational community – teachers, students or employees of schools or educational institutions, from the elementary level to the collegiate level – can become a customer of the credit union, located at 1221 E. Grand.

But that availability wasn’t always clear, according to Educational Community Credit Union CEO Steve Wansing. He noted that in the past, because the word “teacher” was in the name, some people thought only teachers could be customers.

“We are progressing beyond the teacher image, and we like that education is in our new name,” he said. “We would like to get out to more of the schools and talk about financial education. With our name change, younger students will more easily recognize us.”

The credit union’s board of directors approved the name change at its March meeting; the issue also was addressed at the credit union’s annual membership meeting in April, and the change became official July 3.

Marla Moody, chairwoman of the credit union’s board of directors, said the name change is a positive step.

“We were concerned that our name wasn’t reflective of our target audience and wanted to make sure no portion of prospective clients were being overlooked,” she said. “Most all families are connected to the educational community.”

But the decision to change wasn’t made on a whim.

“Southwest Teachers Credit Union was a very honored name,” she said. “It took time, pondering and consideration to change it.”

Started in 1938 as a way to benefit employees of Southwest Missouri State College – now MSU – Educational Community Credit Union now has about 7,500 members.

As of May 30, Educational Community Credit Union had $33.4 million in assets, $30.1 million in deposits and $17.1 million in loans. [[In-content Ad]]