About Mountain Credit Union

History of Mountain Credit Union

In September 2010 Mountain Credit Union was granted an amendment to our Community Charter that allows us to serve Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Madison counties. As of March 2022, another change in our field of membership now allows us to serve McDowell and Transylvania Counties. Our charter now allows us to serve anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Swain, and Transylvania Counties of North Carolina. Following is a history of the credit union and the changes that have come about since the credit union was established in 1963.

Mountain Credit Union was originally formed on April 5, 1963 to serve federal employees. Arcade Credit Union was the only credit union serving federal employees and their charter stated they could only serve those federal employees working in what was then the Federal Building in Asheville, North Carolina. The U.S. Forest Service personnel, Eastern Aerial Photography Laboratory, Social Security and IRS employees were large groups not located in the Federal Building but in Asheville and didn't fall under this charter. Fran Miller, a federal employee from one of these groups, went to Arcade Credit Union and requested membership as a federal employee. Since Arcade's charter would not allow Ms. Miller to become a member, nor were they willing to expand their field of membership to include these other groups of federal employees, she decided to do something about it. Fran Miller, along with 6 other individuals, began the process of chartering AFE Federal Credit Union, later to become Mountain Federal Credit Union. The initials 'AFE' stood for 'Asheville Federal Employees'.

AFE Federal Credit Union began as a credit union serving only Federal Government employees in the 20 western counties of North Carolina. In 1983, AFE FCU began expanding by taking in SEG's in an effort to diversify the credit union's field of membership creating opportunities for growth. There were many companies in Western North Carolina that were unable to provide credit union service to their employees. Many large plants in the area didn't have a local credit union because their headquarters, as well as their credit unions, were of little benefit to the employees in this area due to the distance away. Employees wanted a local institution to go to.

In July 1983, AFE FCU changed its name to Mountain Federal Credit Union. With the increased SEG's joining, the credit union felt this would be more appropriate. Several larger (350 employees or more) industrial groups were taken into MFCU's field of membership, as well as many smaller groups. Some of the original industrial groups with 350 or more employees now have 800 to 1000 employees. MFCU now serves a wide variety of employee groups, many due to mergers.

In 1984, Haywood County Employees Credit Union merged with MFCU. With this merger, the Waynesville Branch was opened, serving Town and County employees, as well as the Hospital and School System Employees. Many other SEG's (nursing homes, eye care facilities, small industries…) have since been added.

In 1984-85, several large industrial groups (Steelcase, Rockwell, Eaton, Seneca Foods) were acquired, resulting in the opening of the third branch office of MFCU in Fletcher, North Carolina.

In November of 1987, Macon Citizens Credit Union was merged into MFCU. Franklin became MFCU's fourth branch office. Macon Citizens had a community charter serving all individuals living or working within that county. This opened the door for another large area of Western North Carolina for MFCU to serve.

Cherokee Federal Credit Union merged with MFCU in July 1989. Basically, any person living or working on the Cherokee Reservation was eligible for membership in MFCU. MFCU's fifth branch office is in Cherokee, North Carolina.

In May 2004 Mountain Credit Union was granted a Community Charter allowing us to serve anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Buncombe, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon and Swain Counties of North Carolina.

On March 5, 2007 the sixth branch office of Mountain Credit Union opened in Sylva, North Carolina. This office made it more convenient for our long time Jackson county members to do business with us and to expand our Jackson county membership.

In October 2010 Mountain Credit Union was granted an expanded community charter to include the counties of Cherokee, Clay, Graham and Madison counties. With the addition of these counties, Mountain Credit Union is now able to serve anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in 10 Western North Carolina counties:  Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, and Swain counties.

On January 1, 2011 the former Enka Community Credit Union located in Candler, North Carolina merged into Mountain Credit Union and became Mountain Credit Union’s seventh branch office in Western North Carolina.

In May 2017 the eighth branch office of Mountain Credit Union opened in Murphy, North Carolina which is in Cherokee County.  Long time members from Murphy Medical Center that had done business with us by mail and phone would now have a local office with which to do business! 

As of February 28, 2022, our Field of Membership was expanded to 12 counties by taking in McDowell and Transylvania Counties. This expansion means that Mountain Credit Union currently serves anyone who lives, works, worships, or attends school in Buncombe, Cherokee, Clay, Graham, Haywood, Henderson, Jackson, Macon, Madison, McDowell, Swain, and Transylvania Counties of North Carolina.

As of March 2022, two of our Buncombe County branches were consolidated taking us down to seven.

Mountain Credit Union Annual Report

Click here to review the Annual Report for Mountain Credit Union.

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