CHICAGO MUNICIPAL EMPLOYESS CREDIT UNION
Chicago’s Credit Union since 1926!
Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union, the oldest active credit union in the State of Illinois, offers our members over 90 years of financial strength. Our roots go back to the early 1920s — a tough time in Chicago to make ends meet, even if you had a good job as a city employee.
In that era, banks catered exclusively to the wealthy and weren’t interested in providing financial services to average individuals. If a working person needed a loan, the only options were often unscrupulous individuals charging unreasonable rates. Employees of the City of Chicago had steady work, but they were still vulnerable to these loan sharks. Then, members of the Municipal Employees Society got the idea to form a credit union.
Based on ideas that evolved in 19th century European agricultural cooperatives, credit unions were a new institution — member-owned, governed and organized solely to serve members, not to make a profit for stockholders. Operating “not for profit, not for charity, but for service,” credit unions came to the United States right after the turn of the century. Growth was slow, as would-be organizers had to navigate a patchwork of state laws, but by the early 1920s there were nearly 200 credit unions across the nation.
So after months of planning, a group of Municipal Employee Society members submitted a letter in June 1926 to state authorities requesting a credit union incorporation. On July 2, 1926, Chicago Municipal Employees Credit Union became the sixth credit union chartered in the state of Illinois. CMECU established an office in room 207 of City Hall to begin enrolling members and accepting deposits. At first, loans were tough to obtain and required a cosigner, a practice that would persist until the mid-1960s. Still, city employees needed a safe place to save and borrow, and they joined CMECU by the hundreds, then thousands.
Through the Depression & World War II, CMECU helped members through difficult times. As the country enjoyed an economic boom after the war, the credit union continued its guiding principles, providing members with loans for “any prudent and productive purpose,” and based lending decisions on individual character as well as financial means.
As new financial products and services were invented in the 1970s and 1980s, CMECU evolved into a full-service financial institution. As electronic services began to play a major role in banking, the credit union began offering Visa cards, access to accounts through automated teller machines, loans by phone and more.
Today, as CMECU celebrates over 90 years of service, we are expanding our territory and helping more communities by offering our products and services! Our organization is stronger than ever and ready to help our more than 15,000 members meet the challenges of the future financial world. While CMECU’s founders might not recognize some of today’s products, services and terminology, the credit union continues to follow the same tradition of service to members and their families, helping thousands live better lives and providing an enduring example of the power of cooperation and community.