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Our goal is that ELGA Credit Union members feel that their credit union is a superior financial institution.
ELGA Credit Union began in 1951 with the deposit of fifty Consumers Power Company employees totaling $2,739.99. Today, ELGA Credit Union has over 38,000 members and assets totaling over one hundred eighty million
PHILOSOPHY
ELGA Credit Union is a people oriented financial institution. We are a non-profit cooperative, formed, owned and operated for a single purpose: members helping members.
The first credit union in the United States was established in 1909. From that day to this, the credit union philosophy has never varied from the basic principles of self-help and mutual aid.
To accomplish its purpose, ELGA Credit Union operates on the basis of these objectives:
- Encourage thrift among members, thus creating a pool of funds to lend.
- Make member loans at reasonable rates of interest.
- Pay a fair rate of return on member savings.
- Provide helpful member financial services.
BEGINNINGS
Hard times gave birth to credit unions. About the middle of the last century, the industrial revolution brought severe social and economic dislocations. The financial system responded to the demands of the wealthy rather than the needs of the common people.
Credit union pioneers concluded that the answer involved the principle of mutual aid - people pooling their resources to help one another. The idea of a credit union was born.
Credit unions came into being for a very simple reason: the ordinary individual had almost no chance of securing a loan for any purpose - except at prohibitive rates which tended to hurt rather than help the borrower.
ELGA Credit Union exists to serve members and address the economic needs of those members. Unlike any other institution, your credit union holds a vested interest in the financial well being of its members. Preserve your freedom to belong to a not-for-profit financial cooperative.
OWNERSHIP
Each member owns a part of ELGA Credit Union. People join by establishing a share savings account. The savings accounts hold a member's voting rights in the credit union.
Annually, the membership elects individuals from its own ranks that have agreed to serve designated terms as members of the Board of Directors. It is these ELGA Credit Union members who exercise general control of the credit union's activities for the benefit of the entire membership.
This unique method of electing members to serve on the Board of Directors ensures that there is a cross-section of the views and financial aspirations of the vast majority of the members. As a result, board decisions reflect the interests of the membership as a whole.
There are two committees that are vitally important to the credit union. The Supervisory Committee, consisting of three members that are appointed by the Board of Directors, is responsible for the monetary operation of the credit union and conducts an audit of the credit union on a yearly basis. The Credit Committee, consisting of five members appointed by the Board of Directors, is responsible for the approval of all loans that are not approved by a Loan Officer. The Credit Committee is the only committee that has the authority to deny loans to members.
MEMBERSHIP
Only a credit union - in the entire financial world - is organized around the principal that all members must share a bond of employment, association, or community with others.
ELGA Credit Union's common bond began in 1951 with Consumers Power Employees and their families. Today, the membership encompasses a variety of service and industrial businesses and service and religious organizations in addition to Consumers Power employees. Though our common bond is diversified, we still abide by the four objectives that proved the foundation of ELGA Credit Union's philosophy.
The common bond of ELGA Credit Union represents not just a principal; it expresses a feeling of community - bond that unites members due to their shared financial interest. At ELGA Credit Union you are truly a part of a vital economic association that influences and betters your life and that of others. | 
