ABOUT SUMMIT
Started by 11 people in 1948. Owned by 412,000 today.
Summit Federal Credit Union was founded so working families could borrow money at a fair price. Nothing about that has changed except the size of the balance sheet.
How it started
A metal cash box and a shared ledger
In 1948, eleven employees of a regional manufacturing plant each put in five dollars and chartered a credit union. The first loans were small: a used car, a furnace, a set of winter tires. The books were kept by hand and the office was a corner of the plant's break room.
The idea was simple. Pool the savings of people who knew each other, lend it back to them at a rate a bank would not offer, and return whatever was left over. That structure is still the legal foundation of Summit. There are no outside shareholders to pay.
Where we are now
Summit by the numbers
Big enough to price loans well. Small enough that a person answers the phone.
412,000
Members and owners
$14.2B
In total assets
42
Branches
85,000
Surcharge-free ATMs
Figures as of the most recent quarter. Summit is federally insured by NCUA and is an Equal Housing Opportunity Lender. This is a demonstration website; rates, products, and figures shown are illustrative only.
Not-for-profit
What ownership actually changes about your price
A credit union still needs to earn more than it spends. The difference is where the surplus goes.
Surplus goes back into rates
Earnings that a bank would pay out to shareholders get pushed into deposit yields and loan pricing instead. That is why high-yield savings pays 4.15% APY and new auto loans start at 4.09% APR.
Fees are a last resort, not a line item
No personal checking account at Summit carries a monthly fee, and there is no minimum balance to avoid one. We do not build revenue targets around penalizing members for a low balance week.
One member, one vote
A member with $5 on deposit gets the same single vote as a member with $500,000. Directors are elected at the annual meeting and serve without pay.
Common questions
Questions people ask before joining
Is my money as safe here as at a bank?
Yes. Summit deposits are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration, a United States government agency, up to $250,000 per depositor for each account ownership category. Many households are covered well past that number once individual, joint, and retirement accounts are counted separately.
Do I have to work somewhere specific to join?
No. Summit opened its charter to the broader community in 1993. If you live, work, worship, or attend school in one of the counties we serve, or if a family member already belongs, you are eligible.
What does the $5 actually buy?
It buys one share of the credit union, which makes you a part owner with voting rights. The $5 stays in your share savings account and is yours. It is a deposit, not a fee.
Where can I bank if there is no Summit branch nearby?
You can use 5,600 shared branching locations across the country and 85,000 surcharge-free ATMs. For most everyday transactions, another credit union's teller line works exactly like ours.
Who checks the books?
An independent accounting firm audits Summit each year, and the NCUA examines us on its own schedule. The results are summarized for members in the annual report.
Five dollars makes you an owner
Open a share savings account online in about ten minutes, or sit down with someone at a branch.