Business & Tech
Teachers FCU Serves More than Local Teachers
Credit union offers basic banking services to all Commack residents.
When Teachers Federal Credit Union executives told the landlord of the Bonwit Village Shopping Center they wanted to move in, he wasn't interested.
"He wasn't familiar with the credit union and was afraid we wouldn't get traffic to the center," said Teachers chief executive Bob Allen. "So, he ignored us at first."
It took a bit of coaxing, but the landlord finally agreed in 1992 to give Teachers the corner space, which had recently been vacated by Home Federal Savings Bank.
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"We basically made a deal in the parking lot, then went into the McDonald's and had coffee," Allen said, adding the Farmingville-based institution relocated its Elwood branch to the local shopping center, creating the credit union's first and only branch in Commack.
Since then, Allen said the location has been an active one for Teachers, with about 19,000 transactions and $350,000 in loans throughout the month of June.
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Despite its name, Teachers is open to anyone who lives or works on Long Island, though its roots are in the education system.
The credit union was started by a group of teachers in the Bayshore school district in 1952, and hopped around headquarters locations before landing in its current Farmingville home in 1981. The institution is now planning another executive office move to Hauppauge early next year.
Also in 1981, Teachers branched out from education employees and opened membership to workers at Brookhaven National Laboratory. The credit union expanded its membership further through acquisitions into local healthcare systems.
Teachers didn't get a community charter, allowing all Long Islanders access to the institution, until the end of last year.
Despite its now-expanded clientele, Allen said the credit union has no plans to abandon its teacher-specific name.
"At this stage of the game, we've built brand recognition and have a good name that's associated with quality products and services," Allen said. "I don't think we want to walk away from that."
Most of Teachers' business comes from basic banking: making loans and taking deposits. Like most credit unions, because they are cooperatively owned and not beholden to stock holders, Teachers can often offer higher deposit and lower loan rates than many banks.
For example, according to their respective Web sites, a Teachers 1-year Certificate of Deposit earns 1.15 percent interest while the same product at Bank of America will net just 0.7 percent.
The credit union makes a variety of loans to its members, including mortgages, auto loans, credit card and unsecured loans and lines of credit. Allen said the Commack location is "fairly active" on the lending side.
In addition to its company-wide products offered locally, Teachers' Commack branch gives special service to its education roots. The local branch sends employees to Commack High School once a week to allow the students to conduct banking business right on their school premises.
Since taking the local space almost 20 years ago, the credit union has upgraded the Commack branch to accommodate growing traffic. In 1997, it added a drive-up ATM to the already-available walk-up cash machine and in 2003, it extended the teller counter to add extra workers to service an increase in customers.
"It's a busy shopping center and for us it's been a good location," Allen said. "We renewed the lease not too long ago so we plan on staying put."