Salt Lake City: Livability in the 21st Century

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AMERICA FIRST
CREDIT UNION
America First operates 104 branches in Utah and Nevada, including the
credit union’s newest location in downtown Salt Lake’s City Creek Center.
America First Credit Union is one of the largest, most
stable and most progressive credit unions in the country
and has remained a member-owned, not-for-profit cooperative
financial institution since its inception over seven
decades ago. From low-rate loans and free online services,
to mortgages and free checking accounts, America First
offers a vast array of tools allowing members to manage
their money, in the manner they desire. America First operates
104 branches, with assets exceeding $5.8 billion, is the
thirteenth largest credit union in country and the seventh
most substantial in membership with more than 607,000.
It was founded on March 16, 1939 at the Hotel Newhouse
in Salt Lake City, Utah. Among the fifty-nine who attended
the charter meeting of what was then the Fort Douglas
Civilian Employees Credit Union was R. D. (Ray) Hagen,
a volunteer who eventually become the organization’s first
full-time employee (treasurer/manager) and later president
and chief executive officer (CEO). The founders established
the credit union in a small office housed in Fort Douglas’
Building 207, with service hours on Fridays only from
3:30 to 4 p.m. A Prince Albert tobacco can was used to hold
all cash deposits at the time; total assets and membership
were $788 and 79, respectively.
On June 23, 1947, the finance office of the U.S. Army at
Fort Douglas was moved to the Utah General Distribution
Depot in Ogden, Utah, and the credit union went with it.
The name was appropriately changed to Federal
Employees Credit Union and the organization
steadily grew. Then, in 1984, Utah-chartered
credit unions expanded service from federal
employees to all state residents. The name was
changed to America First Credit Union to reflect its
growing membership and mission. It was
headquartered in Ogden and branched out
primarily to serve the Wasatch Front (Box Elder,
Weber, Davis, Salt Lake and Utah Counties). Today,
America First maintains five headquarter buildings
in Riverdale, Utah.
Over the last fifteen years, America First has
experienced significant operating challenges and
has met each with professionalism and in the spirit
of cooperation. In 1998, when local and national
banks sued to invalidate America First’s charter
to serve all of the state’s residents, America First
worked with the Utah Legislature to broker a
compromise: restricting its field of membership to
five counties along the Wasatch Front. Then, in 2003, the
banks struck again by writing, sponsoring and funding legislation
to eliminate business lending by sizable state-chartered
credit unions and limiting whom they could serve.
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