Local, local, local... by Randy Moser

Say you just walked in the door at one of our branches. Maybe you want to know how a bank is different than a credit union. Could be that you wanted to check out the rates on a used car loan. Maybe you just need to ask directions.

If you’re lost, Telco is the place for you. And I don’t mean this just in the symbolic – Dude, where did my 401-k go? – but also in the literal sense. Having long ties in the area means we know the place. Many of our employees have lived here all their lives and all of us love Western North Carolina.

Which is to say we’re not a multi-national corporation that knows Weaverville, say, only as a spot on a map. We don’t pore over complex demographic sheets to figure out who you are – we ask. We don’t support non-profits to get a tax write off (we’re already a not-for-profit), we do so because we have an investment in the people who live here. They’re our neighbors.

Do our lobbies look bank-like? That’s probably because we do everything a bank does – only with a little more heart. We loan money out, offer checking accounts and IRAs, even give away an occasional toaster-like appliance. We run promotions just like banks, too. So what makes us different?

Our board is democratically elected, which means we’re under direct scrutiny from our members. Credit Unions like Telco have a long, rich tradition of helping out the underserved when many banks have turned them down.

Any profit made at the credit union goes back to the membership in everything from better rates to financial education classes. At banks, profits go back to astronomical CEO wages and are passed onto private stockholders. Here we give that cash back to you.

We’re community driven, so it makes sense to support our members, help them see their investments grow and their dreams come true. Sometimes this means showing folks how to undo bad decisions and get back on the tight track. It might also mean supporting a family in need, someone who is down on his or her luck.

And sometimes – we hope more often – it means seeing our members succeed beyond their wildest dreams.

Technology has allowed CUs like TCCU to be competitive in ways that weren’t always possible. Our online banking is comparable to any financial institutions. (Members even have private, secure conversations online with staff through a SSL connection on home banking.) We plan to upload video classes to our site this summer in both English and Spanish, and our eNewsletter and this blog allows us to communicate at the click of a button! (Though you should never give out account information through unsecured lines.)

Come on into a branch and introduce yourself.