By Steve Adams
Mass Bay Credit Union is the latest local credit union looking to relax its membership requirements and draw in a bigger pool of customers.
The South Boston-based credit union – which has branches in Quincy, Medford and Weston – is seeking approval from the state Division of Banks to offer membership to anyone who lives or works in Boston or a number of suburbs, including dozens of communities south of Boston.
The bylaw change would open membership to people who live or work in Norfolk or Suffolk counties, plus 17 other towns. The list includes Abington, Hanover, Hingham, Marshfield, Norwell, Rockland, Scituate and Whitman, as well as several North Shore communities.
“There are credit unions that are looking to expand from what would be a traditional employer-related membership base to a geographic membership base,” said Daniel Egan, president of the Massachusetts Credit Union League. “A lot of it is driven by consumer demand.”
Founded in 1936, Mass Bay Credit Union initially served transit employees. Membership is available only to MBTA employees, members of MBTA-affiliated unions and South Boston residents. It has about 14,000 members and $170 million in assets.
Many credit unions in Massachusetts were founded to serve members of specific vocations or organized labor groups, but have relaxed their membership requirements in recent years to include the general public.
Braintree-based Liberty Bay Credit Union, for example, was created to serve New England Telephone and later Verizon workers but amended its charter in 2005 to expand membership to anyone in Greater Boston. Quincy Credit Union once served the city’s firefighters but now is open to anyone who lives or works in Norfolk County, Plymouth County or Dorchester.
Credit unions also seem to be benefiting from a backlash against big banks’ service fees. Credit unions in Massachusetts enjoyed a net increase of nearly 20,000 members in October and early November, according to the credit union association.
Broadening membership guidelines allows credit unions to use their branches and ATMs more efficiently, Egan said.
“The only (pitfalls) are just having the plan and delivery system ready to deal with it,” he said. “It becomes more costly for the credit union, but if it’s part of an overall plan to change their position strategically, it usually works out pretty well.”
Mass Bay’s proposed bylaw change was submitted to the state Division of Banks for approval in November. A comment period on the proposed bylaw expired on Wednesday.
Steve Adams may be reached at sadams@ledger.com.
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