CoastHills Federal Credit Union

CoastHills Federal Credit Union invites you to bank among friends. With 11 branches across the Central Coast area, they're well positioned to help you do just that.

CoastHills was established in 1958 on Vandenberg Air Force Base. At that time it was known as Vandenberg Air Force Base Federal Credit Union. In February of 1967 the name was shortened to Vandenberg Federal Credit Union (VFCU). When base closures looked iminent in the late 1990's and early 2000's, it was decided that changing to a community charter would ensure the ongoing viability of the credit union. In October of 2003, VFCU became CoastHills Federal Credit Union.

National credit Unions were created by an act of Congress in 1934 (based on Massachussets' Credit Union act of 1909) to make credit available in a time when the country was rebuilding after the stock market crash. Additionally, credit unions were to promote thrift through a national network of nonprofit cooperative banking entities. Credit unions' shareholders are the members who bank there; profits are returned to the shareholders in the form of dividends.

While traditional banks have the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) to insure bank deposits against calamity, credit unions use National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund (NCUSIF) provided by the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) for equivalent services. You may be surprised at how well your funds are insured against calamity; more information on this can be found at NCUA's website on the topic.

At Strategic Alliance, our banking specialist is none other than the CoastHills Federal Credit Union Five Cities Branch Manager, Melissa McCreery.

It's not hard to understand why Melissa is the branch manager of the Five Cities branch. Friendly and witty with a caring demeanor, she loves educating people about their finances. Whether participating in CoastHills' education to teach finances at central coast high schools or just discussing it with other Strategic Alliance members. Melissa is definitely a wealth of banking knowledge.

When asked about being a branch manager, Melissa stated that she is incredibly happy in her position; She has an awesome boss and feels like she gets things done by not being afraid to be a 'squeaky wheel'. She also likes the availability of the company Vice Presidents for advice on handling matters. She contrasted this to larger institutions, where the branch manager may have to call an impersonal support group with their questions about various products. All of this combined with the credit union's focus on the community gives CoastHills a more the feel of a small town bank - with some impressive services.

CoastHills has  a wide array of services available to both personal and business customers, and Melissa is quick to add that while credit unions are often known mostly for auto loans, CoastHills has so much more to offer - including business loans, merchant services and payroll services. With over 600 Million dollars in assets and 53 years in business, they appear to be set to serve the area for quite some time.

Melissa originally hails from Racine, Wisconsin. Her and her husband, Mike, have a three year old son named Michael. She seems quite content to stay in this area serving CoastHills shareholders.