The Veterans Administration Credit Union plans to merge with Madison-based Summit Credit Union.
VACU, established in 1937, has just one location at the Clement J. Zablocki VA Medical Center, 5000 W. National Ave. in Milwaukee. It has $14.8 million in assets.
“Summit has the products and services that really we couldn’t offer our members,” said Kelly Harrington, president of VACU. “By merging with them, our members will be able to get more products and services and even better rates than we have today.”
The office in the VA Hospital will remain open and its five employees will retain their positions. Harrington will serve as a liaison to the merger and then leave the company.
VACU’s 2,800 members will now have access to all of Summit’s 23 Wisconsin locations, which also have Saturday hours the VACU didn’t offer. There are four in the Milwaukee area.
Harrington spent about four months researching credit unions that could merge with VACU, he said. While the credit union is healthy, he wanted to be able to offer products customers were asking for, like mobile banking. VACU was too small to provide those benefits.
“It’s difficult for a small financial institution to create profits nowadays,” Harrington said. “I think part of the problem with a small financial institution is we have to adhere to so much compliance from state and federal regulations.”
