Combined Employees Credit Union extends services to county residents, workers

WARNER ROBINS, Ga. — The last ribbon-cutting event held at Combined Employees Credit Union (CECU) took place in honor of a half-century in business. The staff of CECU and other notable figures of Houston County gathered Thursday afternoon for another ribbon-cutting to celebrate the most recent news: the extension of CECU services to anyone who lives or works in the county.

“We’re a state-chartered credit union, so our examiners are the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance,” CEO Robby Glore said. “And that’s something that our Board of Directors has wanted to do for a pretty good while.”

He said he acquired his current position with the organization in the last week of December 2016, and 2017 saw advancements — such as changes in company infrastructure — to offer services to another geographical group.

“Last year, we petitioned the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance to have a geographical seg [segmentation] group, which would be Houston County, defined by the boundaries of Houston County,” Glory said. “According to the state guidelines, anybody that lives or works in Houston County can now be a member of our credit union.”

He said that since the new launch is taking place in the second half of the year, the company is not expecting astronomical growth to begin with. But he said they expect “modest” growth like 5% in savings accounts and 6% in the loans department.

He said since the company has seen previous success in serving the local municipalities and their first responders, the general public can expect that same level of attention and service. He said he has previously described CECU as a “David in a valley of Goliaths.”

“We feel like we give superior service to some of the other financial institutions here; we wanted to share that service with our community,” Glore added. “We’re kind of like a small ‘Mom and Pop’ store over here when you start looking at the financial market.”

He said that while CECU offers some services people could also find at other institutions, this new endeavor would be a continuous learning process for their business flow with assistance from the citizens being served.

“We want to become the financial institution that our community wants us to be, and we’ll grow into that as our members join the credit union and tell us what they want,” he said. “They can help mold this credit union into what they want, their institution.”

Maggie Schuyler, Perry Chamber CEO, said she and her organization were “super thrilled” for this news.

“We are honored to have y’all as Chamber members,” Schuyler said. “Y’all did our businesses loan in 2021, so we’re very excited to see everything you’ve got going and just even more blessings and growth and expansion.”

Glore spoke on the staff of the institution.

“The staff here is just incredible; they love the members,” Glore said. “I hear all the time about larger financial institutions losing that personal touch. I like to think that we still have that here and are able to offer that to the community as well as the services that we have as well.”

The Thursday festivities included an area radio station performing a remote live broadcast, real estate and mortgage specialists, wealth management experts, a magic mirror photo booth, shaved ice, face painting and a 50” TV giveaway. Glore also mentioned a free offer through an insurance provider that is available for all credit union members.

CECU offers services in the realm of personal savings accounts, credit cards, personal loans, auto loans, student loans, mortgage loans and a debit card program. The organization was just awarded by the League of Southeastern Credit Unions & Affiliates as the Credit Union of the Year in Georgia with up to $100 million in assets.

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