In the not to distant past, Credit Unions were not nearly as open to the general public as they are today. One of the big reasons for this is the relatively new member status known as “Community Credit Union”. In simple terms, what this means is that everyone that lives within a certain geographic area (town/county) is eligible to become a member. 

Keeping this in mind let’s take a step by step approach to finding all the Credit Unions that you may be eligible to join.

STEP 1:   Using our search box found on the left hand column of every page enter your zip code and click on the “Find” button. This will display all Credit Unions that are headquartered in your zip code area. The problem with this approach though is that a Credit Union might have branches located within your zip code area but because their main office is not, they will not show up in the search. For those Credit Unions that do show up you may check them out individually to see if you qualify for membership.

STEP 2:   If you know of a particular Credit Union and want to get information about it simply type in the name and hit the “Find” button.

STEP 3:   Use the “TOM” code. (Type of Membership) Click on the expandable box to see all of the different types of Credit Union membership codes. As you can see there are numerous types of membership that you might qualify for. Some of these are, faith, fraternal, military, or educational,  just to name a few. Highlight any one of the codes you think you might be qualified for and then enter your state. Click on the “Find” button to list them for you. Click on any that you want to investigate further by visiting their web site via the link that we provide. You should be able to determine if you’re eligible to join in just a minute or two of your time. If need be, use the contact phone number to call and speak to them directly.

STEP 4:  

This is the easiest method of all. In addition to any Credit Unions you may have found in steps 1 through 3. Using the "Tom" code in our search box select "00" and then select your state. This may list several potential Credit Unions to choose from because many credit unions are changing their membership status to “Community”  to attract a larger number of members. As "Community" Credit Unions, everyone that lives in the geographic area of the Credit Union is eligible to join. You’ll need to do some further investigation with each of them though to see if you reside in their qualifying area. If you do then you qualify to join them. It is as simple as that!

Following these simple steps you should find several Credit Unions that you quailfy to join. Remember, you can join as many Credit Unions as you like. They all offer different financial products at different rates and you can pick and choose which ones work best for you. Best of luck in your search!