Popular Credit Union Moves to Bigger Quarters

A bank’s loss is a credit union’s gain.

While bank and savings and loans are merging out of existence, Point Mugu Federal Credit Union is bulging at the seams.

The 51-year-old credit union’s membership has more than doubled in the past two years, so the credit union has moved its tiny Carriage Square office to a new 5,000-square-foot building in the same shopping center.

“People are dissatisfied with the level of service they’re getting with the larger institutions merging into one another,” said Dick Cooper, director of marketing for the credit union. “Oxnard has particularly seen a lot of branches close with the mergers of Bank of America and Washington Mutual.”

Point Mugu Federal Credit Union received a community charter in 1997, which allowed it to accept any county residents as members, Cooper said.

Since then, it gained 20,000 members and currently has 37,000.

Cooper said the Carriage Square office is the busiest of the four branches.

“Sometimes we did have lines outside,” he said.

The branch’s ATM is also the busiest ATM in the county. “It’s just a popular location,” Cooper said. “It’s a crossroads of people’s travels.”

Besides more space, the new office will also have more tellers during peak hours, Cooper said.