Richmond Fire & Police Credit Unions Join Forces

Michael Schwartz BizSense

The latest in a string of local credit union mergers is looking to bring city police and firefighters under one roof.

A deal is in the works to merge The Richmond Fire Department Credit Union and Richmond Police Department Credit Union.

The resulting institution will have 2,500 members and $21 million in assets. It will be renamed Richmond Virginia Fire Police Credit Union.

The two sides filed for state approval for the deal on Oct. 31, according to State Corporation Commission records.

Richmond Police Department Credit Union chief executive Alice Pope said she was not prepared to comment on the deal.

Wallace Garland, CEO of the Fire Department Credit Union said he could not comment at this time.

Letters to members state the credit unions hope to have the merger closed by around the first of the new year. Members of both credit unions have already approved the merger.

The Richmond Police Department Credit Union is housed in the police headquarters downtown on Grace Street. Photo by Michael Schwartz.

The Fire Department Credit Union is headquartered temporarily out of a small office at 1634 Ownby Lane, just around the corner from Richmond Fire Station #10.

It was founded in the 1920s by a handful of Richmond firefighters and currently has 1,500 members and $15.1 million in assets. It produced a profit of $82,000 through the first three quarters of the year, according to its financials filed with the National Credit Union Administration. That followed a profit of $119,000 for the full year 2013.

Richmond Police Department Credit Union has 1,000 members and $6.18 million in assets. It was founded in 1934. It operates out of the Richmond Police headquarters building at 200 W. Grace St.

It’s operating at a loss of $92,000 through the first nine months of 2014 and was in the red by $19,000 for all of last year, according to its NCUA filings.

The police and fire department deal is one of several mergers involving local credit unions in the last few years.

Many have involved larger credit unions absorbing smaller peers that were struggling to stay afloat. Others were a combination of similarly sized institutions looking to mergers as a way to expand their reach.