Skip to main content

LOCAL CREDIT UNION MEETS NATIONAL MILESTONE

 

*** MEDIA ADVISORY ***

LOCAL CREDIT UNION MEETS NATIONAL MILESTONE

Syracuse Fire Department Federal Credit Union is the 1,000th Financial Institution to Offer Zelle® for Person to Person Payments

Credit Union Members Celebrate with Food Truck, Gifts and Giveaways

What: Syracuse Fire Department Employees Federal Credit Union is the 1,000th financial institution in the U.S. to join the Zelle Network®, offering its more than 6,000 members a fast, easy and secure way to send and receive money with friends, family and people they know and trust.

To celebrate this milestone, the credit union is hosting an onsite, member-exclusive launch party. The event will also give up to 1,000 members a chance to request and receive $10 from the credit union using Zelle®.

Key Visuals: The event will feature:
“Smokey and the Pig” food truck – owned and operated by Syracuse firefighter Paul Veri and retired Syracuse police officer Matthew Erwin. Both are Syracuse Fire Department Employees FCU members.
Zelle®-themed décor, treats and giveaways.

Who: Executive attendees on site will include:
Andrea Thune, President and CEO, Syracuse Fire Department Employees Federal Credit Union
Donna Turner, Chief Operations Officer, Early Warning Services, network operator of Zelle®
Emily Byrne, Client Partner, Fiserv, the credit union’s technology partner

Why: Syracuse Fire Department Employees FCU is enhancing its online and mobile banking services with the addition of Zelle®. With Zelle®, credit union members now have a fast way to send money to and receive money from others, tapping into people’s more digital lifestyles and creating a ready alternative to cash and checks. Fiserv offers a turnkey set of services to simplify implementation of Zelle® for financial institutions of all sizes, including Syracuse Fire Department Employees FCU.

When: Friday, May 28, 2021
10 a.m. to 4 p.m. ET

Where: Syracuse Fire Department Employees FCU
211 Wilkinson Street
Syracuse, NY 13204

Contact: Tonia McDonald, Marketing Director

Syracuse Fire Department Employees Federal Credit Union

tonia@syrfirecu.com

315-471-4621

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

The NCOFCU Podcast: Clear Insight. No Jargon.

Every week, we cover the latest trends and developments within the credit union industry. At NCOFCU, we are dedicated to providing you with insightful discussions that cut through the clutter. Our podcast features expert opinions, in-depth analyses, and an exploration of the challenges and opportunities that credit unions, directors, and staff face today. Join us as we navigate the evolving industry and empower associations with the knowledge they need to thrive. https://ceohp.podbean.com/ ================================================= Remember, you're not alone with  NCOFCU.org Join/Upgrade Check out some of NCOFCU's additional features: First Responder Credit Union Academy Financial Literacy Podcasts YouTube Mini's Blog Job Board

Sunday Reading - Year of the Fire Horse

        Year of the Fire Horse   Lunar New Year celebrations kick off  tomorrow, ushering in the Year of the Fire Horse in the Chinese zodiac. The 15-day festivities, observed by billions worldwide, start with the new moon and end with the Lantern Festival. China anticipates a record 9.5 billion trips during the 40-day travel rush around the holiday, the world’s largest annual human migration. The horse is the seventh animal in the 12-year zodiac cycle and symbolizes energy, independence, and ambition. Those born in horse years are seen as dynamic, courageous, and charismatic. Many see the Year of the Fire Horse as a time to tak...

Letter to Credit Unions (24-CU-03) Consumer Harm Stemming from Certain Overdraft and Non-Sufficient Funds Fee Practice

      Letter to Credit Unions (24-CU-03) Consumer Harm Stemming from Certain Overdraft and Non-Sufficient Funds Fee Practices Dear Boards of Directors and Chief Executive Officers: If your credit union assesses overdraft or non-sufficient funds (NSF) fees that your members cannot reasonably anticipate or avoid, your credit union may be exposing itself to heightened reputational, consumer compliance,...

Sunday Reading - Budweiser 101

Draft Horses   Budweiser 101 Perhaps best known for its Super Bowl Clydesdale ads, Budweiser   is among the world’s most popular beer brands. It was among the first beers to achieve national distribution in the late 19th century, thanks to its revolutionary refrigeration and pasteurization techniques, setting the stage for the modern US beer industry.   Founded in the 1850s as the “Bavarian Brewery,” the company was acquired in 1860 by Eberhard Anheuser. He sold half of it to his son-in-law,  Adolphus Busch ,   in 1869, forming the partnership that would become Anheuser-Busch in St. Louis, Missouri.   In the 1870s, Carl Conrad , a St. Louis distributor, traveled through a Bohemian town called “Budweis” in German and drank a pale lager. Upon returning home, he worked with Anheuser-Busch to brew its own light lager, marketing it under the ...

Eight Credit Unions Pay $42 Million in Special Dividends to 1.1 Million Members

  By  Jim DuPlessis   | January 05, 2026 at 04:00 PM So far this season, CU Times has tallied 19 credit unions, which have announced $160.3 million in special dividends for members.       Eight more credit unions have reported special dividends, paying their 1.1 million members $42.1 million in December and January. The bulk of the dividends came from Police and Fire Federal Credit Union of Philadelphia and Eastman Credit Union of Kingsport, Tenn., which each announced $16 million in rewards approved by their boards. The late January payout from Eastman ($9.7 billion, 356,492 members) will bring its total special dividends to $225 million since 1998. A news release from the credit union said “the Extraordinary Dividend is never guaranteed, but the strong financial performance of ECU in 2025 enabled the Board of Directors to approve this year’s $16 million payout.” Eastman’s $16 million payout represents about $47 per member and 19 basis points of its averag...

Firefighters First Credit Union Sweeps Chili Challenge

SAN DIEGO, CA  August 7, 2017 Firefighters First Credit Union on Saturday dominated the fifth annual Xpress Data, Inc. 2017 Credit Union Chili Challenge, winning First Place and the People’s Choice award with  Second place being awarded to New Orleans Firemen’s FCU “Fire Watch smoked the competition at the Credit Union Chili Challenge,” said Firefighters First Senior Vice President of Marketing Kelly Ramsay. “Congratulations to our dedicated chili team: Tim and Noemi Watkins, Stacey Miller, Crystal Jauregui, Chantel Perez, Kimberly Tobias and Pedro Quintanilla. We are so proud, and that was some darn good chili!” The $1.2 billion credit union brought home two trophies from Del Mar Thoroughbred Club racetrack, $7,000 in prize money they will donate to the Fire Family Foundation and an entry to compete in the International Chili Society World Championships Oct. 20-22 in Reno, Nev. “Congratulations to Firefighters First Credit Union for their strong showing this...

Why First Responder Credit Unions Are Built to Adopt Blockchain Faster

  For years, blockchain in financial services lived mostly in the world of experimentation—proofs of concept, pilot programs, and innovation labs that rarely touched day-to-day operations. That era is ending. Today, blockchain adoption is moving from experimentation to scale. Across payments, capital markets, and banking infrastructure, financial institutions are beginning to operate on new rails—powered by tokenized money, programmable assets, and always-on settlement models. For credit unions serving first responders, this shift presents not just a technology opportunity, but a strategic one. Blockchain Is Becoming Core Infrastructure The most important change isn’t the technology itself—it’s how it’s being used. Blockchain is no longer about testing what might work. It’s increasingly being deployed as infrastructure to solve long-standing problems in financial services, including slow settlement, trapped liquidity, manual reconciliation, and limited operating hours. Cr...

Chairman Hauptman’s Remarks for FLEC Public Meeting (Trump Accounts)

  As Prepared for Delivery on February 6, 2026 Meeting Focus: Implementation and Outreach for Trump Accounts Good morning and thank you to our colleagues at the U.S. Department of the Treasury and members of the Financial Literacy and Education Commission for convening today’s important discussion. I also want to express my appreciation for this body’s leadership in encouraging savings and advancing the broader goal we all share—ensuring that every American has a meaningful opportunity to build financial capability, resilience, and long-term financial security. There’s a lot to like about Trump Accounts, including how easy it is to start the process when filing your taxes. These accounts were clearly designed with behavioral economics in mind. That is to say, things that are easier to do are more likely to get done. Trump accounts also turn all these kids into investors. The more Americans that identify as investors, the better off we are. Investing done by regular people turns Mar...

Leasing Set To Surge In 2026?—Credit Unions May Miss Out If They Don’t Move

  CINCINNATI—As credit unions look to revive auto lending in 2026 after a sluggish year, one lending tool may become indispensable: vehicle leasing. With new-car prices still historically high, negative equity rising, and manufacturers fighting for market share, leasing is poised for a major rebound this year—and credit unions that remain on the sidelines risk losing out on strong, recurring loan volume. That’s the message from Scot Hall, executive vice president at  Swapalease.com , who says the economic and market dynamics heading into 2026 are aligning in ways that make leasing not only attractive, but essential. “Prices are up and they’re not coming down anytime soon,” Hall said, noting that inflation, tariffs, supply volatility, and chip-related uncertainty continue to push vehicle pricing higher. “Leasing is a great way to combat that. It’s also a great way to get somebody out of negative equity in a relatively short period of time.” Market Conditions Are Setting the Sta...