Tucson: Vantage West Acquires First Edition Community

Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Vantage West takes over First Edition credit union
Phoenix Business Journal - by Chris Casacchia

Vantage West Credit Union in Tucson will take over First Edition Community Credit Union on Thursday, ending a 58-year run for the Phoenix institution established to serve the media and communications industries.

In the last two years, FECCU lost nearly $1.8 million, according to filings with the National Credit Union Administration. That’s far better than many other credit unions here, but executives still opted to merge the operations to benefit both organizations.

About 90 percent of FECCU members agreed to the merger.

According to its Web site, FECCU was founded in 1952 as Republic and Gazette Employees’ Credit Union to serve the employees of those newspapers. In 2002, membership was opened to residents who lived, worked, volunteered, or attended school or church near its North Phoenix headquarters at 10440 N. 32nd St.

In 2003, credit union members approved a further expansion into 42 Zip Codes. A year later, the credit union changed its name from Arizona Media to First Edition Community Credit Union to better reflect its operations.

FECCU, which operated three branches, has nearly $40 million in assets and approximately 5,500 members primarily in Maricopa County.

Vantage West serves more than 115,000 members through its 11 branches. With more than $1.1 billion in assets, Vantage West is the largest credit union in Southern Arizona.

In 2009, Vantage posted net income of $429,000, a much better year than 2008, when the credit union lost $10.1 million.