Firefighters Credit Union Announces New Name - Open to Anyone in Naugatuck Region

FIREFIGHTERS CREDIT UNION ANNOUNCES NAME CHANGE TO FD COMMUNITY FEDERAL CREDIT UNION EFFECTIVE JULY 30 –

Open to Anyone Who Lives/Works/Worships/Attends School/Volunteers in Waterbury & Eight Town Radius

Michael Kinne, president and CEO of the Waterbury-based Firefighters Credit Union has announced that effective Monday, July 30, 2012 the credit union will change its name to FD Community Federal Credit Union. “We are very excited about this name change,” stated Kinne, “because we believe it will help increase people’s awareness that this credit union is open to anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Waterbury and the eight surrounding towns of Cheshire, Middlebury, Naugatuck, Prospect, Plymouth, Thomaston, Watertown and Wolcott. We believe this new name emphasizes that our credit union is open to all individuals, families and businesses in our area.”

Kinne explained that the name change has been evolving since 2001 when the credit union decided to change from an employee based credit union to a community chartered credit union. “The community charter,” Kinne stated, “opened the credit union to individuals other than firefighters, municipal employees and their relatives. For the past 11 years, anyone who lives, works, worships, attends school or volunteers in Waterbury or the surrounding towns, has been able to do their banking with us. We believe this new community-driven name will help clarify that ability and virtually eliminate any confusion regarding who can bank with our credit union and reap the many financial benefits of credit union membership.”

In a recent letter sent to members of the credit union, Kinne stated, “We will never forget our roots and who we are. We have always been proud of our name and of our affiliation with the firefighters. This long-standing affiliation guided us to carefully choose our new name. The FD in our new name represents our deep roots to the fire department, and the firefighters that organized the credit union in 1934. The FD is combined with the word community as a representation of who the firefighters have served for the past 78 years. It also indicates who your credit union aims to serve.”

Kinne’s letter assured the credit union’s members that “only our name has changed - all else remains the same.”  The community can look forward to FD Community Federal Credit Union continuing to offer competitive rates and providing the same friendly, personal service.

Founded in 1934, FD Community Federal Credit Union is the oldest financial institution in Waterbury and well established as a respected community institution. The credit union offers many of the same services offered by larger financial institutions for individuals and businesses. However, unlike banks, mortgage companies and investment firms, FD Community Federal Credit Union is a non-profit, member-owned, financial institution whose sole purpose is to help its members achieve their financial goals. There are no outside or institutional stockholders, private owners or overseas investors.

Products include loans and deposits with very competitive rates, totally free checking, free debit cards, free online banking, free bill pay, free e-statements and for new accounts the first order of checks is free. Deposits are federally insured by the National Credit Union Administration up to $250,000.

To market the new name, the full-service credit union will be changing the signage on all three branches at 601 Watertown Avenue in Waterbury, in the East Gate Plaza on Store Avenue in Waterbury and the satellite branch at 236 Grand Street. 

Effective July 30^th the new website address will be www.fdcommunityfcu.org. The credit union’s main office telephone number remains the same at 203-753-9201.