STCU seeks approval to acquire Coulee Dam credit union

Spokane Teachers Credit Union has agreed to merge with a credit union based in Coulee Dam, Washington, in an agreement that must be approved by state and federal regulators.

If approved, the merger of STCU and CDFCU, which does not include a transfer of funds, would be completed later this year. All current employees would be retained under the merger plan, and CDFCU locations will become STCU branches.

“As we talked with the team at CDFCU, it became apparent that our credit unions are a natural match for a friendly, beneficial merger,” Ezra Eckhardt, STCU president and CEO, said in a news release.

The boards of both institutions voted unanimously in December to pursue the merger, STCU spokesman Dan Hansen said.

CDFCU originally served the workers who built Grand Coulee Dam. Some of its 14,000 members can trace their membership to the credit union’s founding in 1941.

It has five branches in Coulee Dam, Brewster, Republic, Creston and Omak, Washington. After the merger, the branches would become STCU-branded sites.

STCU started in 1934 to serve school teachers during the Great Depression. The Spokane-based credit union has more than 210,000 members and 29 locations in Eastern Washington, the Tri-Cities, the Columbia Basin and North Idaho.

The proposed merger requires approval by the National Credit Union Administration and the Washington State Department of Financial Institutions. STCU and CDFCU hope to complete the merger in late summer or fall, according to the release.