YOUNGSTOWN, Ohio – One of the oldest credit unions in Northeastern Ohio, which lost its primary sponsor in the 1980s, has announced plans to merge.
The $4-million R.S.C. Credit Union, founded to serve Republic Steel Co., said it will merge into the $152-million Associated School Employees Credit Union, which is also based in Youngstown.
“It’s a sign of the times,” Joe Rosky, chairman of R.S.C.’s board and a member since the 1960s, told the Business Journal Daily. Similar to what other smaller credit unions have experienced, Rosky told the publication it’s been difficult for R.S.C. to compete and upgrade services to include online banking, mortgages and other financial products.
“We’re still viable, but it was just a matter of time,” Rosky was quoted as saying. “I think there’ve been five credit union mergers in the last year and a half alone just in our region.”
Republic closed its Youngstown mill during the early 1980s. The original offices of the credit union were in Republic’s office building just off the Market Street bridge. Today, its offices are still downtown on the third floor of the Ohio One Building, but plans call for closing the office.
Rosky said R.S.C. CU has 520 members, most of whom are elderly.
Diane Yanek, the credit union’s single full-time employee and its secretary-treasurer, plans to retire when the merger is complete.
R.S.C. said Associated School Employees Credit Union will provide the type of member benefits that are necessary in today’s market. R.S.C. said an in-person meeting was held related to the merger, but no members attended.
ASECU has approximately 14,600 members.