ALEXANDRIA, Va.—It’s Saint Patrick’s Day, time to raise a pint of Guinness to all the St. Patrick’s Credit Unions in the U.S. But don’t expect to do much toasting—there are just two remaining.
It seems the luck of the Irish has run out for many of the credit unions named after the patron saint of the Emerald Isle and the churches in the U.S. that were named in his honor.
St. Patrick's Credit Union in Limerick, Ireland.
But church-based credit unions have struggled in the U.S. over the recent decades, and that includes all those CUs founded by Catholic churches, once a fertile ground for credit union charters across the U.S.
According to NCUA, there are just two CUs in the country still operating that are named after St. Patrick: the $1.4-million St. Patrick (Croswell) FCU in Croswell, Mich., and the $496,000-St. Patrick’s Parish FCU in Fairfield, Vt.
St. Patrick isn’t the only credit union/saint namesake to see his numbers fall. NCUA data show that there are now just 10 credit unions left in the U.S. with the word “Saint” in their name, including two “All Saints.” The other saints in whom members can still have faith include Saint Cyprian, Saint Francis, Saint John, Saint Lawrence, Saint Nicholas, Saint Norbert’s, Saint Vincent Erie, and Saints Margaret and Gregory.
And there are two other Saint Patrick’s Credit Unions still finding themselves in the clover, and they are located, where else in Ireland, with a St. Patrick’s Credit Union to be found in both Dublin and Limerick.
All that said, from CUToday.info, Happy St. Patrick’s Day.