As a member-owned, member-centered organization, TrailNorth Federal Credit Union routinely evaluates its products, services and service delivery mechanisms – all within the context of the union’s core values of financial strength, community, service and integrity.

As stewards of this credit union, the Board of Directors and Leadership Team have a duty to ensure the financial strength and viability of TFCU now and long into the future. We want, and need, to grow in order to remain a competitive, relevant and financially viable credit union. 

We have embraced advancements in technology and service delivery, and our participation in the national Shared Branching Network, as well as our recent charter expansion are all strategic decisions designed to help us meet that duty.  

Our predecessors made similar strategic decisions with charter expansions and brand identity in the past as the needs of our members and our communities grew. Recognizing the need for growth and intending to serve additional members, previous Boards led TFCU through six charter expansions since January 1954, when it was the TrailNorth IPCO Federal Credit Union. 

By January 1978, a charter expansion had opened up service to include various towns around TrailNorth, widening the ability for new members beyond IPCO. With the growing diversity of membership, the Board recognized the need to analyze the identity of the credit union, which culminated in a change in the credit union’s name to TrailNorth Federal Credit Union just 11 days into the New Year.

Since then, five additional charter expansions have brought us to where we are today, the most recent and most expansive of which was approved in January 2018 and includes individuals who live, work, worship or attend school in the counties of Essex, Washington, Warren, Franklin and Clinton Counties in New York as well as Addison County in Vermont. This larger field of membership will lay the foundation for long-term growth allowing us to provide cutting-edge products and services to many more members for many years to come.

As we begin our next expansion into additional New York counties and Vermont, it is imperative that we stay on the leading edge of our industry. As such, we will embark on a study of our identity and brand to review who we were, who we are and how we are perceived in the marketplace for years to come. We will determine how best to appeal to the much larger and more diverse field of possible new membership who may not know us as TrailNorth Federal Credit Union. This process will take several months and will involve in-depth and robust research projects. It may again culminate in a new name and brand identity for the credit union. We do all of this to serve our primary goal: the continued strength, relevance and viability of our organization now, and long into the future.

Best Regards,

Shawn Hayes
President/CEO

Click on the timeline below to view our progress over the years.