About Us

It was a hot Saturday afternoon back in June of 1928 when the Island Queen pulled away from the dock in downtown Cincinnati to carry its passengers up the Ohio River to Coney Island. There was a nice breeze blowing after the Queen got the engine up to full steam. In the corner of the top deck a group of postal employees and their wives were laughing and excited about spending the day together. As the conversation lulled, Chris Lang brought up an idea he had heard about called "credit unions." He explained to the group that several other post offices in the United States had decided to start a credit union. The credit union would allow all the postal employees to pool their savings and lend money to fellow employees at a reasonable rate of interest. The interest the borrower paid would be used to pay dividends to the savers. The idea, he said, was not new and credit unions had been in existence in Europe for over 100 years. He explained he would like to check into this idea a little more and get more information.

About that time the Island Queen arrived at Coney Island and its passengers disembarked for a fun-filled day. Months passed and Chris Lang did his research on credit unions and was excited about starting a credit union for postal employees. On what seemed to be the coldest day of November a cloud opened up and a ray of sunshine peeked through the clouds as the eight postal employees walked into Chris Lang 's house on that snowy Sunday afternoon. Chris had even talked his son Frannie Lang into coming to this meeting. On that bleak Sunday afternoon this group of postal employees agreed to start Cincinnati Postal Employee's Credit Union, Inc.

Chris Lang became the first treasurer and your credit union operated out of his house until 1932 when the State of Ohio passed legislation that a credit union must be chartered within the new laws. Chris sent our application to Columbus and we received Charter # 3. At that time the Post Office gave a small office space to the credit union to perform their operation. All savings and loan calculations were done by hand. All loans were signature loans at first as not too many postal employees even had cars. The credit union grew year by year and soon had to move out of the post office into rental space to 8th and Linn St. in Queensgate in 1974. The next year we added FHA Title I loans to our loan portfolio. The next year we started offering share drafts and traveler cheques. In that same year we also purchased the Crane & Breed Casket Company, which is the present site of our building. The demolition of the buildings started in the summer of 1979. The credit union moved to its present location in December 1979. In 1980 we installed our first ATM in the lobby at the main post office, making it available to postal employees and the general public. The second ATM was installed at the Bulk Mail Center and our third ATM was installed at 1243 West 8th Street in 1999. The credit union has added a telephone response system for member balances, transfers and history that is available 24 hours a day. We also have added several other companies to our field of membership. The credit union continues to grow even as we have entered the new millennium

For more information about PFCU, please call 381-8600 or email us.

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