Members of the $2.8 million Kalamazoo Building Trades Credit Union agreed to merge the institution with the $173 million KALSEE Credit Union. Both institutions are based in Kalamazoo, Mich.
With about 620 members, KBTCU was organized in 1965 and evolved into exclusively serving various trade unions and their families in the city of Kalamazoo, including unions representing carpenters, plumbers and pipefitters, electricians, bricklayers, painters, sheet metal, and laborers and operating engineers.
The parties explained that the merger will give KBTCU members “easier access” to their funds, as well as services such as credit cards, debit cards, online banking, ATMs, personal checking, business loans and mortgages.
“We’re very excited to welcome KBTCU members into the KALSEE family,” KALSEE CEO Matt Lahman said in a statement. “KBTCU’s philosophy of taking care of the hardworking tradesmen of Kalamazoo coincides with our own driving values and membership. We look forward to the opportunity to offer these members even more services to enhance their financial well-being.”
KALSEE’s larger staff will also be able to “accommodate” KBTCU member needs in a “timelier fashion.”
Lahman told Credit Union Journal that KBTCU had two employees: its former CEO, Lucinda Michael, retired when the merger was completed. The other employee, member service representative Carrie Cosby, joined KALSEE as a full-time worker in the accounting department
KBTCU has posted net losses of about $53,000 in each of the past two years. Meanwhile, KALSEE reported a net loss of about $205,000 in 2016 after recording $1.1 million in net income in the prior year.
