NEW YORK CITY -
Paul McCormack, deputy inspector for the New York City Police Department (NYPD) and slated to be the first chairman of The Finest Federal Credit Union, told the Credit Union Journal the CU is close to receiving its charter from the NCUA and the necessary capital–$1.4 million–to open its doors.
“We have received tremendous support from credit unions across the country that have donated their time and start-up deposits,” McCormack said. Among those CUs contributing are Chicago Patrolmen’s FCU, Delaware State Police FCU, and Police FCU in Washington. Each pledged $100,000.
Finest Federal is partnering with Consumers FCU and will be co-located in CFCU branches in Brooklyn, Manhattan, Queens, and the Bronx. Keith Stone, Consumers COO and CFO, will move to Finest Federal and become the police credit union’s CEO. “Keith and (Consumers CEO) Stephen Jacoby have been instrumental in getting our credit union off the ground,” McCormack said.
The idea for the credit union began four years ago when McCormack and a group of NYPD officers traveled to Dublin, Ireland, for a Gaelic football tournament and visited Irish police CUs.
“That really opened our eyes,” McCormack said. “Those credit unions did so many good, special things for their members.”
McCormack explained that officers have special financial needs, not only in the hours they can visit the CU but in the products they use. In addition to paying high yields on savings, offering free checking, and charging low loan rates, McCormack said Finest Federal plans to offer special insurance products, and vehicles to help fraternal organizations.
“We also want to help rookies,” McCormack said. “The level of pay for starting cops is low and rookies find it hard to make ends meet. So we have to be able to help them with low-interest loans and financial planning. Overall, we want a credit union that is a place where officers come to receive good, sound financial advice that’s very specific to who they are.”
According to McCormack, the CU is expected to be in place when the Fifth Annual Police Officers’ Credit Union Conference is held May 4-6 in Kansas City, Mo. Ken Bator, president of Bator Training & Consulting and a member of the committee behind the police CU conference, has helped Finest Federal move closer to opening for business.
“When we started our conference in 2004, we heard about Paul’s efforts and contacted him to offer our assistance,” Bator said. “Paul was looking for capital from credit unions. So we acted as a bridge, being fortunate to work with a number of outstanding police credit unions around the country. We got Paul in contact with a number of police CUs–there are approximately 75 across the U.S.–and that got him assistance and non-member deposits.”
There are 39,000 officers in the NYPD, which is currently included in the field of membership of the $1.3-billion Municipal Credit Union in New York.
