WARREN, Ohio – 717 Credit Union announced Thursday it has surpassed the $2 billion mark in assets.
The credit union was started in 1957 by 15 members of IEU Local 717 who worked at the Packard Electric division of General Motors. They locked a cigar box containing $75 in pooled resources in a drawer at the union hall, hoping a credit union would serve them in a way other financial institutions at the time were not, according to 717 history.
That dream now has surpassed $2 billion and 120,000 members and employs more than 300 people at 12 branches.
“We’re excited about it because I think it really demonstrates how in the past couple of years, we’ve really connected with the community that we serve,” said CEO John Demmler.
When Demmler took the reins a little over two years ago, 717 had $1.6 billion in assets, and the growth of more than $400 million since then is one of the strongest growth periods in the credit union’s history.
When Demmler started, he said 717 Credit Union was already “an amazing organization.” But he said members of the management team believed they could do better.
“We went product by product and really focused on how can we create products that we’re really proud of, but also really focus on a fundamental concept of putting money back into the pockets of working families here in the Valley,” Demmler said.
From auto loans that beat the current rates to a product announced Thursday that gives homebuyers 1% off the market rate, Demmler said by saving families money, it gives them more to live day to day and spend in the area.
Instead of paying 24% interest on a credit card, Demmler points to the credit union’s card that gives a lifetime rate of 7.17% on all purchases and transfers made in the first 90 days.
Demmler said 717 has cut more than $1.4 million in fees for its members, not including mortgage fees.
“When you focus on the member and you simply just do right to the member, then good things will come back to you,” he said. “That seems to be working really well for us.”
The company had more than $5 million in assets in 1969, and three years later it built the Larchmont branch. Membership grew throughout the 1970s to include salaried employees at Packard Electric and then other employee groups throughout the region. By the early 2000s, membership had shifted and 717 was a community institution in Trumbull, Mahoning and Columbiana counties in 2002, Portage and Stark in 2004 and Summit County in 2015.
Through the American Consumer Council, 717 expanded membership to anyone in Ohio as of 2017. In 2018, the credit union reached $1 billion in assets. In eight years it has doubled that mark.
Demmler said 717 will have a 69th anniversary celebration July 17. The credit union is set to merge with Geauga Credit Union on April 1, which will bring approximately another 6,500 members and $100 million in assets and expand its footprint even further. He said people in Stark, Summit, Portage and Geauga counties are excited about 717 and the products it offers. Demmler said the credit union will focus on expanding its branch footprint to better serve the members in those areas.
The Geauga Credit Union merger will be the seventh in 717’s history. The credit union added the Youngstown City Schools Credit Union in 2023 and the Teamsters Local 92 Federal Credit Union in January.