It all started with a group of teachers
In 1968, a group of teachers from York Suburban School District laid down plans to start a credit union with the help of the Pennsylvania Credit Union League. On April 28, 1969, ten faculty and staff members each paid in one share ($5.00) to officially join the credit union and signed the charter establishing York Suburban Federal Credit Union.
The first Treasurer/Manager was Philip E. Lehr, and the credit union was headquartered in his classroom at York Suburban High School. Beginning with the new school year in September of 1969, many teachers joined the CU and began payroll deductions to build their savings. By January of 1971, Phil Lehr turned over the job of Treasurer/Manager to David P. Baker, a new teacher at York Suburban High, and a graduate of Suburban as well. Credit Union assets were $23,373.54, and there were 134 members.
The credit union thrived and grew over the next few years, and with this growth came the necessity to add services. In July of 1978, York Suburban FCU started offering Share Certificates. In January of 1980, the credit union began offering Travelers Checks to members free of charge. By March of 1983, the credit union had reached assets of $1,000,000. The Board of Directors was approached by the Board of York Teachers Credit Union, which served employees of York City Schools and York College of Pennsylvania. Their manager was resigning and they wanted to add services for their members. In June of 1983 the merger was approved, resulting in a credit union with over $2,000,000 in assets and 1222 members.
At the June Board Meeting the credit union name was officially changed to York Educational Federal Credit Union to more accurately reflect the broader field of membership, while retaining our primary roots serving educators. This merger also permitted the credit union to finally move into our own office. Previously the two CU’s were run from either the manager’s home or a room in the school. This eventually led to the purchase of a building at 1203 South Queen Street in York – our original main branch.
York Educational Federal Credit Union saw exponential growth in the following years. In April of 1985, we merged another credit union into YEFCU – Thonet FCU, which served employees of Thonet Industries and York Machinery & Supply (now IDG). In December of 1985 employees of Harry Ness & Sons were added, and in November of 1986 Red Lion School Employees CU was merged. In June of 1993, Maple Press FCU merged and in January of 1995, Dover School Employees FCU was merged into YEFCU.
In more recent times, our credit union family has grown to include employees of 38 different businesses and school districts, and members of other associations and groups. In an effort to meet our credit union’s mission – providing financial services, education and information which create long term investment value and improve the quality of life for each member – York Educational FCU has added a long list of financial services since we opened all those years ago.
YEFCU Today
As of today, York Educational Federal Credit Union has reached a membership of nearly 3,600 persons and expanded our field of membership to over 22,800 persons. After multiple decades spent running YEFCU, Dave Baker retired as CEO and since 2020 the company has been overseen by Pamala Mohn. We proudly offer our members a wide range of financial services, including traditional savings and loan plans, as well as technologically advanced services including website, home banking, ATMs, electronic bill payer, and mobile banking.