Credit Union History
Wayne County Community Federal Credit Union was officially organized on June 7, 1966 as the Wayne County School Employees Federal Credit Union. Seven very foresighted school employees (Sam Yelic, Charles Deane, Wayne Kornhaus, Neal Retherford, Fred Kloha, Russell Knight and Kenneth Barton) met on that June date and held the first incorporators meeting for the Wayne County School Employees Federal Credit Union, NCUA Charter # 17449.
Beginning with an initial total of deposits of just $35, the credit union ended 1966 with assets of $3237.54. Our first board president was Sam Yelic, and he served in that capacity until January 1969 , when assets of the new credit union organization were just over $26,000.
The first member signed up in June 1966, and the first loan was made later that year. The first “loan report” in November 1966 had only three loans, for $200 each. (It took some time to build up the deposits to be able to fund those loans.)
Meetings of the credit union board were held in board members’ homes, and the credit union operated out of a residential garage and out of the basement of a house on Eldorado Drive in Smithville for some time.
Membership included public school employees who worked in Wayne County; employees of the credit union; and members of their immediate families. Amendments were added to include the Central Christian High School in Kidron, Saint Mary’s Catholic School in Wooster, Wayne County Christian, Orrville, Wooster Christian School, Wooster, and employees of Boys Village, Inc., who work in Wayne County.
On June 20, 2001, the credit union sought and was granted a Community Common Bond and then officially changed the name to Wayne County Community Federal Credit Union. This change permitted persons who live, work, worship or attend school in Wayne County to become members of this credit union. This opened up new opportunities, and a chance to diversify the member pool beyond the school employee base.
WCCFCU has grown into an approximately $50 million-dollar (and growing) institution. Now (as of 2016) the credit union has around 6500 members, representing over 5,000 Wayne County households.
The credit union has two offices in operation. Our original office at 311 Kaufman Drive was built in 1977 by the Building Trades/Carpentry classes of the Wayne County Joint Vocational School, now known as the Wayne County Schools Career Center (WCSCC). Our Orrville branch, purchased and renovated in 2011, sits at the corner of Market and Main Streets in downtown Orrville. The building used to serve as Seifried's Pharmacy for many years.
The credit union delivers a wide variety of financial services including: home equity loans, auto and other vehicle loans, personal and unsecured loans and VISA credit cards, savings, checking, certificates, debit cards, online banking and BillPay.
From true grassroots efforts to help coworkers pool their financial resources to save and borrow money, Wayne County Community Federal Credit Union has grown into a modern, full service, federally-chartered, and federally-insured financial institution. The credit union members' funds are federally insured to $250,000 by the National Credit Union Administration, a federal government agency.
Wayne County Community Federal Credit Union now serves as the only locally-based (Wayne County) financial institution in the Smithville and Orrville area.
In Ohio, there are about 300 credit unions serving 3 million members.
