Credit union looks to make a splash

Fountain parks where children can escape the heat in the summer are being constructed in Kamiah and Kooskia, courtesy of Freedom Northwest Credit Union.

The credit union is picking up the $120,000 tab for the amenities. It chose the 36-foot-diameter water features over pools largely because ongoing maintenance is less expensive and something each of the cities can handle within their existing budgets, said CEO Scott Garrett. "This can benefit a kid right now as much as it's going to benefit his little brother in five years."

The contribution is the latest way the credit union is flexing its muscles as it extends its reach. Freedom Northwest quietly opened a loan center at 141 Ninth St. in downtown Lewiston this year and has plans for another in Hayden.

The offices will serve clientele who were off-limits to what was previously the Kamiah Credit Union until October 2015, when the financial institution amended its articles of incorporation.

Before the change, only people who worked in Lewis or Idaho counties could be members of the credit union, which has its main branch in Kamiah and a smaller one that opened in Kooskia in 2010. Now anyone who is a member of the Kamiah Chamber of Commerce can belong.

"We recently have been able to expand our market to have even more potential members, which gives us even more confidence in our future," Garrett said.

The shift has boosted volume, Garrett said. Since February, the credit union has made $6.5 million in loans in the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley. The loans were mostly for houses, but there also have been some in smaller amounts for vehicles and extras like trailers and snowmobiles.

Other services will be added in Lewiston in the future, such as the ability to open a personal bank account face to face. Products such as checking, debit cards and savings accounts are available now online, by telephone and with automated teller machines to anyone who belongs to the chamber of commerce.

Lewiston already has automated teller machines that Freedom Northwest Credit Union customers can use without paying fees. The institution plans to bolster a network of its own machines on routes between the Lewiston-Clarkston Valley and the Spokane-Coeur d'Alene area, Walla Walla, Riggins and Kooskia.

"People in Lewiston will be able to have a full consumer relationship with us; we just don't think that's going to require a teller line," Garrett said.

The larger presence isn't just helping new customers, it also is an improvement for the credit union's traditional base, Garrett said. "A lot of our (legacy) members do their shopping in Lewiston and a lot of them do car buying in Lewiston."

Even though Freedom Northwest isn't as large as some of the other players in the market, it can offer deals as good, if not better than, its competitors because of how it handles its assets, Garrett said.

Typically, small-sized credit unions keep about half their deposits in loans and the other half in lower-yield investments like treasury bonds and certificates of deposits at other banks, Garrett said.

Freedom Northwest Credit Union loans all of its deposits and keeps the loans on its books instead of selling them to third parties from outside the area, Garrett said. "We view the landscape as big enough for all of us."

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Williams may be contacted at ewilliam@lmtribune.com or (208) 848-2261.