In 1953, Southwestern Public Service CO (SPS) employees came together to establish Public Service Employees Credit Union. This not-for-profit cooperative would serve employees and their families growing financial needs under the mission of “people helping people.” As the company continued to grow, so did the credit union and in 1999 Public Service Employees Credit Union was renamed and rebranded as Access Credit Union and membership was opened to select employer groups. In July of 2003 Access was granted a community charter to allow anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Potter or Randall counties eligibility for membership. The credit union operates 3 branch locations in Amarillo: 6401 S. Bell (opened 2000), 201 Tascosa Road (opened 2008) and 2531 Paramount Blvd. (opened 2014). In addition, it also has launched a service center in 2013 which fields an average of 7,000 phone calls per month. The credit union today looks vastly different from the one in 1953. In building on the mission of “people helping people,” the board and senior team began in the early 2000’s to refocus toward the future. “Helping You Build Financial Security” was defined as the credit union’s purpose statement under the foundational core values of “relationships, integrity and service.” Since that time the credit union has doubled in asset size, with growth sustained by making member focused decisions, and introducing member focused products and services. For Access, member focused means one thing, always providing “trusted advice” regardless of the issue or situation. We believe this helps more families in our community and those families will tell other families and friends. Bank profits generally benefit a group of shareholders who own stock in the bank. Credit union profits are returned by lower loan rates, and fees as well as higher dividend rates on deposits to all credit union members. Another major difference is that credit unions are governed by volunteer board of directors elected by the membership. At Access and at most credit unions these board members are not compensated monetarily. Simply put, credit unions offer many similar services of banks (loans, checking accounts, online banking, apps, etc.) but serve a different purpose: to provide a better deal to the members. Like other financial institutions, credit unions are closely regulated. Our credit union is state chartered, meaning the Texas Credit Union Department along with the National Credit Union Administration regularly examine the credit union for safety and soundness. Deposits are federally insured up to $250,000 (possibly more if structured accordingly) by the NCUA, a U.S. Government agency. In addition to this, the credit union also conducts private audits annually and has a very strong capital ratio (see the annual President’s letter to membership on this website). We are proud to be large enough to meet the needs of our community but small enough to still call our members by name when they open our doors. We would love the opportunity to earn your business- call us today click here to join.