Our History

Tri County Area FCU

At TCAFCU, it is our mission to be your trusted partner as you navigate through life’s journey.  We have been a part of our community since 1949 and we exist to educate, empower and encourage our members to realize their potential and achieve their goals.

Tri County Area FCU (TCAFCU) is a Pennsylvania community-chartered credit union serving 41 townships and boroughs within Berks, Montgomery and Chester counties.

If you live, work, worship, go to school or own a business in one of the townships and boroughs we serve, you are eligible to become a member!

You can also rest assured that your money is safe. Deposit accounts are insured up to $250,000 by the National Credit Union Administration Insurance Fund, a federal agency.

Once you open a savings account, you become a lifetime member regardless of where you live or work as long as you maintain your account in good standing.

So, compare us against other institutions. you’ll see why so many people in our community have selected Tri County Area Federal Credit Union to be their financial institution.

TCAFCU History

In July of 1949, eight employees of the Firestone Rubber Company in Pottstown pledged five dollars apiece and signed an organizational certificate with the Federal Security Agency, the regulator for credit unions at that time. The organization certificate was approved on August 11, 1949, and Firestone #336 FCU was created with $40.00 in assets. After the Firestone plant closed, the credit union became a community-chartered credit union for the three Pottsgrove townships and was renamed Pottsgroves Community Federal Credit Union. After a merger with the Beth-Pottstown FCU, which had the community charter for the borough of Pottstown, the name was changed to Tri County Area FCU in July 1984. We opened our Pennsburg branch in 2006, our student branch at Pottsgrove High School in 2009, and our student branch at Pottstown High School in 2013.

Today, the credit union serves people who live, work, worship, or go to school in forty-one townships and boroughs.

TCAFCU Mission

To be your trusted financial partner as you navigate through life’s journey.

TCAFCU Vision

To be the best place to borrow and save in the Tri County Area, by offering affordable products and services, providing efficient technologies, and cultivating relationships within our diverse communities.

TCAFCU Value Statement

We will fulfill our mission by educating, empowering, and encouraging our members to realize their potential and achieve their goals.

The Credit Union Movement

Credit unions were formed in Europe in the early 1800’s based on a simple premise: that people could pool their money together and make loans to each other.

It wasn’t until the beginning of the 20th century that the idea crossed the Atlantic into Canada. Although the first credit union act was passed in Massachusetts in 1909, it wasn’t until the 1920’s and 30’s that the credit union movement really took off in the United States. By 1935, more than 3,300 credit unions in 39 states were serving 641,800 members.

Today’s credit unions have evolved to provide the wide range of financial products and services that members need and want. Credit unions represent one of the strongest financial networks in the world while continuing to uphold the founding philosophy of service to members, a sense of social responsibility and cooperative uniqueness. As of August 2014, credit unions surpassed the 100 million members mark, a significant milestone that’s a testament to their business structure. The motto of the credit union movement is “People Helping People”.