History
Elcom Credit Union operated from its head office at Elcom Colleries at Doyalson. Until 1983 the only way for members to access their funds was by cheque delivered by a courier. At this stage Elcom had 3125 members nearly $6,000,000 in assets. In 1983 a Special General Meeting was held where it was decided that membership would be open to the community at large thus becoming a community based credit union rather than an industrial credit union. This was held in response to significant demand for savings and loan products that saw a waiting period of up to three months for loans to be approved. Subsequently, five branches were opened at Toukley, Toronto, Morisset, Swansea and Wyong. The clause allowing this in the Credit Union's constitution was:
| “ | Membership is currently available to any person that is a resident of Australia or the body corporate has an office or a business address in Australia. | ” |
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—Elcom Credit Union Constitution |
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In May 1987, Elcom held a Special General Meeting where it was decided that the credit union be merged with The Lakes Power Station Employees Credit Union. Prior to the merge, Elcom had 6,492 members and more than $15,000,000 in assets. The merge with The Lakes Employees Credit Union gave the Credit Union a larger presence throughout the Central Coast and Lake Macquarie with new branches at Eraring Power Station, Vales Point Power Station, Gorokan and The Entrance as well as agencies at Liddell State Mine and Belmont Sportsmans Club and a larger branch presence at Munmorah Power Station. Earlier in the year Elcom had moved its head office from Doyalson to Morisset following changes at Munmorah Power Station. Following the merger, it was relocated to the The Lakes' head office at Gorokan. The branch there was closed in 1998, but continued operating as Head Office until October 2006.
The following years saw significant change in operations at Elcom. New branches were opened at Erina (1991), Woy Woy (1993), Lake Haven (1994) and Glendale (1996). The agencies were closed (1988), as were the branches at The Entrance (1989) and the power stations (1992). Wyong branch was moved to Tuggerah in 1994 to coincide with the opening of Westfield Shoppingtown. As well as this Elcom broadened its product range to include products such as insurance, cheque books, ATM access and travellers cheques.
Elcom Credit Union grew further in 1997 when it merged with Care Credit Union. Care was based on the Central Coast and was an industry credit union for Central Coast health employees. This gave Elcom a stronger membership base as well as a larger branch network. Care had branches located at Gosford in the Hospital and Kanwal in Wyong Hospital. The Wyong Hospital branch was closed following the merger as there were several other branches nearby. Gosford was retained for several years also, but closed in 2001.
First Choice Travel was a venture by Elcom Credit Union with Holiday Coast Credit Union that began in December 1999 with the opening of Garden City (now Westfield Kotara) branch and has since been incorporated into several branches as well as at Port Macquarie. Elcom Credit Union's two-third share of First Choice Travel was sold in December 2005 to Hunter Travel Group but continues to be associated with the Credit Union.
During March 2005 Elcom Credit Union adopted a new logo and uniform with new branch signage also being put into place in order reinforce its presence in the market place and to make the organisation more visible to existing and prospective members.
Read more about this topic: Elcom Credit Union
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