Banks and credit unions have always been there when somebody needed a little help either saving the family farm or building their dream of owning a business. With services specially designed to suit almost every need, these financial institutions have been around for hundreds of years, helping people succeed and teaching them the value of money. An Oregon credit union might be the support you’re looking for in your hour of need. Or maybe one of the banks in Portland Oregon could help you out. No matter the case, all of the people involved in the financial and banking field in the state are here to assist you in any way possible.

Which Were the First Banks in Portland Oregon?

The oldest banks in Portland Oregon https://www.onpointcu.com/ history are The Ladd & Tilton Bank, the First National Bank and the Bank of British Columbia. The first bank that called Portland home was the Ladd & Tilton Bank, which opened its Portland office in 1967. This was also the oldest bank in the Northwest, being founded in 1859. The bank operated until 1925 when it was bought by the First Bank of the United States.

Banks in Portland Oregon have gone through many changes, but one thing remained certain: the high level of customer satisfaction. Because, when you do your banking in Portland, regardless of who you’re doing it with, you can be sure they aim to please.

Some pros and cons for banks
1. Banks tend to come together and form a network, meaning that they affiliate with other banks to provide more and better services to their customers and be more convenient.
2. The customer-employee interaction may be a bit cold and distant, because bank employees are usually just that, employees doing their jobs.
3. Since banks have higher operating costs than credit unions, fees charged for various services can be higher.
4. Banks like to be more tech-savvy, offering more internet solutions to their clients, reducing the need for a physical encounter.

The Establishing of an Oregon Credit Union

Credit unions in Oregon got off to a slower start than the rest of the country. While the first credit union in the United States was established in New Hampshire in 1908, the first one in Oregon got its charter in 1915. Although it didn’t last very long because it was a scam, that was the first recorded credit union established in the state of Oregon.

The following Oregon credit union https://www.onpointcu.com/didn’t do so well either. Neither did the third. It wasn’t until the late 1920s that a real credit union movement came into its own in Oregon. The Portland Postal Employees Credit Union came into being, in summer 1928. After that credit unions started springing up all over the city, and then the state. By the end of 1928, the Oregon credit union landscape looked different.

With services just like those offered by banks and a more people-oriented take on the business, the modern Oregon credit union, like many others in other states has become a vital part of the financial services landscape. Oregon today has 75 fully functioning credit unions, with close to 300 branches in almost 100 cities statewide. The larger ones have upwards of 100.000 members, and assets of over 3 billion dollars. All in all, Oregon has a combined number of over 1.300.000 members enlisted in all its credit unions. Most of these are created in and around Portland.

Some pros and cons for credit unions
1. Credit unions give each of their members the chance to vote when it comes to choosing the Board of Directors. Being a member-owned organization that means that every member’s opinion counts.
2. To do business with a credit union you must first become a member. That status is achieved by opening an account and paying a nominal fee.
3. Credit unions don’t have to pay certain taxes because they are non-profit organizations. That means that they can charge their customers less and give them higher interest rates on their deposits.
4. If you choose to do business with a credit union, you might want to consider that being a smaller institution they might not offer their clients the same services as banks. That means that you might not find so many affiliated ATMs or they might not offer internet banking services.