Community Credit Unions in the Chicago Area

It's hard to find community credit unions in the Chicago area that don't require you to work for a particular employer or have other organizational affiliations like military service, church membership, alumni status, etc. However, there are a handful of credit unions out there requiring nothing more than a residence or job - of any sort - within a particular part of the Chicago or Chicagoland.

If you're looking for an open-membership credit union of this sort, check out these options. There aren't many, and some of them have a more suburban orientation. But it's good to know that you can still opt to bank with a nonprofit, even if you don't have the traditional affiliations that many credit unions require.

Community Credit Unions in the Chicago area: Access Credit Union
www.access-cu.com
Access is one of the few Chicago credit unions open to the general public, though they limit their services mostly to residents south of the Eisenhower. They require you to live or work in Chicago zip code 60616 or the "area bordered by Lake Michigan on the East, California Ave on the West, Garfield Ave/55th Street on the South, and Harrison Street on the North." This includes the UIC district and neighborhoods like Chinatown, Bridgeport, Pilsen, and the South Loop. In addition to these geographic borders within the city of Chicago, new members can join if they live in one of many suburbs (see the website for a complete list). Even though Access maintains these geographic guidelines, they only apply to people signing up as new members. If your job or your residence changes, you can still keep them as your credit union. And as for services, they offer the expected basic banking perks: debit cards, online banking, loans, etc.

Community Credit Unions in the Chicago area: South Side Community Federal Credit Union
www.southsidecommunityfcu.org
Still developing its services, SSFCU was started in 2003 as a social action initiative by its founding members - people who wanted residents of Chicago's South Side to have a community-owned credit union to counterbalance all the payday loan stores and check cashing huts. Though far from sophisticated in their services, SSFCU functions for a worthy cause and opens itself to a wide range of members. For full services (including loans), members must live, work, or belong to an organization headquartered within the service area: "from 22nd Street on the North to the city limits on the South and from Lake Michigan on the East to Western Avenue on the West." However, for the more day-to-day bank account services, members are welcomed from outside that area.

Community Credit Unions in the Chicago area: First Northern Credit Union
www.fncu.org
First Northern only welcomes people who live or work in the following counties: Boone, DeKalb, DuPage, Grundy, Kane, Kendall, Lee, McHenry, Ogle, Stephenson, Will and Winnebago. In other words, they cover the more extreme suburbs of Chicagoland and beyond - but nothing in the city itself, even though they have a downtown location designed for commuters.

Community Credit Unions in the Chicago area: Great Lakes Credit Union
www.glcu.org
This is another suburban-based credit union whose open-access policy includes only residents of Lake County or McHenry County (IL) or Kenosha County (WI). If you're located in the northern burbs and are seeking a full-service credit union, Great Lakes is the most robust option - with plenty of services, including credit cards alongside traditional bank accounts.