Citizen community credit union

Business Editors

PLYMOUTH, Mich.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Nov. 3, 2003

Community Federal Credit Union, headquartered in Plymouth, Michigan, today announced its name change to Community Financial. The federally-chartered credit union made the change to more strongly emphasize its commitment to the communities it serves and to better communicate the full range of financial services it offers.

The credit union's CEO Roger Ballard said, "Our decision to become 'Community Financial' came after months of research and talking with our members, employees, non-members and others in the community."

He added, "For us, 'Community' is very important, because we work hard to be a good corporate citizen in the communities where our members live and work, and 'Financial' best describes our full range of services which includes loans, savings and investment programs for personal and commercial accounts."

Community Financial's new tagline "Thinking Forward. Banking Right." also reflects the expansion of services that have been added during the credit union's 52-year history. More recently, comfortable Internet stations with coffee service have been added to some of the branches to give members more convenience in looking up their accounts and other financial information.

Ballard said, "Simply put, we want to make banking easier for our members and ensure that these services are delivered in a friendly, professional manner."

Among its community outreach programs, Community Financial participates in area Chamber activities, operates 17 student credit unions in local schools, provides annual scholarships to graduating seniors, sponsors member education seminars and volunteers for special community-based programs.

Community Financial's members have already been advised of the name change which has no affect on their accounts or the benefits of credit union membership. Promotional activities to communicate the name change to others will be ongoing over the next several months.

Headquartered in Plymouth, Mich., membership in Community Financial is open to anyone who lives, works, worships, volunteers or attends school in the Michigan cities, townships or counties of Plymouth, Canton, Northville, Novi, Alpena, Otsego and Montmorency. With more than 34,000 members, Community Financial provides financial services to members at seven branch locations and through a variety of automated and online services. For more information, visit the credit union web site at www.cfcu.org or call (734) 453-1200 or (877) 937-2328, toll free.