By Steve Yablonski
Oswego County Federal Credit Union will open a full-service branch in Phoenix later this fall. It will be the credit union’s sixth location overall, according to William Carhart, CEO.
“We will have lenders there, we will have drive-thru — it will be a fully functional branch for everything that we offer,” he said. “We will likely open in late September, early October. If everything stays on track and we can get everything that we need to build it, definitely opening this fall.”
The branch will be located at 101 Volney St. It will have the same hours as the other locations.
The 3,000-sq.-ft. building is bigger than Oswego County Federal Credit Union’s Fulton branch, “a bit bigger layout-wise, certainly smaller than our headquarters [90 E. Bridge St., Oswego],” Carhart said. “It is a pretty good size building.”
The new site will be two stories, which includes an office for the CEO. “On those nice snowy days, I won’t have to drive from Baldwinsville all the way up [to Oswego],” he quipped.
“We’re very much getting engrained with the Phoenix community,” Carhart added. “We are going to have a rotating art display of works from the school district’s art programs.”
The Phoenix site will also include some unique feature, he teased, adding “I will keep it under my hat until we open the building — we will be very much Phoenix! The colors inside, some of the design pieces, the rotating art display; we’re super excited for that to come along.”
The new location will employ seven or eight staff.
“We have been fortunate in finding staff. Maybe that is due to our community involvement, the reputation that we have. It has worked out very well for us by and large,” he said. “We will offer all the services we have at the other locations, drive-thru service, drive-thru ATM, all of our lendings. Really everything that we do in our other locations.”
In 2021, the credit union opened a branch at 262 W. Seneca St., Oswego, as well as a student branch at CiTi in Mexico.
“The Phoenix branch is number six for us. We are excited to be reopening the CiTi branch this fall as well. We had it open for about two months and then COVID hit.
“We are very excited to get down into Phoenix. I think it is a community that largely only has one financial institution; so we are ready to come down to the community and bring all the value that we can bring to them.”
Founded in 1975, the credit union serves more than 12,600 members.
Besides the two locations in Oswego and one at CiTi, the credit union has locations at Scenic Avenue in Mexico and state Route 418 in Fulton.
