Kahului / Hawaii / United States
Valley Isle Community Federal Credit Union is a full-service financial institution serving all residents on the island of Maui. Established in 1940, our goal is to provide our members high-value financial products with excellent member service and ultimately, improve their quality of lives, as well as the quality of our community. Valley Isle Community Federal Credit Union is a financial cooperative, owned and operated by our members. Our members deposit money into their accounts, and that money is lent to other members. We make loans only to members. Each member has one vote, regardless of the size of their account, to elect our Board of Directors. Our Board of Directors are all non-paid volunteers, who are responsible to govern and lead our credit union. Because of our cooperative structure, we are usually able to provide higher dividend rates, lower loan rates, lower fees and better service to our members. Like most other credit unions, our credit union was formed simply because there was a need for one. In the early 1900s, agriculture was by far the biggest industry in Hawaii. The sugar plantations, including the Hawaiian Commercial & Sugar ( HC&S ) Company, brought in numerous immigrants to work as laborers. The immigrants came from all over- Japan, China, Portugal, and the Philippines to name a few. They almost all came from very desolate economic situations, hoping to make better lives for themselves and their families. But when they got to Hawaii, they were not a whole lot better off. They worked very long hours for very little pay. Having no credit and minimal income, the established financial institutions were very slow to lend them money when they needed it. They were forced to turn to each other for help.
