“ Salut Petey: A review of a great local credit union that has been serving the state of Louisiana since 1956”
By: Allan R Kirby
Credit Unions are often considered geographically small, irrelevant and just do not have the depth and breadth of services that big banks have to succeed in today's technology driven world but Mysmallbank.com believes differently.
In fact Mysmallbank.com believes Credit Unions provide a superior customer service experience; with attractive products and services and provide its members competitive savings and mortgage rates. Additionally Credit Unions provide critical support to small businesses owners and the agricultural community which is often left behind by the big banks. For example, by leverage local deposits from its members, a local Credit Unions can provide loans back to local businesses and customers from the same community. A win for the entire community.
Mysmallbank.com feels compelled to find the best credit unions and community banks in order to write a small review. These reviews are to help you learn more about community banks, possibly one that's in your area that you might be interested in. In this review we are choosing the following local Credit Union:
Location: Louisiana
Headquartered: 3232 S Sherwood Forest Blvd, Baton Rouge.
Branches: 14.
Year Established: 1956.
History:
Pelican State Credit Union was originally chartered as the Department of Hospitals Credit Union, located in downtown Baton Rouge. Their initial membership served the Louisiana charity hospitals, mental health centers and state office personnel. However in 1988, the credit union amended its name to Pelican State Credit Union to better represent the expanding field of membership.
Pelican State Credit Union today is much larger than when they first started. In fact more recently, December 2017 to be exact, Pelican State with $347.8 million in assets merged with St. Jules Credit Union, which had $10.2 million in assets. This merger welcomed a branch in Lafayette Louisiana along with four employees and 2,627 new members.
“Pelican's corporate headquarters is located in the city of Baton Rouge, a city rich in history going all the way back to the 1700's. Baton Rouge which translates in english to mean “red stick", is the farthest port upstream of the Mississippi River that is capable of handling Panamax ships(1).
Finally we found that Pelican State Credit Union is federally insured credit union through NCUA (Note 2) and is also part of the CO-OP Shared Branch network.
Reviews:
Mysmallbank.com did take the time to read reviews on Pelican State Credit Union knowing that reviews only provide a partial picture of the Credit Union. What we mean by this is that reviews do not always reflect the true banking experience you will receive at one of their branches. Overall the reviews we found online where excellent and showed Pelican State does provide great service to their members. Secondly we also found that people like working for Pelican State. This is very important because working in a toxic work environment will reflect in the banking experience members will receive from the employees.
What stood out the most is the financial wellness Services provided to members which include: Free Credit Counselling, Financial Wellness Workshops and Youth Financial Education. Clearly PSCU wants to help engage with their members and provide ways to improve their financial wellbeing. On a lighter note we do love the youtube video on how to draw Petey the Pelican, good job on getting something out for the kids to do. As a speaker in french and english, this was truly a nice opportunity to take the time and review Pelican State Credit Union.
Given the customer and employee reviews along with their learning tools and focus on helping members improve their financial wellbeing; We are giving Pelican State Credit Credit Union a designation of Excellent choice, Credit Union (Note 3). So if you're looking for a great community based credit union and you live or plan to live in the areas Pelican State Credit Union (PSCU) serves; this could be a great financial institution for you.
The following provides additional information on Pelican State Union's services, branches as well as fees.
Services Offered:
Full Service Credit Union: Yes
Banking: Checking/Savings.
Investing: Yes.
Credit Union Loans: Mortgage, Auto, Home Equity, Personal and Educational.
Credit Card: Visa.
Small Business: Banking and Loan Services offered.
Safe Deposit boxes: Yes
Routing Number: 265473485
Credit Union Online:
Online and Mobile Banking: Yes
Pelican State CU Branch Locations:
1. Alexandria Branch
2. Baton Rouge at Mid City Branch
3. Denham Springs Branch
4. Hammond Branch
5. Jackson Branch
6. Lafayette at St. Jules Branch
7. Lake Charles Branch
8. Monroe at Conway
9. Monroe Branch
10. Opelousas at OGH Branch
11. Opelousas at St. Landry Branch
12. Pineville Branch
13. Prairieville Branch
14. Zachary Branch
Fee Schedule:
Yes: Click Here
Learn more:
Contact:
Toll-Free: 1-800-351-4877
Mailing Address
3232 S Sherwood Forest Blvd, Baton Rouge,
LA 70816, USA
Learn to Draw Petey the Pelican on youtube
Notes:
1. Panamax is the term given to ships specifically designed to travel through the original dimensions of the Panama Canal and the smallest of its locks.
2. The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) is one of two agencies that provide deposit insurance to depositors in U.S. depository institutions. NCUA's standard maximum share insurance amount at $250,000.00
3. Periodically Mysmallbank.com will name a credit union as a top choice (Top credit union) based on a number of criteria such as customer and employee reviews, complaints, satisfaction, growth, locations, brand and social responsibility. We only select the best credit unions, so they must meet minimum standards of excellences (Excellent Choice) in order to be reviewed by mysmallbank.com.
In Review is a segment of the MySmallBank.com blog written by Allan R Kirby, who writes and produces Personal Finance articles and videos along with My Success Magazine.
Disclosure: mysmallbank.com nor the author received any compensation from the mentioned credit union for this article. The article is our opinion only and is written to help readers learn more about local credit unions. Every credit union we review is notified via email at the time of publication.