Altura Credit Union

Altura Credit Union History

Altura was founded in 1957 by two school employees in Riverside, Calif., as Riverside Schools Credit Union. Originally founded to serve the financial needs of school district employees, in 1998 it merged with Riverside County Federal Credit Union, which served employees of Riverside County to become Riverside County's Credit Union. Over time, it grew to become, and remains today, the largest credit union headquartered in Riverside County.

In 2004, the credit union expanded its field of membership to include Riverside and San Diego counties and selected cities in San Bernardino and San Diego counties. To better reflect its expanding geographic service area, Riverside County's Credit Union changed its name to Altura Credit Union, on October 1, 2004. Publicity for the name change said "Our new name means height, elevation, altitude."

Pronounced "all-TOUR-ah," the name was accompanied by a new logo, design elements and brand identity. The colors reflect the water, agriculture and mountains of the Southern California communities served by Altura Credit Union.

Merger with Visterra Credit Union

Altura Credit Union and Visterra Credit Union, both based in Riverside County, Calif., announced their intention to merge their financial institutions on Feb. 19, 2015. The announcement cited a desire to better serve the needs of their combined members. The merger was finalized on Aug. 1, 2015, which created a $1.1 billion credit union with 118,000. At the time of the announcement, Altura Credit Union, headquartered in Riverside, Calif., had $757.3 million in assets and nearly 84,000 Members. Visterra Credit Union, headquartered in Moreno Valley, Calif., had $335.6 million in assets and approximately 34,000 Members. On March 1, 2016, Altura completed the final piece of the merger process - the conversion of the its core systems.

Membership

Altura Credit Union's field of membership is set by the California Department of Financial Institutions. Membership in Altura is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in Riverside and San Diego counties, plus the residents of selected cities in Orange County [Anaheim, Garden Grove, Irvine, and Santa Ana] and San Bernardino County [Rancho Cucamonga, Ontario, and Fontana]. In August 2015, Altura completed a merger with Moreno Valley-based Visterra Credit Union. Altura integrated Visterra's membership guidelines, and expanded its membership to U.S. military, U.S. government and civilian employees working at March Air Reserve Base in Riverside County, and retirees of the U.S. Armed Forces.

College Scholarship Program

In 1993, Altura Credit Union established a College Scholarship program. Any student graduating from a Riverside County high school, public or private, is eligible to apply. Since the program's inception, the Altura Foundation has awarded $526,950 in college scholarships to 586 Riverside County high school seniors to assist in their pursuit of higher education. Additionally, students also can apply for the Bonnie Gail Polis Educational Endowment and the Terry Ferrone Memorial Scholarship. In 2016, the Altura Board of Directors created two new endowments through the Altura Foundation: The Altura Board of Directors Educational Endowment and the Dr. Linda Wisher Educational Endowment in honor of the long-time Altura Board member who passed away in 2016. The Wisher Endowment awarded its first scholarship in 2016.

Community Commitment

Altura is a community-based financial institution serving Riverside County and the greater Inland Empire. Altura contributes to non-profit, charitable, educational, military support, police, public service and business support organizations throughout the Inland Empire. In addition to monetary contributions, employees are encouraged to support their favorite organizations by volunteering their time. In 2015, Altura donated $250,000 to local organizations..

Branch locations

Altura Credit Union operates 13 branch locations and 52 Altura-branded ATMs in Riverside County. Altura members also have access to over 5,200 shared branching locations and 30,000 free ATMs nationwide.

City of Riverside:

City of Moreno Valley:

City of Murrieta:

City of Corona:

Desert Region:

AutoExpert

Altura Credit Union operates one subsidiary company. Auto Expert is an automotive locating and buying service that assist Altura's members (as well as members of 11 partner credit unions) in searching for their next pre-owned and/or new vehicle. Their services are very similar to their competitor Autoland in Southern California. In 2007, AutoExpert was honored with California Awards for Performance Excellence (CAPE) Gold Award. It is the California equivalent of he Malcolm Baldrige National Quality Program. CAPE recognizes organizations that demonstrate superior performance in seven key business areas including leadership; strategic planning, customer and market focus, measurement and knowledge management, human resources, process management and business results.

History

In the late 1950s, Peggy Green, a secretary at Riverside Middle School, decided that classified school employees needed a credit union of their own. Her husband was a teacher, and belonged to a teacher’s credit union, but only certificated employees could join – membership was not available if the person was classified. In October 1956, she invited other school secretaries to a meeting to organize a credit union for classified personnel within the Riverside Unified School District (RUSD).

On August 22, 1957, they were granted a state charter as Riverside City Schools Employees Credit Union, listing the following six organizers: Ethel C. Collier, Louise Bailey, Ruth C. Klock, Frank W. Meyer, George W. Peters, and Charles Sandell. Ethell Collier handled the business from her desk at the RUSD payroll office. The credit union moved to a portable building at Palm School, and then to its own office on Brockton Avenue. On March 1, 1973, set up its headquarters and main branch at 6403 Riverside Ave., Riverside, which continues as a branch location today. In 1981 opened a branch office in Cathedral City, followed by the Corona in 1986, Moreno Valley in 1992, and the Member Service Center in 1995, which is now called the Operations & Technology Center.

Altura Credit Union milestones: