CFCU Has a New Name, See the Beginning of Beginnings Credit Union On X101!

Jack Eves: [00:00:00] X101 Always Classic, Jack here in the studio, And joining me today is Katie Foley, the Vice President of Marketing and Sales for CFCU Community Credit Union. Katie, thank you so much for joining me in the studio. How are you doing today?  

Katie Foley: I’m doing great, Jack. Thanks for having me.  

Jack Eves: Of course. Yeah. And you know there is some big news coming with CFCU this summer. You want to give us a little insight on that? 

Katie Foley: There certainly is, and some of you may have heard already, especially if you’re a member with us, but we are very excited to announce that we are changing our name and as of this, July, CFCU will now be called Beginnings Credit Union. 

Jack Eves: Oh, that is definitely great news to hear. And I’m loving the name already. But speaking of Beginnings Credit Union, where did that idea and that name come from for the rebranding? 

Katie Foley: Sure. Well, it might be best if I, I give you a little bit of context. You know, CFCU has been around since 1953 and you know, for over 70 years we have been known as CFCU.

Right. But really, that name, whether you know it or not, has all already changed a few times. We started as CFCU, which stood for Cornell Federal Credit Union. 

Jack Eves: That’s right, yes. 

Katie Foley: And then in the late nineties we went through a charter change and then it was Cornell Finger Lakes Credit Union. And then once again, we went through a name change where CFCU was just that C-F-C-U Community Credit Union, where the acronym no longer stood for anything. And you know, that’s caused some bumps in the road. It’s caused some confusion. 

Jack Eves: Oh, I’m sure. 

Katie Foley: And we also sort of felt that over the years as we have progressed in terms of the products we’ve developed to serve our members, the way in which we’ve embraced technology, the way in which we’re trying to, to grow and serve more individuals, that the name no longer really represented who we were. And so felt it was important to undergo a rebranded name change so we could stay relevant and also, uh, tell our story a little bit better.

Jack Eves: Definitely with that. And like you said, you know, CFCU originally stood for that and now it’s, you know it’s a bunch of letters put together with the credit union. You know, beginnings, it’s a smoother thing in that transition. And I know probably some customers hearing this right now are listening saying, well, what does that mean for me? Is there gonna be an impact on them? 

Katie Foley: Sure. And the the quick answer there is no. So rest assured your accounts will stay the same, your passwords will stay the same. The services that you know and love and rely on will stay the same. It’s just gonna be a new look, a fresh feel, some fun colors. We might even sound a little different on the radio. But we are gonna be the same credit union that you’ve always known and loved serving you in a variety of ways, continuing to support our community and all that we do, just with a different look in a different feel and a different name.

Jack Eves: Yeah, a different name. But that’s awesome to hear. And again. It’s launching in July, so they can start to see that transition probably happening at their local branch and all that. Right? 

Katie Foley: Exactly. And some of the changes are happening already. We felt it was important to introduce this to our members and not have it be an immediate change overnight So we shared our news in early April, and over the course of April, through the end of June, beginning of July, as we prepare, we’re putting out some communications and letting everybody know what’s happening. Some people might even see some paint changes happening in the branches as we speak. It’s very exciting. Yes. I think, everybody will really embrace the new colors. And if you’d like to get a, a sneak peek at sort of where we’re heading, you can visit our current website at mycfcu.com and right on that front page, you can click learn more about our new brand, and you can get a sneak peek of our new look, our new feel. And there’s even a fun two minute video that you can watch that talks a little bit more about why we made the decision that we did. 

Jack Eves: And that’s perfect. You know, making it a comfortable transition for your customers. And I know speaking before we went on air, you mentioned too the Beginnings branding. You also took a lot of input too from your customers. 

Katie Foley: We certainly did, yeah. And our members and our volunteers. So this was a process that we took a lot of time with. It was a strategic decision with input from our board of directors and our leadership. Team and we worked with a company who specializes in financial rebrands called “Adrenaline”, and we did multiple focus groups with both members and non-members.

Jack Eves: A lot of work right there. 

Katie Foley: Our staff, our volunteers, and we were, we were shocked to be honest, that of all of the names that we looked at we narrowed it down to four. And then of those four, we had everybody sort of vote in all of these variety of focus groups and the clear winner in every single group. So we thought we were gonna have to duke it out a little bit and make some hard decisions, but it was pretty clear. And that was even rare for our vendor that we worked with. They were surprised at the results.  So it feels reassuring. I know change is hard for everybody. 

Jack Eves: Of course. 

Katie Foley: Yes. And some people might not embrace it immediately, and truth be told, a lot of us didn’t either. But we know that it will serve us and our members well moving forward. 

Jack Eves: You know, it’s, it’s just getting used to it, adapting to it. But you know, when you’re getting input from that and coming to such a. I guess you’d say easy decision for that new branding and you know, the agreement towards it. It’s a little less stressful on your end, I hope. Right? Yeah. 

Katie Foley: Very, very true. And I mean, who, you know, beginnings to us, it’s sort of this notion that every day on every moment could be a new beginning, no matter where you are in your life, especially around financial decisions. It could be your first savings account, could be you’re planning for retirement or end of life, you know, who knows You’re buying a house, you’re having a child. We have all these moments in our life that are considered new beginnings and we wanna make sure we’re there for our members. At each and any one of those times 

Jack Eves: And Beginnings is a perfect touch for that. Katie, thank you so much again. CFCU is gonna be rebranding to Beginnings Credit Union beginning in July, but you can also start to see that process happening now, and you can learn more at mycfcu.com. Katie, thank you so much for joining us today. 

Katie Foley: Thank you so much, Jack, for having me. It’s been a pleasure.

Jack Eves: A pleasure indeed. For X 1 0 1, I’m Jack.