A small-town branch strategy for dispersed members
East Idaho Credit Union calls the state’s second-largest city home but also has branches in communities with fewer than 1,000 residents, where members are known to drive 30 miles or more to conduct their financial business.
Celebrating its 85 anniversary, community-chartered East Idaho Credit Union ($309.6M, Idaho Falls, ID) serves more than 33,000 members across cities and towns that trace their heritage back to Old West wagon trails and river crossings.
The credit union is based in Idaho Falls, the state’s second-largest city boasting a metropolitan area population of 145,000, and from there operates nine branches serving a wide area. Its footprint encompasses urban and suburban cities along the Interstate 15-U.S. 20 corridor as well as remote towns in central-northern Idaho. In Arco, population 880, East Idaho is the only financial institution for miles. The credit union’s most remote branch is in Salmon, population 3,108, which is located more than 150 miles north of headquarters.
Across America, rural banks have been closing, driven in part by the growing use of mobile and digital banking services. Banks closed branches in rural counties at a rate of 14% between 2012 and 2017, with poor communities seeing a 50% decline in branches. In many towns, the loss of a branch means fewer visitors and less commerce.
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