TTCU History

A cigar box in the right-hand desk drawer in Miss Wilson’s room is the story of how Tulsa Teachers Credit Union, with its handful of school teacher founders and assets of $1,600, grew to become TTCU Federal Credit Union, with more than 135,000 members and more than $2.0 billion in assets.

Established in 1934 as Tulsa Teachers Credit Union, TTCU was founded in the midst of the Great Depression. After years of booming success with the discovery of oil at the turn of the century, Tulsa faced dire circumstances after the stock market crash of 1929 and the subsequent East Texas oil discovery in 1930. Little money was to be had, and the few banks that had money weren’t lending it out. Despite hard times and little money, education did not grind to a halt. Earning salaries as little as $100 a month, while still expected to dress in suits and ties and proper dresses, no group of professionals needed financial services more than teachers.

Thus, the creation of Tulsa Teachers Credit Union.

Miss Linnie B. Wilson, a bookkeeping teacher at Central High School was approached by a fellow teacher, George Pearson, about managing a new financial cooperative for teachers that he and the Tulsa Classroom Teachers Association intended on organizing – a credit union. A credit union was a different kind of financial institution than a bank, because it was not-for-profit and owned by its members. Miss Wilson accepted the position and November 20, 1934 marked the official organization of Tulsa Teachers Credit Union. The credit union had a very humble beginning – in a cigar box in the right-hand desk drawer in Miss Wilson’s room, to be exact. But, within only three years, it had grown to more than 400 members, and Miss Wilson was forced to relocate the credit union from her cigar box to a new office building. The concept of “not for profit, but for service” guided the small credit union as loans were made to help new teachers buy suits to wear in the classroom, as well as to help teachers make ends meet in the summer months when school was out – and that concept still guides the credit union today.

Over the years, we have expanded and changed our membership and qualification standards, locations and even our name – but we haven’t strayed from our underlying principle of serving our members. 

What's a Credit Union?

What makes a credit union different than a bank? A credit union is owned and controlled by its members. We are a not-for-profit organization, which means that all earnings go back into the credit union to benefit our members – not stockholders. When we opened our doors more than 85 years ago, it was so people could help each other meet their financial needs, and it’s still about that today! That’s what we’re all about - helping people. Everything is for the benefit of our members.

Credit unions are cooperatives. A cooperative (co-op) belongs to the people who use it, and operates solely for the members' benefit. The members share equally in the co-op's directions, either directly as a volunteer, or by electing the board of directors that oversees policies and hires top management to run the daily business. Each member of a credit union has one vote in the selection of a board of directors, regardless of the size of the member's account balance.

Cooperatives include:

• Open and voluntary membership
• Democratic member control
• Member economic participation

Seven Cooperative Principles for Credit Unions

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