Hartford Federal Credit Union (HFCU) and a tiny credit cooperative serving Hartford Courant staff and other media professionals will merge, effective Monday.
Hartford Federal CEO and President Edward Danek Jr. said Thursday his $125 million-asset, 18,000-member credit union has all regulatory and shareholder approvals of its “voluntary merger’’ with CT1 Media Credit Union Inc., a $1.2 million-asset credit co-op with about 300 members.
State-chartered CT1, formerly The Hartford Courant Employees Credit Union, was founded in 1956. Its lone office inside the 285 Broad St. headquarters for The Courant, Fox TV 61 and CT1 Media, closed permanently on Thursday, Danek said.
CT1 members will be able to access any of HFCU’s six Hartford area branches. The larger co-op also participates in a nationwide CU-branch network that allows members access to any one of more than 5,000 member-CU branches in the U.S. free of charge, Danek said.
CT1 lacked many of the financial products and services available to most CU members, such as checking and debit accounts and credit cards, he said.Â
Starting Monday, July 1, those members can access those HFCU services, in addition to traditional auto, personal and home-equity credit lines.
Danek said initial talks about a merger began as informal conversations with Ray Gmeindo, CT1’s long-time manager, who is retiring.
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CORRECTION: An earlier version misidentified Hartford Federal Credit Union.
