2,700 customers to lose eastside credit union Feb. 29, MSUFCU says

Gabriels Community Credit Union’s 2,700 eastside Lansing customers will be looking for a new banking location as a result of its takeover by the MSU Federal Credit Union.

“We have an existing branch nearby on Washington Avenue,” April Clobes, MSUFCU’s president and CEO, said last week, referring to MSUFCU’s downtown Lansing location at 104 S. Washington Square.

“Based on their member volume and visits, it is not economically feasible to maintain an additional location,” she added.

Clobes said the last day for in person banking at Gabriels, 1901 E. Michigan Ave., will be Feb. 29.

“We are evaluating several other options for the location that could include an ATM,” Clobes added.  “However, we do have an ATM not far away on Michigan Avenue in the Quality Dairy Store.”

She said that the former Gabriels’ other branch, in Jackson on 1800 N. Wisner St., will remain open.

MSUFCU’s acquisition of Gabriels, 1901 E. Michigan Ave., became official last month, when the National Credit Union Administration approved it. When Gabriels’ doors reopened on Jan. 2, MSUFCU’s signage was already on them. MSUFCU said that it hopes to complete converting Gabriels customer accounts by March 1.

Besides the Gabriels location, MSUFCU has 24 branches, including 14 in Greater Lansing. But only two of them are in Lansing, the largest municipality in mid-Michigan. Besides the one downtown, MSUFCU has a south Lansing location at 200 E. Jolly Road.

Additionally, MSUFCU has announced plans to open five locations in Chicago this year to serve its 2,500 customers there.

Gabriels was started in 1957 as Resurrection Parish Credit Union by a group of parishioners. Later it merged with Lansing Catholic Credit Union and eventually renamed itself Gabriels Community Credit Union.

Clobes said Gabriels approached MSUFCU about the merger. “Gabriels had separated with their CEO and was finding that it was becoming difficult to survive on their own.”

“Smaller institutions don’t always have the resources to be able to be competitive on products or maintain the strict regulatory requirements that continue to grow in the industry. So, a lot of smaller institutions are seeking merger or acquisition partners as a way to continue to be viable for their customers or their members,” she said.

— BERL SCHWARTZ