by Kate Shunney
Melissa Rand, left, is Branch Manager of First Peoples Community Federal Credit Union. Alisha Rollins is the Assistant Branch Manager.
First Peoples Community Federal Credit Union is located in the former F&M Bank on Great Cove Road in Warfordsburg.
Local banking has made a return to Southern Fulton with the operation of First Peoples Community Federal Credit Union in Warfordsburg. The bank opened on June 24 at 560 Great Cove Road, and held their Grand Opening event last Wednesday, September 25 with giveaways and refreshments.
First Peoples has numerous branches in the region, with a concentrated presence in the Cumberland area.
They operate branches in LaVale, Frostburg, Cresaptown, Lonaconing, Grantsville, Accident and Oakland. In Pennsylvania, the bank has branches in Meyersdale, Somerset, Bedford and now Warfordsburg. In West Virginia, First Peoples has branches in Short Gap/Ridgeley and Keyser. The bank also operates offsite ATMs in Cumberland, McHenry, Oakland, LaVale, Hagerstown, Hopewell, Bedford, and Everett, Penna.
First Peoples Community Federal Credit Union is a member-owned, not-for-profit banking cooperative that is federally insured through the National Credit Union Administration.
Anyone who lives, works, attends school, worships, participates in community groups or volunteers in the area can become a member of the credit union by opening and maintaining a regular share savings account with a $5.00 minimum balance.
Because of the multiple branches operated by First Peoples, members can be businesses and individuals from Fulton, Bedford and Somerset counties in Pennsylvania; Washington, Allegany and Garrett counties in Maryland and Morgan, Mineral or Hampshire counties in West Virginia.
Melissa Rand, Branch Manager, and Alisha Rollins, Assistant Branch Manager, are both local residents with experience in banking services in the region.
Rollins said the Warfordsburg branch offers members all of the usual banking services – cashing or depositing a check to their account, transferring funds between accounts, taking loan payments or applying for a loan.
Some of the bank operations are done through an Interactive Teller Machine (ITM) in the lobby of the local branch. Looking similar to an ATM machine, the ITM connects bank members to a live teller in Cumberland to complete many normal bank functions.
Rand and Rollins are onsite to help bank members with account business as well.
Rand said the biggest misconception about banking with a credit union is that the money in the credit union is not insured. Credit unions do have federal banking insurance, just through a different agency – the National Credit Union Administration – rather than the FDIC.
According to Rand, First Peoples can sometimes offer more attractive interest rates for loans and CDs because they have lower infrastructure costs than commercial national banks.
First Peoples Community Federal Credit Union in Warfordsburg is open Monday, Tuesday, Thursday and Friday from 9 a.m. to 5:30 p.m. and Wednesdays and Saturdays from 9 a.m. to 12:30 p.m. A drive-up ATM machine is available to bank members 24 hours per day.
Bank members can use an Interactive Teller Machine (ITM), with a live remote teller, Monday through Friday from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. and Saturdays from 8 a.m. to 1 p.m.
The Warfordsburg branch offers savings and checking accounts, certificates of deposit, loans, automatic account deposits, online banking and bill pay, along with investment banking by appointment.
The Warfordsburg branch can be reached by calling 301-784-3000
