PIKETON, Ohio — This week, Atomic Credit Union announced that they will opening two new branches in the area.
The first branch will be their 15th location in Washington Court House, slated to open later this summer inside the former PNC bank across from the local hospital. The second opening will be later on in Circleville.
Atomic Credit Union was created in 1955 as a bank for employees who worked at the Pike County atomic plant. Now, the popular financial institution accepts members of the public and serves nearly 70,000 patrons.
Credit unions are similar to traditional banks but offer more competitive rates, and the bank, itself, is owned by the account holders.
“Credit union’s are very similar to banks in the products and services they offer. How credit unions differentiate themselves from banks can be found in the manner in which they are run. Atomic Credit Union is led by an all-volunteer unpaid board of directors, while banks are typically ran by a group of paid shareholders that have the most stake in the bank, collectively its board of directors,” said the bank’s CEO, Thomas Griffiths. “The credit union difference is really huge when making decisions about the future of the organization; the board of directors make their decisions on what is best for the membership of the credit union, while it can be argued that bank boards ask themselves what is best for our personal stock value? By making decisions that are best for the entire organization and each individual member the credit union board inherently seeks to please the entire membership by offering lower loan rates and higher dividend rates, while insisting on providing the absolute best member service experience in the market.”
The bank’s CEO said that recent growth has allowed them to service a total of 19 counties.
“In 2021, Atomic Credit Union sought approval with the Ohio Division of Financial Institutions to increase its charter from 14 counties to an additional 5 counties of which Fayette County was one of those new counties. We proactively pursued Fayette County and specifically the city of Washington Court House as our next step in growing our footprint. I was amazed there were no other credit unions in Fayette County. Washington Court House has to be the largest populated city in Ohio without a credit union presence. I am beyond excited to introduce the Credit Union difference in this part of the state. I firmly believe that once the residents of Fayette County understand the banking differences and philosophies Atomic Credit Union operates within, banking with us will be the way it used to be and it should be. We employ local people that have the autonomy to make local lending decisions, and the level of service offered by our frontline staff will be the best in town.”
The Circleville location will be announced later this year.
