Business View Magazine | November 2020

135 BUSINESS VIEW MAGAZINE NOVEMBER 2020 teachers’ cooperative – free financial education. “The story of TFCU is really one of mergers,” says Max Villaronga, President and CEO. “Loan sharks used to prey on teachers, administrators, and support personnel because the banks were ignoring that particular set of constituents. A group of teachers got together and started pooling their deposits and lending to each other. And over the next 84 years or so, TFCU absorbed other credit unions that weren’t thriving – cooperatives like Ysleta Teachers Federal Credit Union, and even ones that had nothing to do with teachers that just happened to make sense.” “Back in 2015, we merged with one called Golden Key Federal Credit Union that used to support Safeway and Furrs Supermarkets employees,” Villaronga adds. “Our story is one of different cooperatives, over time, coming together and evolving the TFCU into what it is today.” The National Credit Union Administration EL PASO AREA TEACHERS FEDERAL CREDI T UNION