Founded in 1952 to serve employees of the County of San Mateo, San Mateo Credit Union remains committed to helping members achieve financial health. This simple mission has allowed us to grow—our asset size now exceeds $1 billion and we’re home to more than 90,000 members—but we will never outgrow that purpose. SMCU membership is open to anyone who lives, works, worships or attends school in San Mateo County, the City of Palo Alto and certain areas of San Francisco.Unlike banks, SMCU is owned by its members. That means we reinvest our profits in things that directly benefit our members and the community at-large. To return value to our members, we’re often able to provide loans at lower rates, savings accounts with higher dividends, the lowest possible fees, and many free services. We also place particular emphasis in providing financial empowerment resources for our community members, safeguarding your privacy at all times, and never selling our members’ information.

Other advantages include:

• SMCU members get to vote in board elections and big decisions.
• We’re community based, where many banks, especially big ones, don’t really have a special relationship with their members or service area.
• Your deposits are insured to the same level as banks ($250,000).