Best Credit Union
Ent Credit Union
Ent Credit Union is a winner in three categories: Best Credit Union, Best Mortgage Lender and Best Financial Adviser. Ent, the largest credit union in Colorado with $4.93 billion in assets, is celebrating its 60th anniversary. The credit union was founded in 1957 on the former Ent Air Force Base, now the site of the Olympic Training Center. The Colorado Springs-based financial institution has about 290,000 members, 29 branch locations and 700 full-time employees.
“As a local, community-chartered credit union, Ent is committed to helping our members improve their financial quality of life,” said Ent President and CEO Randy Bernstein. “One of Ent’s core values is to be ‘member-centric,’ which we define as keeping our members’ needs and best interests at the heart of everything we do.”
As for winning Best Credit Union, Bernstein said, “We are proud to win this type of recognition from the business community, reflecting the trust our members have in Ent as their local financial partner.”
Ent Senior Executive Vice President of Lending and Finance Bill Vogeney thinks being a local company benefits the members when it comes to mortgage lending.
“Our goal is to make the home buying — or refinancing — process as straightforward and easy as possible,” Vogeney said. “We underwrite and service our mortgage loans locally. The community’s two severe fires and last year’s hail storm have emphasized that who services the loan may be more important than who actually grants the loan. We do both.”
In regard to winning Best Financial Adviser, Ent Executive Vice President of Operations Matt Gendron said: “We try to give our membership unbiased financial advice, whether it be the normal day-to-day checking, savings or consumer mortgage loan activity. A little more specialized would be our investment group, and those folks help our members who are interested in some alternative investment options that we have access to through our broker dealer.
“From the investment perspective, we operate under guidelines that we’re going to give our members investment advice — or advice about anything — that’s in their best interest, not in the best interest of the credit union. We think we’re adept enough from a professional perspective to help members understand that we’ll make suggestions but it’s ultimately their decision. If they want to invest, if they want to borrow, we try and help them make an informed decision.”
Web: ent.com | Phone: 719-574-1100
2. Air Academy Federal Credit Union
Web: aafcu.com | Phone: 719-593-8600
3. Security Service Federal Credit Union
Web: ssfcu.org | Phone: 719-265-2226
