Members Cooperative Credit Union

If you are a member of Members Cooperative Credit Union, please Facebook, call, or email them and ask to keep an office presence in the Duluth Hillside area. They have closed their Hillside office, due to building structural issues but have not mentioned any plans to relocate anywhere nearby.

memberservices @ membersccu.org or 1-218-625-8500
Please spread the word!

23 Comments

Dave Sorensen

about 13 years ago

That is really unfortunate, as it seems the hillside is being hollowed out bit-by-bit.The large grocery store closed years ago. Then the hardware store closed last year. Now the Credit Union, which surely had many, many customers who do not drive. We should be designing neighborhoods around pedestrians, not stripping the central city of its basic infrastructure. And one would think Credit Unions would be leading the way; investing in this walkable, mixed-use part of town.

Danny

about 13 years ago

Again...who goes to a bank anymore?

edgeways

about 13 years ago

I do Danny... and every time I've been in one there have been plenty of other people as well. Are you really that insulated?

Bad Cat!

about 13 years ago

Do we know that they're actually closing that building, or are they just closed until they get the issue fixed?

tamara

about 13 years ago

From what I understand, the building is permanently closed because the structure would have to be completely torn down and rebuilt due to the amount of damage sustained. 

Danny, I go to the bank at least once a week, and, judging by the lines that are at that credit union when I go, lots of other people go to the bank at least once a week.

Forrest

about 13 years ago

@Danny: I have a loan through them and no other services. The only way to pay my loan (without some direct withdrawal scheme) is to actually go to the bank and pay them in person. Without this location, the nearest is the service center at the mall or the West Duluth location.

Danny

about 13 years ago

@Forrest:  Really?  You can't pay online?

edgeways

about 13 years ago

Yeah, I called them yesterday and they said the building is closed for good. 

After US Bank double dipped automatic payment of our mortgage the other year leaving us COH broke for a few days until it was resolved I've become more than a little leery of online/automatic payments.

Forrest

about 13 years ago

@Danny: Nope, not with their loans.

Danny

about 13 years ago

Maybe the complaint with them should be that they haven't stepped into the 21st Century, then.

Honestly, I do pretty much all of making online (with a bank that literally has one local, extremely inconvenient location).  I couldn't even imagine needing to physically go in to a bank or credit union more than once or twice a year.

brian

about 13 years ago

I'm at the bank every week or 2, but I'm self-employed, so I go to deposit checks when I get paid. I don't think there's a way to do that online - other than PayPal or taking credit cards, which I've done. But the fees would be pretty high if all the payments were made that way. Plus it's one of my few opportunities to get out of the house to make contact with adult humans.

Danny

about 13 years ago

I sort of hear you there, brian.  Being someone who also works out of the house, my weekly trips to CUB are like a big adventure for me.

I've read that some banks started doing a deposit thing where you can take a picture of a check with your cell phone and send them the pic to deposit it.  Pretty cool.

doubledutch

about 13 years ago

They have to open another hillside (or downtown) branch! It was so convenient.  Hmm, maybe it's a blessing in disguise, and they'll open a new one with a drive-thru.

MCCU has online/paperless banking, but I don't mind depositing checks (other than my direct-deposit paycheck) in person.  Take a picture with my cellphone?  No, thank you.

RS

about 13 years ago

@ Danny and Forrest, they are in the 21st century and DO provide online banking, including for loans (I have one and I pay on it online, of course that requires signing up for online banking).  I think direct deposit and online banking is a godsend, one less errand I need to run, no lines to stand in, I can move $$ around from account to account or pay loans and it doesn't matter if I'm at home or 1500 miles out of town.

I see the point of people in that area, but I stopped using that branch long ago due to the long lines, lack of ATM, horrible parking lot and lack of drive through.

Forrest

about 13 years ago

@RS: Perhaps something may have changed since the creation of my loan, but I was told that since I don't use my MCCU checking account that there was no other way to pay my loan online. If I used their checking system, I could move money from my MCCU checking account to my loan, but that is not the case. 

Believe me, I use online systems and ATMs whenever possible. However, such a privilege is not a possibility for many people, specifically those without Internet access.

adam

about 13 years ago

Where else am I supposed to take stacks of tiny checks on a weekly basis?

Hillsider Newspaper editor

about 13 years ago

You may argue about the online thing and the drive-thru thing, but there is a group of people trying to keep and make the Hillside sustainable.  We don't need to be encouraging more drive-thrus the amount of gas fumes that this generates is very harmful to breath ... get out of your car lazy bones.

 "And the numbers might be significant enough to complicate efforts to reduce traffic congestion, save fuel and reduce air pollution." See: 

Pursuit of a Grande Latte May Be Stirring Up Gridlock

There are many people who choose to live in East Hillside because it is "walkable." Taking away a bank really hurts. It is a "cooperative" after all. Doesn't each member have a vote?

P.S. The MCCU on Fourth Street was one of the very best distribution spot for the Hillsider. My theory ... people walked in.

Let's support a pedestrian-friendly neighborhood.

Shana

about 13 years ago

I'm with you, Adam, I use that branch a couple of times a month minimum to deposit stacks of tiny checks that will, now, warrant a several mile drive instead of an easy side stop on my way home.  This morning, in fact, I'm in that exact predicament.

On the first of every dang month there's a line out the door all day -- one time I counted an average of fifteen people in a line that takes 25 minutes to wait through...  that's a lot of Duluth residents who work and live in this neighborhood and are in this same, shitty predicament.  And I know they don't all have cars.

Briana

about 13 years ago

The reason for the building closing was existing black mold that had grown worse during last weeks heavy rains. I believe there may have even been some flooding. 

I'm not sure where they're looking to open their next location - hopefully, the Hillside - but yeah, they want a drive through and such.

doubledutch

about 13 years ago

That article was about errands during the morning commute - not about drive-thrus, really.

When I'm alone, I prefer to walk in - but as a mom of two small children, the drive-thru is my friend.  Is it lazy?  I guess so.  But we were already in the car, on our way home from preschool or whatever.  We don't live within walking distance of work, school, the bank, the grocery store.  

Actually we used to live just a few blocks from the big credit union on 40th . . . but I still usually stopped there while driving.  I wouldn't drive if that were the only place I needed to go, but it never was!  So why walk, when I know I'll be driving past there soon, on my way to some other place that isn't walkable?

maria

about 13 years ago

I have to go to MCCU in the Hillside to deposit my paychecks every two weeks. I usually walk there. Obviously I cannot walk to the mall or West Duluth, and I hate driving, so I will be looking into moving all my accounts to a different bank (Duluth Teacher's Credit Union, perhaps). This sucks.

zra

about 13 years ago

With three small children, or even two, the process of carseating>driving>parking>unseating>herding>transacting>herding>reseating>driving, etc. totally makes the drive through well worth the carbon footprint.

We have the bill pays and direct deposits for our banking.

RS

about 13 years ago

Forrest, I don't know who mislead you then or if I misunderstood, but when I bought both my cars I paid them online from savings, and I didn't have checking at the time.  I do now, but still don't use it to pay them.  

Those of you who are against a drive through, just think how much faster your wait time would be if those with vehicles were able to do the drive through thing instead of taking up line space inside.  Plus, not everyone is easily able to get out of their cars, and a drive through is an easier alternative.

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