First Priority Named as Top Lender

When it was built on Swift and Bennington Streets four years ago, First Priority Credit Union forever changed an industrial corner in East Boston into an attractive center for commerce.

Now, First Priority, a Massachusetts State Chartered Credit Union, has been named one of 2011’s Top Credit Union Lenders in the March 26, 2012 issue of the Banker and Tradesman publication.

Compared with larger and more geographically diverse institutions, First Priority was ranked number eight for credit unions in overall loan volume for multi-family mortgages; number three for loan volume and number seven for dollar amount within the Jumbo loan category, which includes loan amounts in the $750,000 – $10,000,000 range.

“This designation by Banker and Tradesman reinforces that while we continue to offer the personalized approach of a small institution, we can compete with larger lending entities by developing an understanding of the challenges that our members face on a daily basis,” said Marketing Director at First Priority Julie Perham.

In June 2008 First Priority opened its 13,000 sq. ft. building that has become the largest full service bank in Eastie.

First Priority constructed an attractive brick building mimicking the historic turn-of-the-century character of some Eastie’s more prominent commercial properties on four separate but contiguous parcels of land on Bennington, Saratoga and Swift Streets-the former site of Gem Auto Parts.  The bank provides access to member’s commuting in and out of Boston with its close proximity to Wood Island MBTA station and McClellan Highway.

With 9,773 members, First Priority started as a small Postal Community Credit Union when a group of postal employees banded together in 1924.

Over the past 82 years, First Priority transformed itself from a small one-office credit union with less than $10,000 in assets into a full-service financial institution with over $110 million in assets.

The expansion into Eastie included a 24-hour telephone lending center, a call center, which provides personalized service during business hours, CU-Talk Telephone Branch, which allows members to perform transactions via the telephone, website services, online banking, which allows members to perform transactions via the Internet, bill payment, anytime instant loan applications and an on-line check reorder service.

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