moorhead business news

Nancy Edmonds Hanson

Moorhead’s Central Minnesota Credit Union, a familiar fixture at 1002 Main Ave., is taking on a new name and a new look March 1, when it becomes Magnifi Financial.

“We have deep roots in Minnesota,” says CEO Chuck Friederichs. “But we’ve outgrown our name. Our reach now extends beyond central Minnesota, where we started, to Fargo-Moorhead and the Twin Cities. Our Moorhead branch has a good number of customers, especially commercial, in Cass and Richland counties, and the Twin Cities branch has customers in St. Croix and Pierce counties. We needed a name that’s a better fit for the many communities we serve – something that doesn’t limit us in geography.”

The name change does not reflect a change in ownership, Friederichs emphasizes. Nor will its services – including retail banking, commercial banking, mortgages and wealth management — change under the Magnifi moniker.

Customers should feel little impact, the CEO says. Account numbers and services will remain the same. Customers can continue to use CMCU paper check blanks until they run out. They may use current debit and credit cards until they receive new Magnifi versions. The desktop banking website will change to mymagnifi.org, and a new mobile app will be introduced, both on March 1 or shortly thereafter.

CMCU’s name has been adjusted several times over the years. It started out as the Catholic Deanery Credit Union and evolved into Melrose Credit Union. It became a federally chartered credit union in 2001, when the name became Central Minnesota Federal Credit Union. After moving to a state charter in 2010, it adopted the name it has gone by ever since.

The organization currently has 22 branches, the majority of them in central Minnesota. It merged with Moorhead Federal Credit Union in 2012 and Moorhead Teachers Credit Union two years later. CMCU has approximately 360 employees and ended the previous year with approximately $1.6 billion in deposits.

Friederichs says that working with the credit union, whose slogan has been “centered on you,” has been a multi-generational tradition for many families. The question he’s asked most often: “How do I join?”

“Anybody in the community can be a part of us. We’re community-based,” he explains. “Anybody who wants to work with us can just walk right in the door.”