The UFirst Credit Union has recently rebranded from University Credit Union to better serve their 100,000 members. The original name stems from its past of being founded in 1956 at the University of Utah.

UFirst is a Utah-based Credit Union that can be found all over the Salt Lake valley area. A study by Forbes shows the top five credit unions per state, and UFirst was first for Utah in 2021.

The official website states, “Today, UFirst serves more than 100,000 members. Although we grow each year, we still honor our roots as a small, community-based credit union.”

Derek Knowlton, Chief Marketing Officer, explained one of the reasons for the rebranding.

“We’ve served University of Utah faculty and staff and students this whole time, and we’re extremely committed to the university,” Knowlton said. “But we’ve also … branched out over the last several decades, and we serve all of the Wasatch Front, really, and we have a branch down in St. George. And as we’ve grown we have realized that the name University, a lot of people thought that you have to be a U student or alumni of to become a member of the credit union, which isn’t true.”

Knowlton said there has been a lot of confusion surrounding who can become a member, based on the past name of University Credit Union. They conducted a survey and the results showed about 40% of people thought the credit union was just for students and alumni.

Students only make up about 10% of current members.

The rebranding officially took effect on Jan. 18, 2022. This effort has been two years in the making.

“It took us about a year and a half of research and discussion,” Knowlton said. “And you know, during that process, we came up with like, about 200 different naming possibilities out there. It’s in surveys to see which ones we’re best with, with our members and with other people in the community. And then once we made the decision on the new name, and the new logo and everything then it was about a six-month process to roll it out.”

UFirst has five locations on the University of Utah Campus, along with 15 other locations in Utah.

The credit union has deep ties with the university that they do not plan on severing anytime soon. The credit union serves as the official sponsor of the Mighty Utah Student Section, along with being the official credit union on campus.

“We are the only financial institution to have branches on campus,” Knowlton said. “And so, you know, we’re proud of our roots and we’ve actually signed long term contracts with the university to ensure that we will stay there during this process.”

Marie Wade is the manager of several on-campus locations of the credit union. As a part of the rebranding efforts, new signs will be going up in the on-campus locations in the next couple of week. She wants students to know that “credit unions on campus will still be functional and open through all the signage change out.”

She also noted the opportunities that UFirst gives students, like scholarships totaling $20,000 dollars a year for members.

“So one of our vision statements, I guess you’d say is that what we strive for is making a difference for every member every day,” Wade said.

They hope to do that by providing their services and scholarships to those who need it. And while the name has changed, they want students to know that their commitment to the University of Utah is still the same.

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