Sno Falls Credit Union chosen by readers as best place to save money, and to earn it | Best of the Valley 2017

By Carol Ladwig • May 10, 2017 11:54 am
Courtesy Photo Sno Falls Credit Union staffer Jodie Padilla helps out with the credit union’s periodic community shredding days, an opportunity for residents to safely destroy old documents without risk of identity theft.
Courtesy Photo Sno Falls Credit Union staffer Jodie Padilla helps out with the credit union’s periodic community shredding days, an opportunity for residents to safely destroy old documents without risk of identity theft.

Service is the secret of Sno Falls Credit Union’s annual appearance in the finalists for Best Financial Institution in the Valley Record’s Best of the Valley reader survey. It’s probably also the reason the institution ends up in the finalists as one of the Best Places to Work in the Valley, too.

“Everybody who comes in here really enjoys being here,” said Stacy Dorn, Sno Falls Vice President of Operations and Business Services. She joined the staff about two years ago and immediately noticed what everyone who comes to Sno Falls has noticed.

“They all say the same thing… it’s so much different,” she said. “With a credit union, it does tend to be a little bit friendlier, and we tend to work with our members a little bit closer. You’re not a number.”

Sno Falls’ 7,400 members (almost 7,800 including business accounts) own the credit union, and actually drive the services it offers.

“Really what’s driving all the changes is just general growth and what people are expecting from a bank,” Dorn said. “It’s just been steady growth since I started here, almost two years ago, steady, uphill growth.”

In that same two years, she recalled, the credit union’s total assets expanded from $34 million to just over $60 million. The organization closed two grocery-store branches to open two stand alone branches, one each in North Bend and Snoqualmie.

Banking services have expanded, too. “We brought (home loans) back and they’re even better,” Dorn said. And the organization’s TrueCar program can help buyers to get lower-interest-rate car loans.

“We’ve added business services, business accounts and business lending and we have merchant services for things like credit card processing. We also have a full array of home equity products.”

Dorn noted that Sno Falls has recently installed ATMs that take deposits, and added mobile banking services for the growing numbers of device users in the Valley. Basically, she said, they can do almost everything larger banks do, but they offer a different value proposition with that.

“We’re going to sit down and work with people,” Dorn said, “and look at all of the circumstances of their situations.”

Sno Falls also boasts a very satisfied workforce, of 25 employees.

“We have an amazing boss,” said Dorn. “Tim (Williams, Sno Falls Credit Union CEO) is just a great person to work for. We just all love our members and it’s a really friendly place to be. I’ve never worked in a place like this before.”

Sno Falls Credit Union celebrates its 60th anniversary this year. Learn more at www.snofalls.com.

For the full results in the Best of the Valley voting, visit http://valleyrecord.secondstreetapp.com/l/Best-of-the-Valley-2017.