By Mike Ferguson

Western Communications Wire Service

BAKER CITY – Grant-Baker Federal Credit Union is no more.

That’s not a bad thing for customers of the institution – in fact, it’s good news. The John Day-based credit union, which has a branch at 2036 Broadway in Baker City, has won permission from federal regulators to expand its operation from two Eastern Oregon counties to eight.

A new territory has brought about a new name – Old West Federal Credit Union.

The reason for the growth is, well, growth, said Ralph Goodwin, the credit union’s president and chief executive officer.

”We don’t exist except to take care of the needs of our members,” he said. ”A credit union is simply a not-for-profit financial cooperative.”

The expansion plan required approval by the National Credit Union Administration, the federal agency that regulates credit unions. Since Grant-Baker was chartered to serve customers in just those counties, the charter had to be amended, a lengthy process that involved submitting both business and marketing plans to federal regulators.

”It’s not automatic,” he said of the proposed change.

”It took us close to a year. They don’t just let you do it because you ask for it.”

The demand for agricultural loans has increased Grant-Baker’s business between 15 percent and 18 percent each of the past eight years, Goodwin said. The customers – called members, since credit unions are run by their membership – have asked for the growth, he said, and that led the union’s 11-member board to approve the plan last year.

”A lot of us were around from Day One, when we had less than $2 million in assets” in the 1970s, Goodwin said. ”Growing about 15 or 18 percent a year seems to fit us.”

The prospect of increasing the number of ag loans is pleasing to Goodwin, a former Grant County cattleman.