In 1937, eight faculty and staff members at the Michigan State College of Agriculture and Applied Science founded the state-chartered
Michigan State College Employees Credit Union (
MSCECU). Its assets and ledgers were kept in a desk drawer at the College's administration building. The next year, a third MSU campus branch was opened, as well as a location in Haslett. A branch at
Sparrow Hospital opened in 2013, and two additional locations, in Okemos and Mason, opened in 2014. In March 2015, after 41 years with MSUFCU, Patrick McPharlin retired as president and CEO, and was succeeded by April Clobes. Prior to becoming president and CEO, Clobes spent 18 years with MSUFCU, and served in a number of executive roles, including Chief Operating Officer.
2010s-2020s: expansions and acquisitions MSUFCU merged with Eaton County Educational Credit Union (ECECU), based in nearby
Charlotte, in April 2013. Following the merger, which was approved overwhelmingly by ECECU's members, MSUFCU absorbed ECECU's single location in Charlotte as a new branch. In March 2016, MSUFCU merged with Clarkston Brandon Community Credit Union (CBCCU), headquartered in
Clarkston, Michigan, with a branch in
Ortonville. CBCCU had previously been conserved by state and federal regulators amid an embezzlement scandal that January, and had 8,536 members and $41 million in assets at the time of the merger. The acquisition marked MSUFCU's first major expansion into Metro Detroit, a region home to over 100,000 MSU and OU alumni. the following year, the Clarkston branch was relocated. In February 2022, MSUFCU established a new Detroit-area regional office in
Auburn Hills. MSUFCU's first expansion into West Michigan came with a Grand Rapids branch in the fall of 2017. MSUFCU later opened a branch in
Traverse City, its first in
Northern Michigan, on June 30, 2020; a second Traverse City branch followed on June 29, 2021. Then, in April 2023, MSUFCU opened a branch in
downtown Detroit, its first in the city, followed by a second Grand Rapids-area branch, in
Kentwood, that May. In July 2023, MSUFCU announced its first expansion outside Michigan, with plans to open five new branches on
Chicago's north side in 2024. In choosing to expand into Illinois, the credit union cited a large population of MSU alumni residing in the Chicago area. A week later, MSUFCU announced the acquisition of a second Chicago-area bank, Algonquin State Bank. In November 2023, MSUFCU announced its acquisition of Lansing-based Gabriels Community Credit Union, as well as plans for two new Detroit-area branches, to be built in
Novi and
Brighton. ==Oakland University==