Just as it might feel in the beginning stages of any business,making a large investment of time and money to launch a new creditunion can seem like a gamble for everyone involved. The founders ofthese five newbies have made it past that initial nerve-wrackingperiod and are now watching their babies slowly grow, whilecontinuing to work toward their goals for the institution. Clickthrough the slideshow to read the stories of five credit unionschartered in the past five years.

ERDA Federal Credit Union ($700,000, Long Island City,N.Y.)

The East River Development Alliance, a non-profit organizationin Long Island City, N.Y., created ERDA FCU opened in 2010 to serve low-income individuals livingin Queens Districts 1 and 2 in New York City. The founder andpresident of both the credit union and ERDA, Bishop Mitchell G.Taylor, said ERDA FCU helps fulfill four key needs of theseunderserved Queens communities: employment services, financialeducation and counseling, access to a college education andcommunity economic revitalization.

“We call the credit union an anchor of economic mobility inlow-income neighborhoods, particularly in public housing areas,”Taylor said.

The credit union now serves around 1,000 members. It started outby offering regular share accounts then introduced several creativesavings and loan products, Taylor said. For example, the creditbuilder loan, usually worth $1,000, is intended for people lookingto repair or establish their credit, and custodial savings accounts(which are named “penny,” “quarter” and “dollar” accounts accordingto the account holder's age) are available to children andteenagers.

ERDA FCU will soon offer small business loans, as well asnaturalization loans, which are intended for immigrants. Taylorsaid the credit union is particularly excited about thenaturalization loans and expects to make between 400 and 500 ofthem in the next year.

“We want to become strong enough to be able to offer all theservices that we set out to provide,” said Taylor, senior pastor ofCenter of Hope International, a non-denominational church.

The credit union plays a key role in the mission of ERDA, whichis to improve economic conditions in New York City's public housingneighborhoods. ERDA's services include college preparationprograms, adult career education classes and financial counseling.

Internet Archive Federal Credit Union (New Brunswick,N.J.)

Chartered in the summer of 2012, Internet Archive Federal Credit Union has a unique back story —a former bank executive, Jordan Modell, and an engineer and Internetentrepreneur, Brewster Kahle, joined forces to form a credit unionthat would serve low-income and middle-class people in HighlandPark, N.J. and New Brunswick, N.J., where the credit union isheadquartered.

Potential members include a pool of around 11,000 to 12,000Hispanics living in New Brunswick, Rutgers University students, andsenior citizens in New Brunswick and Highland Park. InternetArchive FCU will offer auto loans, share certificates, sharedrafts, debit cards, ATM cards, online banking, bill payment,shared branching and a transfer service that allows members to sendmoney to banks in Mexico.

An asset size and member count is not yet available for InternetArchive FCU — according to an Aug. 29 blog post by Modell, a softopening is planned for the first week of October and a grandopening is scheduled for the last week of October.

Oak Cliff Christian Federal Credit Union ($3.5 million,Dallas)

Chartered in October 2008 to serve the members and employees andOak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church in Dallas, Oak Cliff Christian FCU now has more than 1,300 members.According to Sherman Roberson, manager for Oak Cliff Christian FCU,Oak Cliff Bible Fellowship Church pastor Tony Evans had a vision tostart a credit union that would provide loans at competitive rates,superior member service, and a place for members to confidentlydeposit their savings and investments. The credit union's singlebranch is located on the campus of Oak Cliff Bible FellowshipChurch.

The first day Oak Cliff Christian FCU opened for business,Roberson said, 17 members deposited a total of $17,000. Initially,the credit union only offered savings products, and after ninemonths in business, it began offering auto and personal loans.

In the near future, Roberson said the credit union willintroduce checking accounts, online banking, debit cards and billpay services.

“There are nothing but great things in the future for Oak CliffChristian Federal Credit Union,” Roberson said. “However, we willcontinue to take small steps and make sure we're financially stablebefore we take the next steps in the evolution of our creditunion.”

Chippewa Eagle Federal Credit Union ($2.7 million, Mt.Pleasant, Mich.)

Created to serve the approximately 7,800 members and employeesof the Saginaw Chippewa Indian Tribe in Michigan, ChippewaEagle FCU was chartered by the NCUA in May2010. The tribe, which is also the credit union's sponsor, haslaunched a variety of financial, educational and economicinitiatives and views Chippewa Eagle FCU as an extension of thoseinitiatives, according to the NCUA. The credit union got off theground with help from CU*Answers, a Grand Rapids, Mich.-based CUSO offeringback-office and marketing services to credit unions including anumber of start-up credit unions.

Initial services included savings accounts, regular shares, clubaccounts, money market shares, share certificates and share drafts.Now, the credit union offers checking accounts, Visa debit cards,direct deposit, a 24-hour drive-up ATM, and secured and unsecuredloans, among other services. Chippewa Eagle FCU currently hasaround 1,200 members.

Stepping Stones Community Federal Credit Union ($1million, Wilmington, Del.)

The NCUA chartered Stepping Stones Community FCU with a low-income designation inOctober 2011. The Wilmington, Del.-based credit union is sponsoredby the Delaware Community Reinvestment Action Council, aWilmington-based group working to ensure equal access to credit andcapital for underserved populations in Delaware.

Rashmi Rangan, executive director for DCRAC, said the creditunion is part of a sustainable plan to connect underservedcommunities with financial products and servicesthat meet their needs.

“We explored chartering a credit union for several reasons,”Rangan said. “Our unbanked and underbanked community needed aninstitution where they could begin and nurture their financialrelationship, and they also needed an alternative to high-cost,low-dollar loans. Most importantly, we needed to let our communityknow that we had great confidence in them, and lastly, we wantedfinancial institutions to know that serving the distressedcommunity responsibly is the right thing to do, and that it'sprofitable too.”

Since its grand opening in March, Stepping Stones Community FCUhas expanded services from initial offerings of shares and sharecertificates to include a signature loan, which is secured againstsavings, and a small loan worth up to $500. The credit union hasgrown from $60,000 in assets in January to $1 million in assetstoday and currently serves 129 members.

Stepping Stones Community FCU also received start-up assistancefrom the back-office and marketing services CUSO CU*Answers.

Rangan added that she expects the credit union to become ahousehold name in seven years – the same amount of time it took forDCRAC to become locally known.

“I am very optimistic about our growth,” she said. “The key toour success lies in our partners, volunteers and members.”