HARRISBURG, Pa. - Membership in Belco Community CU, which has only been available to employees and members of over 700 partner companies and organizations, is now open to seven counties in Pennsylvania. On July 8, the Pennsylvania Department of Banking approved a community charter for the $237.3 million credit union that includes the counties of Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin, Lancaster, Lebanon, Perry and York. Belco President/CEO Lonny Maurer said the new charter "will allow us to increase our overall membership as well as provide financial services to people who previously were not eligible for membership. Additionally, Belco will be able to enhance the scope of services to our current members, starting with additional branch locations in multiple counties." The CU currently has eight offices in Adams, Cumberland, Dauphin and Lancaster counties. It has immediate plans to add a full-service branch in the Ephrata/Lititz area of Lancaster County and is also expanding its headquarters and operations center in downtown Harrisburg. Belco CCU was founded in 1939 as a federal credit union to serve the employees of Bell Telephone Company of Harrisburg. It converted to a state charter in 1997 and expanded its field-of-membership to include other businesses in Central Pennsylvania. The CU has nearly 44,000 members.