Bear Paw Credit Union to become Altana

Bear Paw Credit Union members voted 787 to 510 to merge with Altana Federal Credit Union at the beginning of this month and the potential benefits from the merger, for members and employees, are expected to materialize over the next 18 months.

“(We’re) very happy about it. It’s going to be very beneficial to the membership itself and very helpful to the employees,” Bear Paw Credit Union Vice-President Gerry Veis said.

Veis said the union is working on preparing their financials to be merged with Altana, a Montana-based Credit Union about twice the size of Bear Paw, which will take place Feb. 1, at which point they will officially be merged.

He said some benefits of the merger will be seen immediately by members, with higher overall rates of return and better CD rates, and some of the technological updates like improved online and mobile banking and better real-time assistance as well as the ability to have credit cards reissued on the spot, will come shortly after.

However, he said, one of the other big benefits of the merger, a robust commercial agriculture lending program, will take longer to develop, potentially taking between a year and 18 months.

Veis also said the merger will benefit employees, who will see their wages rise, coming more in line with what people at local banks are getting.

He said traditional banks have a much richer industry backing them so they have always been able to pay people more than they would get at the credit union, but after this merger employees will see their wages become much more competitive.

While the credit union has been expanding in coverage area and size since it was established in 1942 for Great Northern Railway employees — eventually expanding to their families, then to Havre as a whole, then to county and surrounding counties over the coming decades — they want to keep their status as a rural credit union that caters to people like neighbors and family.

He said they chose to merge with Altana because they are a Montana-based firm that shares their style and values and he thinks the people in the community will be happy with what will change and what won’t.

“I think the community will be very impressed by Altana Federal Credit Union,” Veis said.

Veis, who has been at the union for 40 years, said they could have stayed as they are, but this merger was an opportunity for members to see improvements, and he warned that it may be a while before the sign changes.

He said the credit union will close at 1 p.m. Jan. 31 and be closed all day Feb. 1 so the financials can be merged and the change made official.