PITTSFIELD, Mass. — For 70 years, MyCom Federal Credit Union has been providing services to residents of Berkshire County.

 

It was established in 1955 as Pittsfield Municipal Federal to offer financial services for city employees, operating out of City Hall until 1997, when it moved across the street to 101 Fenn St. It was chartered as a community credit union in 2003 and changed the name to MyCom.

 

"We started in the City Hall basement for strictly City Hall employees. We then went upstairs in City Hall, and now we're over here, expanding our membership a little bit to anyone that lives or works in Berkshire County," said CEO and Chief Financial Officer Lisa Laughnane.

 

Laughnane has worked for MyCom for over a decade and was named its CEO a little over three years ago.

 

"I actually started on the teller end, where I was doing mostly member services and teller transactions, and then I graduated with my master's degree in accounting, and I came back as CFO," she said. "And then a few years after that, I stepped up, and I became CEO/CFO, and that's been about 3 1/2 years now."

 

MyCom might not be as big as other institutions but it is still serving the community in a big way and has upgraded its services over the years. 

 

"Even though we are small, we strive to compete with the larger institutions and continue offering new services, enhancing the services we offer," Laughnane said. "A lot of digital upgrades have been kind of the common or most popular practice these days. So with that said, us coming over here [to the Fenn Street building] was kind of the beginning of our branching out and kind of wanting to become the community credit union, instead of just the credit union for City Hall or city employees."

 

Laughnane said, though their numbers are small, they are trying to attract the younger generation, who may not know they have the same services as other credit unions.

 

"We do have about 3,000 members. However, a very large percent of those members are elderly. So we are, as with every other credit union in the nation, we are trying to attract the younger generation and show them that we do have those services that you may be looking for at the bigger banks, like tap-to-pay and just digital banking services ...

 

"I think what makes MyCom stand out is that we offer the lowest auto loan rates, the lowest loan rates in general, actually in the county, typically. And we also have the best savings rates, whether it's our money market accounts, our savings accounts, or etcetera."

 

Laughnane said the credit union plans to open another branch to better reach its growing membership.

 

"We are really trying to reach, to get into a new branch. That is one of our goals, is expanding to a new branch," she said. "However, the staff and services that we have are just very limited, but we're getting to that point where our membership has grown exponentially. So we're really trying to get to that second branch and offer the services to more people."

 

Laughnane not only wants to see MyCom expand with another branch office but also with its learning programs to help more customers understand their services.

 

"I would love to see MyCom expanding, expanding, not only our services in the branch, but also with our financial literacy or education, whether it's in the school department or the elderly service centers and the other community groups," she said.

 

You can visit MyCom Federal Credit Union weekdays from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. and Saturday from 8:30 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.