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About Affinity
Affinity History
This Credit Union was chartered in December 1935, the year after the Federal Credit Union Act was passed and signed into law by President Roosevelt. It was formed as the W. E. Headquarters Federal Credit Union to provide cooperative credit and to serve employee-member needs of Western Electric Company. In 1974, the membership base of the credit union was extended to include AT&T employees and the credit union changed its name to GHQ Federal Credit Union (General Headquarters).
In 1984, with assets of $93.7 million, the headquarters were moved across the river from New York City to New Providence, New Jersey, and GHQ became the second largest credit union in the state of New Jersey.
At the close of 1986, the credit union changed its name from GHQ to AT&T Employees Federal Credit Union (AT&T EFCU) to more accurately reflect the current membership.
In 1995, the Credit Union's 60th anniversary became a significant turning point. The Board of Directors named John Fenton as the new President and CEO, charged to be a catalyst for change. Although serving a single sponsor for most of these sixty years, the announcement that AT&T would be split into three separate companies encouraged the CU to include new groups in its membership. During this time period, in 1998, the legislature passed HR1151, which allowed single sponsor credit unions to expand their service to companies or organizations with a common bond. This allowed the CU to further diversify its membership. To reflect that changing member base, the decision was made to adopt a new name and Affinity Federal Credit Union was chosen.
Since then, Affinity has grown exponentially to become the largest credit union in the state of New Jersey by demonstrating a commitment to outstanding service.
