Partners Federal Credit Union is a federally chartered

credit union A credit union, a type of financial institution similar to a commercial bank, is a member-owned nonprofit financial cooperative. Credit unions generally provide services to members similar to retail banks, including deposit accounts, provis ...

with corporate headquarters in Burbank,

California California is a state in the Western United States, located along the Pacific Coast. With nearly 39.2million residents across a total area of approximately , it is the most populous U.S. state and the 3rd largest by area. It is also the m ...

. The not-for-profit financial cooperative offers membership to employees and cast members of

The Walt Disney Company The Walt Disney Company, commonly known as Disney (), is an American multinational mass media and entertainment conglomerate headquartered at the Walt Disney Studios complex in Burbank, California. Disney was originally founded on Octobe ...

and their family members. As of December 2016, the credit union has thirteen branches, in excess of 180,000 members and over $1.9 billion in assets.

History

The credit union was formed in 1968 at the request of a group of

Disneyland Park Disneyland is a theme park in Anaheim, California. Opened in 1955, it was the first theme park opened by The Walt Disney Company and the only one designed and constructed under the direct supervision of Walt Disney. Disney initially envision ...

cast members, and when first chartered was called the DRC Federal Credit Union. DRC was an acronym for the Disneyland Recreational Club, which was a precursor to the

Disneyland Resort The Disneyland Resort, commonly known as Disneyland, is an entertainment resort in Anaheim, California. It is owned and operated by The Walt Disney Company through its Parks, Experiences and Products division and is home to two theme parks ...

's current Cast Activities department. The offices moved a number of times before relocating off Disneyland's traditional premises: The first office was a couple of rooms behind the camera shop on main street. Al Yee, a Disneyland accountant, was the first member and had account number 1 until his death. The DRC building in the 1970s was a double-wide "temporary" building, externally decorated with contemporary Studio look with planter boxes and wood exterior. It was located in the center of the employees backstage area, east of Main Street, U.S.A., west of the original park's Administration Building and south of the current location of Space Mountain (what was then called the Temporary Tomorrowland Stage). Sometime before the end of 1977, the building was moved to the area just inside of the tall chainlink fence on Harbor Blvd and a bit north of the original employee entry (what Disneyland Security called Harbor House) for the employees parking lot that was on the east side of the original property. In the 1970s, DRC Federal Credit Union changed its name to Disneyland Employees Federal Credit Union. In the 1980s, at the request of CEO

Michael Eisner Michael Dammann Eisner (born March 7, 1942) is an American businessman and former chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of The Walt Disney Company from September 1984 to September 2005. Prior to Disney, Eisner was president of rival film s ...

, the credit union was asked to stop using the name "Disneyland" so the name was changed once again to Partners Federal Credit Union. Partners merged with Vista Federal Credit Union in November 2007. Vista FCU, which was established in 1960 prior to Partners, also served Walt Disney Company Cast Members and employees primarily of The Walt Disney Studios in Burbank,

and

Walt Disney World The Walt Disney World Resort, also called Walt Disney World or Disney World, is an entertainment resort complex in Bay Lake and Lake Buena Vista, Florida, United States, near the cities of Orlando and Kissimmee. Opened on October 1, 1971, ...

Resort in

Lake Buena Vista Buena Vista, meaning "good view" in Spanish, may refer to: Places Canada * Bonavista, Newfoundland and Labrador, with the name being originally derived from “Buena Vista” *Buena Vista, Saskatchewan *Buena Vista, Saskatoon, a neighborhood in ...

Florida Florida is a state located in the Southeastern region of the United States. Florida is bordered to the west by the Gulf of Mexico, to the northwest by Alabama, to the north by Georgia, to the east by the Bahamas and Atlantic Ocean, and ...

Membership eligibility

Originally, membership in Partners FCU was limited to Walt Disney Company employees working in

Orange County, California Orange County is located in the Los Angeles metropolitan area in Southern California. As of the 2020 census, the population was 3,186,989, making it the third-most-populous county in California, the sixth-most-populous in the United States, ...

. When the Walt Disney Company took over management of the

RMS Queen Mary RMS ''Queen Mary'' is a retired British ocean liner that sailed primarily on the North Atlantic Ocean from 1936 to 1967 for the Cunard-White Star Line and was built by John Brown & Company in Clydebank, Scotland. ''Queen Mary'', along with ...

Long Beach Long Beach is a city in Los Angeles County, California. It is the 42nd-most populous city in the United States, with a population of 466,742 as of 2020. A charter city, Long Beach is the seventh-most populous city in California. Incorporat ...

in 1988, employees working for that attraction were added to the field of membership. In 2001, the field of membership for Partners FCU was expanded to cover any employee or Cast Member working for the Walt Disney Company in the United States.

References

External links

Official Partners FCU website
{{Walt Disney World Banks established in 1968 Credit unions based in California Disneyland Resort Walt Disney World 1968 establishments in California