About Us

Company History

Kern Central Credit Union is a member-owned nonprofit cooperative chartered by the State of California in 1974. Kern Central was originally organized under the state charter and brought into existence due to the lack of a central credit union in the area. The original field of membership was limited to employees, officials, and associations with other credit unions as well as small employer groups and family members within a 25-mile radius.

In 1995 Kern Central merged with the United Farm Workers credit union headed by the late Caesar Chavez. In 1997, Kern Central opened a second branch in Lamont, California which expanded the membership charter to include the communities of Lamont and Arvin. These areas have a high concentration of farm laborers who speak Spanish as their primary language. Kern Central has spent the past 15 years servicing members in both English and Spanish languages. Kern Central has also tailored and amended many of our policies to facilitate those we serve, such as accepting and review of seasonal employees income statements, using non-documentary methods of identification while servicing members financially who otherwise would not be served. Kern Central was the first credit union to offer Spanish language menus on ATM machines and Automated Phone Banking System in Kern County.

Today our field of membership has grown to include an expanded list of select employer groups and the Kern County community as a whole. We have added a third branch in the Northwest area of Bakersfield. Our original limitation of serving members within a 25-mile radius no longer exists, and includes any group within the continental United States, as well as allowing any member from any other credit union to join. We have grown to nearly 9,000 members and $42,000,000 in assets.

In 2003, our President and CEO, Carl Trejo was appointed by the Secretary of Business, Transportation & Housing Agency to the Credit Union Advisory Committee, and maintains membership with the California Credit Union Leagues Latino Network, as well as the local Greater Bakersfield and Hispanic Chamber of Commerce. Kern Central maintains membership at the National Federation of Community Development Credit Unions. In 2005, Kern Central Credit Union was certified as a Community Development Financial Institution (CDFI) at both the State and Federal levels, allowing KCCU to obtain government funding to continue offering low or no cost services, financial education and counseling and special lending projects to our communities in Kern County.

What makes us different from other financial institutions? At Kern Central Credit Union we focus on offering quality-personal-family-style service with our mission to provide convenient, quality-competitive products and services with an emphasis on financially educating both staff and members on the most responsible use of saving and using wise credit practices to help members build their "better tomorrow".