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Check Out Our Member Stories

Supporting small businesses nationwide

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Read Our Annual Report

See the numbers of how we supported our communities

Learn More
Invest in What We Do

Connect with our team to see how you can be a part of the mission

Reach Out

Choice Community Credit Union: A Tight-Knit Family

Choice at a Glance

Original Name: 
Burlington Employees Federal Credit Union

Founders: 
WWI veteran J. Spencer Love

Year Founded: 1979

Year of Merger with Self-Help Credit Union: 2010

Original Founding Location: 
Greensboro, NC

Choice at a Glance

Original Name: 
Burlington Employees Federal Credit Union

Founders: 
WWI veteran J. Spencer Love

Year Founded: 1979

Year of Merger with Self-Help Credit Union: 2010

Original Founding Location: 
Greensboro, NC

Choice Community Credit Union and Self-Help Credit Union

During much of the twentieth century, North Carolina was home to the largest textile company in the world: Burlington Industries. BI started in 1923, when a young veteran named J. Spencer Love established a textile plant in Burlington, NC. Eventually the company moved to Greensboro and built satellite facilities in a number of locations around the state.

As the business grew, company leaders realized their employees could benefit from affordable financial services and loans offered by a credit union. In the late 1970s, BI created the Burlington Employees Federal Credit Union.

When the textile industry began to shrink in the U.S., the credit union adapted to the times by expanding its services to the wider community. In 1988, it became Choice Federal Credit Union, led by CEO Martha Miller. Later, in 2002, the name was modified to Choice Community Credit Union.

This video features interviews from Ms. Miller, Park Davidson (BI executive and Choice board member), Carol Lyles (BI employee and credit union member) and credit union staffers Lavern Coley and Susan Padgett. They all echo the same theme: the credit union has always been like a tight-knit family.

Founder Spencer Love.

The original founder of Burlington Industries, Spencer Love, inspects work on the floor.

Virginia plant worker.

A worker at the Clarksville, Virginia plant.

Workers at Reaford plant.

Six workers pose at the Reaford plant.