Two years later, a similar credit union was organized in Okanagan Falls and the two institutions were amalgamated in 1971. The present name was adopted in 1992. There were undoubtedly many reasons for the formation of the original Oliver Credit Union in the fledgling days of the 1940s. Perhaps the most important was the hunger for land in an agriculturally based economy and the inability of the banks to lend money for mortgages at that time. Solutions come to clear-thinking individuals.
Necessity can provide the clearest vision of all in a demanding situation.
Membership was limited to neighbours and residents of the Oliver and Testalinda School Districts and the immediate vicinity, and the signatures of charter members stood bold upon the page. P.C. Coates had the honour of being the secretary-treasurer, with Carleton MacNaughton, Paul Eisenhut, Clif Ireton and Roy Scott holding the other directors seats. Initially, public meetings were held in the United Church basement and attracted a considerable following after the chores of the day were done. Those early years are fondly remembered by the men who cast fortune s lot in with the organization that valued a handshake as much as a membership. Former Board President Fred Tomlin recalls that Louis Ball was the first part-time manager in 1946 when the credit union occupied the store whose premises later became Ruffled Edges.