On September 17, 1963, 15 employees at the Oak Brook headquarters of Chicago Bridge and Iron volunteered to form CBI (Oak Brook) Federal Credit Union. Our charter was approved by the National Credit Union Association (NCUA) on September 27, 1963. At that time we were permitted to serve only the salaried (not hourly) employees at the Oak Brook office, several district sales offices and salaried construction personnel in Hillside, NJ and Houston, TX and their immediate family members living under the same roof, of Chicago Bridge and Iron, now known worldwide as CB&I. To become a member, you had to make a $5 deposit for your one par share of the credit union but it could be made in monthly installments of not less than 25 cents over a 2-year period.
In 3 short months, we grew to 114 members with over $7,000 in shares and almost $3000 in loans. This is the core of our “People Helping People” philosophy and how it all began! Throughout the rest of the 60’s we expanded our charter to include Copeland Process and the research facility in Plainfield, Illinois.
In the 1970’s we continued to grow, in 1973 we had $496,000 in shares and $471,000 in loans. Don’t worry we began building reserves right away and have remained a healthy credit union for our duration of 55 years! We amended our charter to include Chicago Bridge And Iron Company, Company limited, Fibre making, Walker Process and retirees of all these companies.
In the 1980’s, we changed our name to CBI Oak Brook Federal Credit Union expanded our charter again to include all salaried employees of CBI Industries and its majority owned subsidiaries and their retirees and immediate family members living under the same roof. We hired a second employee to the payroll to better serve our members.
- We added Share Draft checking accounts to allow for easier access to the monies on deposit
- Added VISA Credit Cards as these were growing quickly in popularity as an easy way to pay!
In 1983, we had grown to $3.7 million in member share accounts and $1.2 million in loans
In the 1990’s we changed our name to CBI Federal Credit Union as the Oak Brook facility was no longer the base or operations for the credit union nor for CBI. We expanded our charter to include all employees of all CBI companies and their wholly owned subsidiaries and retirees and immediate family members that no longer had to be living under the same roof! We adopted the philosophy “Once a member, always a member” meaning members no longer had to terminate their credit union membership when they left their employment at CBI.
- We launched our first website
- We introduced ATM cards
- We began to offer First Mortgage Loans in 1993
- We held over $13.9 million in member share accounts and $5.9 million in loans.
By the end of the 1990’s we had 4 salaried employees to run the day to day operations of the credit union.
Then Y2K and the new millennium rolled in with all the work and worry behind us.
- We could now focus on updating our website and adding Online Banking and Bill Pay.
- We joined the Shared Branching network which gives our members access to live tellers nationwide and in a few parts of the world.
- We introduced our cu Check Card so members could pay through VISA right from their share Draft Checking accounts.
- We increased the par value of one share from the original $5 to the more standard $25 and it is required at the time of application in full.
In 2003 - 40 years after our inception we had $13.6 million in member shares and over $3.9 million in loans.
As the new millennium carries on we continue to strive to meet and exceed our members expectations.
- We have once again overhauled our website and we have expanded our charter to include Lutech Resource employees working on CB&I job sites.
- We began branching out from our Plainfield location and started participating in the CBI Health fairs to offer our services to CB&I employees in Texas and Louisiana. All CB&I employees are eligible to join and we will continue to spread the word.
In 2013, we celebrated our 50th Anniversary with over $16.8 million in member shares and $5.7 million in loans.
We are a small credit union with a lot of benefits and we hope we can exceed your expectations while serving you. As we are a non-for-profit institution all member are owners. Our Board of Directors, Supervisory Committee, and Credit committee members are (or were) all fellow CB&I employees or family members; that volunteer their time to allow us to continue to provide the employees of CB&I this employee benefit.
In 2017- We serve over 2100 members that have entrusted us with over $18.2 million in member share accounts and we currently have over $13.1 million in loans. Its been an exciting 55 years, please join us in growing for the next 55!