A holiday greeting to exceptional people who work in healthcare:

Most people are not aware of this, but there are several different types of credit unions. The oldest type, and perhaps the type most people associate with credit unions, is a “SEG” credit union – which stands for “select employers’ group”. This is how most credit unions get their start – as a credit union chartered to serve the employees of a particular employee. 

The most common type of credit union these days is a Community Charter credit union – a credit union chartered to service people who live in a certain geographic region. The size of that region can vary from just one county to encompass many states.

The newest, and rarest, type of credit union is a “TIP” (Trade/Industry/Profession) credit union. This type of credit union is chartered not to just serve the employees of one particular business, but all the employees of a specific industry. As our name suggests, Montana Health is a TIP credit union dedicated to serving the people who work in healthcare. 

Over the years, the question has come before us many times – should we convert to a community charter? There would certainly be some advantages to doing so. The most obvious benefit would be increased market opportunities.

But, as most people know, credit unions are supposed to be more than just about the bottom line. And the holiday season, with its emphasis on family, brings this into greater focus for me. The family of people in our field of membership is large, and yet there are certain traits that mark them all as brothers and sisters in this industry. Just like you can tell when people are related because of the shape of their cheekbones or the timbre of their voices, you can kind of tell when people work in healthcare because of their dedication to service. No matter what their specific role in healthcare may be – they all have that certain something – that hard to place but so evident trait of caring that lets you know they are part of the family.

Montana Health is very lucky to have a charter that allows us to serve this amazing family. And this holiday season, I want to thank all of you for adopting us and letting us do our little part in helping you complete your all-important mission. So here’s to an amazing holiday season for all of our amazing members!