Numerica Credit Union returning to Moses Lake

MOSES LAKE — After 14 years, Numerica is coming back to Moses Lake.

“We have a great foundation of membership in Moses Lake from when we previously had brick and mortar there,” said Amanda Swan, vice president of community impact and communications.”

Numerica Credit Union, based in Spokane Valley, expects to open a branch in Moses Lake in September, according to a statement from the credit union.

Numerica closed its branch in Moses Lake in September 2012, according to Columbia Basin Herald archives, partly because members were becoming more tech-savvy.

“(That) was when Numerica was investing quite a bit into our digital banking programs, in particular our mobile app,” Swan said. “Moses Lake was one of the communities (where) we were seeing some of the highest usage numbers and adoption rates from that local membership, leaning into a lot of the conveniences and options that we had, from remote check deposit to being able to do their online banking and bill pay remotely.”

Numerica CEO Carla Cicero told the Columbia Basin Herald in 2012 that more than half of the members in Moses Lake used the online options. But the city’s population has increased by almost 30% since then, according to U.S. Census estimates.

“As we’ve seen Moses Lake continuing to grow, we’ve recognized it’s time for us to come back and … respond to the evolving needs of our membership,” Swan said. “Yes, our members continue to lean quite heavily on our digital banking products. But when it comes to other services, whether it’s retail lending, mortgage lending (or) commercial lending, having that in-person presence and that location that our members can come see us at is something that we want to be able to offer.”

The new location will be at 323 S. Pioneer Way, across the street from the library and Civic Center Park. That space was formerly occupied by Carniceria El Primo before that building’s roof collapsed in the summer of 2021.

“We’ve been keeping our eye out for a great piece of real estate and land and a location,” Swan said. And when we saw that come available and were able to obtain it, we (were) excited to come home, in a sense.”

The new location will be Numerica’s 26th, and its only branch in Grant County. In fact, it will be the only one outside the Spokane, Coeur d’Alene, Tri-Cities and Wenatchee areas. That makes Moses Lake a good center point, said Assistant Vice President of Retail Experience for Central Washington Leo Martinez.

“(Moses Lake) is an hour from the Tri-Cities, an hour from Wenatchee and even about an hour and a half-ish from the Spokane Airway Heights location,” Martinez said.

Martinez wasn’t sure how large the building would be, but he said it would probably start out with a staff of seven or eight professionals. The credit union plans to hire locally rather than transfer personnel from other branches, Swan said.

“Having a team of people who call Moses Lake home is really critical, because that helps us to show up well for our members and to show up well for our community,” she said.

The central location means the Moses Lake branch will offer some services that smaller ones don’t, Swan said. That includes small business banking, mortgage lending and Numerica Financial Services, the credit union’s investment arm.

Numerica also works with local nonprofits to support the community, Swan said, which was something that drew them to Moses Lake.

“So many more households and individuals are calling Moses Lake home and staying rooted in Moses Lake, and we want to be a part of their financial journey,” she said. “I love what Moses Lake does in terms of rallying around the nonprofits and the schools and all of the backbone of what makes a community strong. And Numerica wants to be right there alongside them.”

    The new Numerica Credit Union branch, expected to open in September, will offer small business and commercial banking, mortgage lending and investment services.