Riegelwood Federal Credit Union, with offices in Leland and Riegelwood (Columbus County), is now part of a larger organization.

The National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) recently approved a merger of the financial institution with Charleston, South Carolina-based REV Federal Credit Union. REV has also merged with Hamlet Federal Credit Union, a small financial institution based in Hamlet, North Carolina.

“As a digital-first credit union, REV is able to leverage technology to offer members in Riegelwood and Hamlet access to new products and services that will help them through every stage of their financial journey,” the merger news release stated. “Once the credit unions are fully integrated, REV will have a branch network of 15 locations across the Carolinas serving a total of 66,000 members and assets of $900 million.”

The recent merger reflects REV’s focus on growth: part of the new name, vision and mission the Charleston-area credit union has articulated under the leadership of Jason Lee, who took the helm of what was Heritage Trust FCU in 2019.

Currently, Riegelwood Credit Union has 12,333 members and assets of more than $101.6 million. All Riegelwood employees, as well as those at Hamlet FCU, will retain their jobs with the expanded credit union, REV spokesman Dustin Haynes said Thursday.

“As a small credit union, Riegelwood lacked the resources necessary to offer the membership access to the products and services they wanted and deserve,” June Bigford, Riegelwood president and CEO, said in the release. “I knew that without the right partner, we couldn’t continue to move forward. We were lucky to find Jason and REV because they shared our values and are as passionate as we are about supporting our community.”

Haynes said that the merger does not mean that REV plans to change the nature of the credit unions' relationship with their communities.

"We want to create partnerships with them so that we can have deeper and longer-lasting impacts on these communities, and help make them healthier communities," he said.