The National Credit Union Administration has handed out the first new federal charter of 2025 to Heritage Hub Federal Credit Union in Houston.

Heritage Hub will primarily serve people who live, work, worship, or attend school in an 84-census-tract community within Harris County, Texas. The credit union plans to open its doors in mid-2025 and offer its members basic savings and lending services to start, including personal loans and auto loans. 

NCUA Chairman Kyle Hauptman has made chartering more de novos a priority since he joined the board late in 2020.

“Credit unions have represented financial inclusion for tens of millions of Americans for more than 90 years, and each time we approve a new charter, we are backing the faith people have in themselves to chart their financial futures,” Hauptman said in a press release Tuesday.

The NCUA chartered only four credit unions last year after three were awarded in 2023, and since 2014 the regulator has only chartered 31 new credit unions.

Most recently, the agency in December chartered Soul Community Federal Credit Union in Austell, Georgia.

The agency last year said it is making strides in chartering more de novos.

“Three or four new charters per year might not sound like a lot, but it represents positive momentum and aligns with historic trends,” NCUA board member Todd Harper said at one of the agency’s monthly board meetings. 

At the same time, the number of credit unions in the U.S. continues to shrink, and few new organizations are entering the landscape to replace those that merged or closed.

Case in point: There were 4,604 federally insured credit unions as of Dec. 31, 2023, which was 149 more institutions than the 4,455 standing at the end of last year.

“Encouraging new charters and streamlining the chartering process have been priorities for me since I joined the NCUA board.”

 – Kyle Hauptman
Chairman
NCUA