Regulators shut down Baltimore-based credit union amid financial trouble
Members First of Maryland becomes the fifth credit union liquidated in 2025 as small institutions face mounting pressures.
In what may be another sign of the stresses on small credit unions, the National Credit Union Administration on Friday liquidated Members First of Maryland Federal Credit Union.
The Baltimore-based institution was chartered in 1969.
The closure marks the fifth credit union liquidation by the federal regulator in 2025, underscoring the growing fragility among smaller, federally insured credit unions. Before this year, the last such action occurred in March 2023, when the NCUA shuttered Inter-American Federal Credit Union of Brooklyn, N.Y.
Citing imminent insolvency and no viable path to recovery, the NCUA moved to discontinue Members First’s operations. At the time of liquidation, the credit union served 3,638 members and reported assets of approximately $21.9 million, according to its most recent call report.
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Aberdeen Proving Ground Federal Credit Union, based in Edgewood, Maryland, purchased some of Members First’s assets and assumed its share accounts. With nearly 175,000 members and $2.5 billion in assets, Aberdeen Proving Ground FCU will provide uninterrupted service to the newly absorbed members.
Their accounts remain federally insured through the National Credit Union Share Insurance Fund.
Members First had deep ties to local labor unions, including the United Steelworkers, AFL-CIO, ILA, and IBEW, and served residents in Perry Hall and White Marsh, Maryland. But financial pressures mounted quickly. After posting a net income of $35,000 in 2024, the credit union reported losses exceeding $72,000 in the first half of 2025.
Its closure comes as small credit unions—those with assets between $10 million and $50 million—face continued decline. According to NCUA data, the number of such institutions fell to 1,196 in the first quarter of 2025, down from 1,253 a year earlier.
These credit unions now hold just 1% of system-wide assets, totaling $31.6 billion. Collectively, they reported an 8% drop in loans and a 6.5% decline in membership over the year, even as net worth edged up slightly by 0.8%.
