First Tech History

Now that First Tech has incorporated the history of several other credit unions (namely SECU and Oregon Metro), it's hard to pinpoint every historic aspect of the credit union. But, on the credit union's 50th anniversary, we celebrated with a nice bit of multimedia. To view it, all you need is a Macromedia Flash player (which should be installed in your Internet browser right now).  See the presentation.

Why the big change to www.1sttech.com?
Okay, if you're wondering why we changed www.1sttech.com, the answer is simple: the answer is you. Over the past year, we've been asking members what they like about www.1sttech.com and what they'd like to see change. They gave us some rather candid answers.

They wanted to see better navigation, a search engine that actually worked and easy access to online banking from anywhere in the site. With the new site, we've delivered.

Sure, there were about 10 dozen other improvements that members wanted, and those are scattered throughout the new site. But we're always open to new ideas for improving what you've already helped us improve. If you have any thought/suggestions and whatnot, use the "Report A Bug" icon in the left navigation.

Times Gone By
First Tech is a credit union that has delivered on those ideals for over half a century. Our members believe in it. Our board of directors believe in it. And so did a handful of Tektronix employees over 50 years ago.

First Tech began its life on a cold, wet day in 1952 when seven Tektronix employees came together to start a credit union. Over the years, First Tech's innovations have become legendary: inventing online banking before ATMs even really started being popular, helping create a shared branch and ATM Network (so members are never far from their money), pioneering wireless banking and more. In fact, it's an unusual week that we aren't named in some news story related to money, innovation and credit union integrity.

That innovative attitude helped First Tech evolve to include not only high tech employees, but also those working in the telecommunications industry; and now we're out to help those in other industries and communities as well.

Then in 2002, First Tech merged with State Employees Credit Union . SECU was established in 1936 to serve State of Oregon employees (as well as those working at OHSU, OPB, ADAO, SAIF and more). In 2004, the merger between First Tech and Oregon Metro Credit Union in Eugene, Oregon has brought further innovation to those living or working in Lane County.

To experience some of those innovations first hand, you just need to become a member.