Eight Anheuser-Busch Employees Pooled $55. Joining Their St. Louis Credit Union Takes $5.
Revised October 20, 2026
Can anyone just join a credit union in St. Louis?
Not anyone, anywhere, but close to it here. Every credit union has a field of membership that spells out who may join, and around St. Louis those fields are wide. Together Credit Union, for one, accepts anyone who lives or works in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles, Jefferson, Madison or St. Clair County, plus immediate family of members, for a $5 minimum deposit. Read the eligibility page, bring photo ID, and fund the share account.
Keep reading ↓The fee sits on your statement in small gray type, one line between the grocery run and the gas. Monthly maintenance. You read it twice, then you do the math on a year of it, and something in your chest goes tight, because you did nothing to earn that charge except leave your paycheck where it lands.
Now drive down to Soulard with the windows cracked. On the days the brewery is cooking, the air around Lynch Street smells like warm bread and wet grain, and that smell is part of this story. In 1939, eight Anheuser-Busch employees pooled their savings, which totaled $55, and petitioned the state of Missouri to open a credit union so they could give sound financial advice and credit to their co-workers. Their first branch opened in Soulard, at 10th and Lynch Streets.
That credit union is Together Credit Union now, headquartered at 423 Lynch Street, and it serves more than 142,000 members. Here is the part almost nobody in St. Louis knows: you do not have to work anywhere near a bottling line to join it. If you live or work in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles County or Jefferson County, or across the river in Madison or St. Clair County, you are eligible. Immediate family or household members of current members are eligible too. It takes a $5 minimum deposit.
Read that once more. Eight brewery workers needed $55 to open the door. You need five dollars to walk through it.
Can anyone just join a credit union in St. Louis?
Not anyone, anywhere, but close to it here. Every credit union has a field of membership that spells out who may join, and around St. Louis those fields are wide. Together Credit Union, for one, accepts anyone who lives or works in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles, Jefferson, Madison or St. Clair County, plus immediate family of members, for a $5 minimum deposit. Read the eligibility page, bring photo ID, and fund the share account.
That one paragraph is most of the job. The rest of this page is the fine print people trip over: the wording on the eligibility page, the Missouri law that was written with St. Louis in mind, and the little deposit that quietly turns you from a customer into an owner.
Do credit unions have membership requirements?
Yes. According to the NCUA’s consumer site, members of a credit union share a common bond, also known as the credit union’s field of membership. That bond can come from your employer, your family, where you live, work, worship or go to school, or a group you belong to.
For most of the last century, the bond was a job. You worked at the plant, the hospital or the school district, and the credit union was down the hall from the time clock. That is exactly how the Lynch Street credit union began. What changed is the community charter, which serves everyone tied to a defined place. The NCUA’s Chartering and Field of Membership Manual says a community charter must be based on a single, geographically well-defined local community, and the agency has published guidance on statistical areas that requires a community drawn that way to have a population of 2.5 million or less. That cap is one reason charters around here read like a list of named counties instead of “the St. Louis metro.”
So open the eligibility page and read the verbs slowly, the way you would read a lease. “Live or work” means you qualify through either one. A person who sleeps in one county and clocks in two counties over has two chances, and needs only one.
The Missouri law with a line for one city
Here is the strange local fact that makes all of this easier for us. Missouri’s credit union membership statute, Section 370.080, RSMo, lets a state-chartered credit union serve a geographic area that may include all those persons who reside or work in “a city not within a county” or a county where its main office is located. Since 1876, St. Louis has been an independent city, meaning it is not part of any county. That phrase in the law is describing us.
Two more lines in that statute are worth knowing before you sit down at a member services desk. A membership share must have a par value of not less than one dollar nor more than one hundred dollars, so the buy-in at a Missouri state-chartered credit union can never be more than $100. And a membership share shall not be pledged as security on any loan. Your ownership stake cannot be used as collateral against you.
One more line from that statute is the reason people stay members for decades. Once you are admitted, you may remain a member until you choose to withdraw. Change jobs, move to Wentzville, it does not matter. The only thing that reliably closes the door behind you is closing the account yourself.
Your family may already be your way in
The quietest door is the one at your own kitchen table. Most credit unions allow members’ families to join. For the legal fine print, the NCUA has legal opinions on the eligibility of immediate family members and on household members, which it defines as persons living in the same residence maintaining a single economic unit. If your mother has banked at the same credit union since before you could see over the counter, ask. Together Credit Union’s own list of family members runs from spouses and children to in-laws, grandparents, aunts, uncles, nieces and nephews.
People are asking
What’s the phone number for a St. Louis credit union?
It depends which one you want. Together Credit Union, the one that started with Anheuser-Busch employees, lists 800-325-9905. Vantage Credit Union’s general support line is 314.298.0055, and First Community Credit Union lists (636) 728-3333. Call before you go and ask the one question that matters: “Does my address or my job qualify me?”
Missouri charter, Illinois charter, or federal?
It matters the day something goes wrong, because that is the day you need to know who to call. On this side of the river, the Missouri Division of Credit Unions is the regulatory agency responsible for the examination, supervision, chartering, merger and liquidation of all state-chartered credit unions, and it responds to consumer requests or complaints about credit union services. In the Metro East, the Illinois Division of Financial Institutions licenses, charters and examines state-chartered credit unions. Ask your credit union which charter it holds, and write the answer on a sticky note now, while nothing is wrong.
Completely off topic, but if you end up in Jefferson County tonight, here is where Hillsboro eats.
The five dollars that makes you an owner
At a credit union, you buy in. As the NCUA’s consumer site puts it, credit unions are owned and controlled by their members. The NCUA explains in a legal opinion on membership rights and par value of shares that federal credit union bylaws let the board of directors set the par value of a share. At Together, the minimum deposit is $5. It is not a fee and it is not gone. It sits in your savings account with your name on it.
New words come with the new card in your wallet. If the paperwork says “share draft,” read this explainer on what a share draft account is before you sign. The words feel odd for about a week.
Then leave that first deposit alone and let it sit there with your name on it.
What to bring to the counter
The paperwork is the same kind you would bring to any bank. If you like a list on paper, print this account-opening checklist. Put these in a folder the night before:
- A government photo ID, such as a driver’s license or passport.
- Your Social Security number or another taxpayer ID number.
- Proof of address, like a recent utility bill or lease.
- Proof you qualify: a pay stub for a job-based path, or the member’s name if you are joining through family.
- The opening deposit, plus whatever you want in checking on day one.
Going straight to the teller window with a fat envelope of cash for a cashier’s check? Expect a few extra questions. Under 31 CFR 1010.415, no financial institution may sell a cashier’s check, money order or traveler’s check for $3,000 or more in currency unless it keeps records on the buyer. Nobody is accusing you of anything. Bring your ID and expect the questions.
Is the money as safe as at a bank?
Yes. The NCUA’s Share Insurance Fund is backed by the full faith and credit of the United States and provides up to $250,000 of federal share insurance. The FDIC covers $250,000 per depositor at an insured bank. Same ceiling, different sticker on the door. The NCUA’s share insurance FAQ walks through how joint accounts and retirement accounts get their own coverage.
Take sixty seconds before you move a paycheck: look the credit union up on the NCUA’s credit union locator. If it shows up there, you know who stands behind it.
Where credit unions fall short
Honesty first: there are trade-offs. The branch map can look small next to a big bank’s. The counterweight is shared branching: the NCUA’s final rule on the definition of a service facility provides that shared locations are service facilities for certain federal credit union purposes, whether or not the credit union owns a piece of the network. Together Credit Union, for instance, points members to thousands of Shared Branch locations. Ask any credit union whether it is in a shared network before you write it off over branch count.
Not-for-profit does not mean fee-free, either. Ask for the full fee schedule in writing and lay it next to that statement with the small gray line on it. Compare them line by line.
If a bank once turned you down
Eligibility and account approval are two different tests. Your field of membership asks where you live or work. A separate screen can stop a checking account, so before you apply anywhere new, read why a checking account gets denied and how to get a copy of the report banks use. On ChexSystems’ own site you can request and view your ChexSystems report and dispute errors. Do that first, with a cup of coffee, before you sit across from anyone.
Ready to pick your door? Browse credit unions across the metro on St Louis Near Me Directory, then call two of them with the same question about your address and your job. Shopping for a house next? Read how to choose a mortgage lender in St. Louis, and if filing season keeps sneaking up on you, here is where to get free tax preparation in St. Louis.
If you’re the bookkeeper, the tax preparer or the one-person insurance office people call after they open that account, your next customers are reading pages like this one right now. Put your business where they look and get more customers from neighbors already sorting out their money.
More reading once you are in:
- The best local credit unions in the St. Louis metro
- Credit union versus bank auto loans in St. Louis
- How credit cards work, interest and building credit
- Debt consolidation in St. Louis
Frequently asked questions
Is it difficult to get into a credit union?
Rarely, in St. Louis. Together Credit Union’s communities include St. Louis City and St. Louis County in Missouri and Madison and St. Clair counties in Illinois, and immediate family or household members of its members can join too. At Together Credit Union, living or working in St. Louis City, St. Louis County, St. Charles, Jefferson, Madison or St. Clair County qualifies you, with a $5 minimum deposit.
What is the easiest credit union to join?
The one whose eligibility page already names your county and the relationship you actually have to it. A charter that says “live or work” gives you two ways in. If a parent, spouse or sibling is already a member, that can open a door your own address does not.
Can I join a credit union if I have bad credit?
Often, yes. Membership is about where you live, where you work or who you are related to. What can block a checking account is a separate screening report, and ChexSystems lets you request and view your report and dispute errors. Clean that up first, then apply.
Why would you get denied from a credit union?
Usually one of two reasons. Either you fall outside the field of membership, which you fix by finding a credit union that does cover your county, job or family, or the checking account screen turned something up. Ask which reason applies, then pull your ChexSystems report and dispute any errors.
What is the $3,000 bank rule?
It is the federal rule that no financial institution may sell a cashier’s check, money order or traveler’s check for $3,000 or more in currency unless it keeps records on the buyer. Bring your ID and expect the questions.
Is there a downside to joining a credit union?
A few honest ones. You have to fit a field of membership, the branch map can look small, and you still have to read the fee schedule. Ask about shared branching, and ask for the full fee schedule in writing.
Is it better to use a credit union or a bank?
It depends on what you need, and that is your call. The federal insurance limit is the same $250,000 either way. The difference is ownership: credit unions are owned and controlled by their members. Compare fees and loan rates side by side before you move anything.
Written by a dedicated team of St. Louis locals who live, work, and play right here in the St. Louis metro. Founder Lane Forman and team are committed to building the region’s most trusted directory by verifying listings and connecting local businesses with loyal customers across Missouri and Illinois.