Premier’s History
Premier Credit Union began as Bankers Life Employees Credit Union on September 11, 1933. The purpose of the credit union was to promote savings and offer affordable loans to its members. Only employees and retirees of Bankers Life Company and their families were eligible to join the credit union.
In 1986, when Bankers Life Company changed its name to Principal Financial Group, the credit union subsequently changed its name to Principal Financial Group Employees Credit Union. The credit union's name changed again in 2001 to its current name, Premier Credit Union.
On April 4, 2004, the credit union moved its office to our current main office location in downtown Des Moines, Iowa. The location was chosen because of its proximity to the corporate offices of Principal Financial Group where a large number of members still work and its convenient downtown presence for our downtown Employer Partners such as The Des Moines Register, KCCI-Channel 8 and Voya.
Why did we change our name?
Principal Employees Credit Union no longer represented our full membership base. Since our policy is "Once a member, always a member", a large part of our membership over 70+ years were no longer employed at Principal Financial Group. In addition, we had a growing base of family members that never worked at Principal Financial Group. The new name, Premier Credit Union, reinforces our core mission, which is Building Relationships – One Member at a Time.
