North Star Credit Union believes in providing quality service and carrying forward our mission to our community.  North Star is small enough to know you and large enough to serve you. We offer a variety of banking options for our customers. We are proud to providing financial services to our members. We love this region as much as you do and want to make it a good place to live, work and play.

From the CEO
Welcome to North Star Credit Union. As we celebrate 80 years of being in business, I’d like to take this opportunity to mention that it is a privilege to serve the members of North Star Credit Union as Chief Executive Officer. I am humbled by the continual support from our membership and our community. Because of your trust in our company, we have seen tremendous growth over the past decade. A few of the accomplishments I am most proud of include our name change from Cook Area Credit Union to North Star Credit Union, more than quadrupling our workforce from 6 to 28, and the addition of our three new branches located in Nashwauk, Duluth, and Brooks. Each day, we work to serve you—our members—while maintaining a commitment to our mission and values. Thank you for being a member of our financial family. I hope you feel a sense of pride knowing when you choose North Star Credit Union you are resolving to strengthen your financial security and your community.
~ Rich Crettol

Mission

“Hometown Values……….Worldwide Access………Lifelong Relationships.”  

North Star Credit Union provides high quality financial services and education to meet the needs of our communities.

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Vision

Helping to Build Thriving Communities Across Northern Minnesota

Core Values

Teamwork

Improving the member experience through a team centered approach to member services. Learning from each other in a cohesive, positive environment, while working through our differences and utilizing each other’s strengths to accomplish our mission as a team.

Integrity

Uphold professional integrity; the ability to maintain honesty and ethical principles in personal decision making as it affects the quality of member services.

Excellence

Provide excellence by continually developing upon ourselves as well as our methods, and best practices. We take advantage of technological advancements that will improve our member services and employee learning experiences. Continually strive to find new areas to improve upon and develop.

Accountability

Value our individual responsibility for the decisions that are made and hold ourselves and each other accountable.

Respect

Value the member and co-workers as an individual in need of our support. Recognize and value each other’s uniqueness and individual responsibility to the team. Consider differing viewpoints and learn to use each other’s differences to ultimately benefit our members’ experiences.

History 

North Star Credit Union opened in 1939 as Northern Farmer’s Co-op Credit Union, sponsored by the Northern Farmer’s Co-op Society. The Credit Union was based out of the Co-op Store until it burned down in October 1994. After operating out of the BIC building for some time, the Credit Union was able to relocate in January 1996 to Main Street, where it currently stands. Once relocated North Star extended its field of membership to Lake Country Power members. To accommodate our growing membership, we expanded our building in 2012. In 2013, we broadened our field of membership once again; this time allowing students, family, volunteers, and staff of school district 2142 to join. In 2014, we created a student focus Group called “The B.O.S.S” (Bunch of Students Saving) at the North Woods School. With their help, we successfully opened its a student branch in the North Woods Campus called “The Money Cave”.

On June 1, 2015, Cook Area Credit Union changed its name to North Star Credit Union. Our new name is representative of our vision: to build thriving communities across Northern Minnesota. We are proud of our history and growth in the Cook community, and we are confident we can help other communities thrive. We understand our success goes hand in hand with the success of our communities. That is why we continually work to bring our members additional products and services, invest in our communities through sponsorships, scholarships, and events, and encourage financial education for members of all ages.

Since 2017  we have welcomed three additional branches through merger, now proudly serving members in Nashwauk, Duluth, and Brooks communities, as well as our hometown of Cook. The mergers offered more opportunities for our members and surrounding communities to benefit from the cooperative spirit. We are are still your hometown bank, now with more products and services, and growing to serve our membership for future generations.