Hope Credit Union serves one of the nation’s most impoverished regions, a place from which wealth has been extracted for generations and where families have limited ability to build savings and other assets. As a result, HOPE’s ability to secure local deposits is limited, and HOPE must import capital into the communities we serve.

When you make a Transformational Deposit, you are making a socially responsible investment, ensuring that the people and places served by HOPE have access to the financial services that provide jobs, housing, healthcare, and other vital needs. Your Transformational Deposit, in the form of a Money Market account or Share Certificate, supports HOPE’s mission to address socioeconomic challenges confronting one of the nation’s most impoverished regions.

Your Transformational Deposit will strengthen communities, empower businesses, and transform the lives of individuals. Read our 2024 Impact Report to see how Transformational Deposits support opportunities for all across the Deep South.

HOPE is a family of development organizations dedicated to strengthening communities, building assets, and improving lives in the Delta and other economically distressed parts of Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.

Comprised of a regional credit union (Hope Credit Union), loan fund (Hope Enterprise Corporation), and policy center (Hope Policy Institute), HOPE has provided financial services, leveraged private and public resources, and shaped policies that have benefited more than 2 million residents in one of the nation’s most persistently poor regions since 1994.

Hope Credit Union is a nonprofit financial cooperative owned by its members. A credit union generally offers its members lower rates on loans, in addition to fewer and lower fees. Credit unions work together through shared branching networks.

Banks differ in that they are either privately owned or publicly traded and compete with credit unions and each other.

Hope Credit Union is federally regulated; therefore, deposits are insured through the National Credit Union Administration (NCUA) up to $250,000. This is similar to FDIC insurance, which covers banks.

You can open a Transformational Share Certificate or Money Market account with a minimum of $1,000.

If you live in the five states we serve (Alabama, Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, or Tennessee), you can also access other deposit account types with lower minimum balances.

Yes, anyone can open a Transformational Deposit account with $1,000 or more, regardless of where you live.

Money Market accounts and Share Certificates are two ways to make a Transformational Deposit at HOPE.

A Money Market account earns interest like a savings account and allows for check writing abilities like a checking account. At HOPE, a member with a Money Market account may make six outgoing monthly transactions, like withdrawals and transfers.

A Share Certificate is a timed deposit account, like a Certificate of Deposit (CD) at a bank. When opening a Share Certificate, you can choose from a 12-, 24-, 36-, or 60-month term. Your deposit is held for that term, during which you cannot make withdrawals or deposits without incurring a penalty fee.

You can access your funds easily with HOPE’s free online and mobile banking services.

For additional help accessing funds, contact us at Investor.Relations@hope-ec.org or 1-877-654-4673 (HOPE).

At maturity, your HOPE Transformational Share Certificate automatically renews to the current Transformational Deposit rate. Contact us to discuss your renewal options.

If you need to withdraw funds before your Share Certificate’s maturity, you may do so by contacting an Investor Relations representative at 1-877-654-4673 (HOPE) or emailing Investor.Relations@hope-ec.org. A penalty fee applies for early withdrawals.