Cyprus Credit Union is a not-for-profit organization started in 1928 by a small group of Kennecott Copper Company employees in Utah. Cyprus Credit Union is among the oldest active credit unions in our state and started with assets totaling less than $100.00. All credit unions, regardless of their current size, started in the same manner. A group of individuals pooled their resources to provide affordable credit to each other. Unlike many other financial institutions, credit unions are owned by their members and overseen by a volunteer board of directors.

The concept of people banding together to form financial cooperatives (credit unions) began in the mid-1800s in Europe and quickly spread to the rest of the world. Since that time, the idea’s guiding principles have remained the same: (1) Only people who are credit union members should borrow there; (2) loans are made for "prudent and productive" purposes; (3) a person’s desire to repay (character) is considered more important than the ability (income) to repay. Members are, after all, borrowing their own money and that of their friends. These principles still govern most of the world’s credit unions.