Air Academy Credit Union achieves sonic boom with its mortgage loans

Gazette, The (Colorado Springs), Apr 6, 2003 by Wayne Heilman

Air Academy Federal Credit Union doesn't attract much attention compared with financial giants like Wells Fargo Bank or even Ent Federal Credit Union.

But El Paso County's second-largest credit union is making national news among such member-owned institutions. Air Academy was the nation's top mortgage lender last year among credit unions its size - those with $100 million to $250 million in assets.

The $238 million institution made $187.7 million in mortgages in 2002, thereby ranking it seventh among all mortgage lenders in the county last year. That's about $6 million more than the mortgages by Ent, which is more than six times larger.

Air Academy started its mortgage lending operation in late 1997 and restructured those operations in 2000 amid $600,000 in losses. The 30-employee unit has grown quickly since then, boosting volume from about $1.5 million a month to more than $20 million in March.

Air Academy, like most lenders, has benefited from a wave of homeowners refinancing mortgages to take advantage of the lowest rates in decades. But it has generated a third of its mortgages from members buying homes - a dividend of the county's hot housing market.

That's a result of attracting home buyers by offering monthly first-time home buyer classes and courting real estate agents by sponsoring free continuing-education classes, said Steve VanSickler, Air Academy's vice president of mortgage banking.

"Our mortgage operation is absolutely fantastic because it is so focused on what they can do for our members," said Air Academy Chief Executive Glenn Strebe. "The credit union is doing well that they are a part of that and a major part of our recent growth."

Mortgage lending has helped Air Academy grow 32.8 percent in the past two years and boost income by nearly 60 percent during the same period.

Air Academy grew some more Saturday, when it merged with CMS Credit Union, which serves 406 members in Cheyenne Mountain School District 12. Air Academy also has plans to expand into central Colorado Springs with three branches during the next two years.

Air Academy serves any employee or resident of any of nine school districts in El Paso, Douglas and Elbert counties, including Colorado Springs School District 11, as well as active-duty and retired military personnel, and workers for about 100 employers in the three counties.

The Colorado Springs Small Business Development Center, which has moved three times in two years, may have finally found a permanent home.

The center moved in February to 815 Eagle Rock Road on the northwest corner of the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs campus. It had been housed temporarily at the Colorado Springs Chamber of Commerce after the lease expired at its site off Garden of the Gods Road.

If you're looking for the center, Eagle Rock Road heads east from North Nevada Avenue just south of the Four Diamond Sports Complex. The center is located in a modular building - No. 202. The phone number remains the same - 272-7232

Luis Saldarriaga, the center's executive director, said the moves have been setbacks for the center's programs, making it difficult for clients to find the center. He hopes the center will stay at its current location for a while. Maybe then he can unpack.

- Wayne Heilman is a business reporter. Reach him at 636-0234 or at wayneh@gazette.com