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Credit union opens branch on Seventh Avenue

David Burnette and Rita Gentry welcomed customers at a new Telco branch at 1452 Seventh Ave.

David Burnette said Hendersonville was a natural location for a new branch for Telco Community Credit Union.

"I've been wanting to come to Hendersonville for a long time," said Burnette, the operations manager for the Asheville-based financial institution. "Our members have been asking us to come over here. I lived in Etowah for 10 years. I know this is a good market."
For Telco, a North Carolina-chartered credit union established by Southern Bell Telephone Co. in 1935, moving to a "good market" means that the organization will add a new branch to market its services, which include saving accounts, personal and business checking accounts, auto loans, consumer loans, mortgages, IRAs and other features.
"All of Henderson County has been very welcoming," Telco CEO Rita Gentry said. "We opened with around 850 members here already. It's an excellent market and I think the location is excellent."
The credit union moved into the 3,200-square-foot building that was originally built in 1986 and was last home to a SunTrust branch bank. Valued at $642,400, the three-quarter acre lot and building at 1452 Seventh Avenue is owned by Katina Edney Hampton and Kermit Edney Jr. It was leased to Telco through Jones Commercial Properties.
A member-owned not-for-profit financial institution, Telco has "no stockholders or holding companies to enrich" it returns net earnings to its members through better interest rates for savings, lower rates for loans and fewer service fees. It now adds Henderson County to a market that also serves Catawba, Burke, Caldwell, McDowell, Buncombe, Madison and Haywood counties. The branch is managed by Jan Stapler.