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September 25, 2019

American Eagle flies into No. Haven

PHOTOS | New Haven Biz
By Michael C. Bingham

It doesn’t look like a bank — because it’s not.

But the gleaming new American Eagle Financial Credit Union at 84 Washington Ave. in North Haven can provide just about any service a traditional bank can offer customers — from simple checking accounts to mortgages, personal loans and even investment accounts.

And maybe even a feature or two a traditional bank can only dream of, at least for now.

Like Dan. Dan O’Brien is the teller on the video screen of American Financial’s video teller machine (VTM). Think of it as an ATM, but with a flesh-and-blood teller on the screen talking to you and assisting you with your transaction. Dan’s actually in East Hartford (American Eagle’s corporate HQ), in the temporal sense — but he might as well be in Ulan Bator, for all that matters, because he’s right there in his full cathode-ray glory, smiling that baby-I’m-yours smile.

The video teller machine functions from 7 a.m. to 7 p.m. weekdays and 8 a.m. to 1 p.m. Saturdays (Dan doesn’t get out much). During other hours it functions as a regular old ATM, spitting out twenties and recording customers’ deposits.

Branch manager Jahmeca Galloza demonstrates American Eagle’s video teller machine with onscreen teller O'Brien live from East Hartford.

The new North Haven American Eagle represents the credit union’s first foray into New Haven County from its Hartford-area stomping grounds, and its 15th overall in Connecticut. But it’s also a return, sort of, to the company’s roots. The credit union first opened in 1935 to serve employees at the (then) nearby Pratt & Whitney factory (now a ginormous Amazon fulfillment center).

Since then it has grown into the largest commercial credit union in Connecticut, serving some 155,000 members. The 1,500-square-foot Washington Ave. branch cost $1.9 million to build and furnish and will employ four full-time employees when it opens to the public next Monday (Sept. 30).

“For nearly 85 years American Eagle has served as a community-based financial institution offering our members great rates on banking products and serving our towns as an active and engaged community partner,” said company President and CEO Dean Marchessault. “We are very excited to bring our services both as a stable financial institution and responsible neighbor to the town of North Haven and New Haven County.”

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