July 2025 | Mike Brassfield
Florida’s third-largest credit union had humble beginnings. It got its start in 1951 on an Air Force base near Cape Canaveral. It had seven founding members who pooled together $372 in savings.
Today it’s a different story. Space Coast Credit Union has more than 675,000 members with more than $8 billion in assets. It has expanded geographically to serve 34 counties, opening 66 branch locations that span Florida’s east coast from Daytona Beach all the way down to Miami.
Something else has changed, too. More and more of those customers speak Spanish as their first language. That has prompted SCCU to adopt new strategies specifically to become more bilingual.
“We do prioritize bilingual support and multicultural engagement,” says Carmen Tapanes, the credit union’s senior vice president of retail services. “As Florida’s Hispanic community continues to grow, we recognize the importance of cultural awareness in service delivery, so that’s a huge focus for us.”
This takes a number of different forms. It starts with pamphlets, web pages and assorted content being translated into Spanish. And naturally, bilingual customer service is available by phone.
“Nearly 80% of our team members in South Florida do speak Spanish,” Tapanes says, “so we take a hands-on approach to servicing our Hispanic members in all our branch locations and over the phone to ensure clarity when navigating their finances.”
This strategy extends into SCCU’s educational initiatives. The credit union holds workshops, local events and one-on-one consultations to help its members navigate the world of loans, credit, savings accounts and financial planning.
“Nearly 80% of our team members in South Florida do speak Spanish.” — Carmen Tapanes, senior vice president of retail services, Space Coast Credit Union
“We offer financial literacy resources in both English and Spanish, including free webinars, workshops focused on budgeting, on credit, how to improve your credit, homeownership and small business finances,” Tapanes says. “Our online educational tools guide members through everyday financial decisions.”
Spanish is by far the most common non-English language that’s spoken in Florida households. According to the U.S. Census Bureau, more than 22% of the households in Florida speak Spanish at home as their primary shared language. That’s more than 10 times as many as the next most common language — Haitian Creole, which is at about 2%.
All those Spanish speakers need a place to bank, which is where SCCU comes in. SCCU started out in the 1950s as Patrick Air Force Base Credit Union. (The onetime Air Force base just south of Cape Canaveral is now a Space Force base.) After merging with a bunch of other credit unions, it changed its name to Space Coast Credit Union in the 1980s. In the early 2000s, it extended its service area as far south as Miami-Dade County.
“As the Hispanic community continues to grow, so does our membership from the Hispanic community,” Tapanes says. “Financial wellness is at the heart of what we do.”