Our name change became effective September 15, 2005.

We changed our name to be responsive to our new, expanded field of membership, and to define a new level of excellence in financial services. We wanted to avoid any potential overlap in the future and felt that selecting a name that could endure future changes to service or field of membership would preclude the need to ever change the name again. Vantria (van -tree-uh, emphasis on the 1st syllable) Federal Credit Union membership is open to anyone that lives, works, worships, attends school, or volunteers in Fairfax County or the City of Fairfax.

Vantria is a name we created because, with our new charter expansion, there really was not an existing word or name that described who we wanted to be as a service organization. It is very difficult to come up with a good name that is not already in use. Choosing and verifying the availability of a name is a complicated endeavor that involves difficult judgment calls. We chose Vantria specifically because it is unique, was free of any trademark infringement potential, and it has no meaning; this gives us free reign to define ourselves however we choose, without any preconceived meanings associated with our name. Other well-known companies (such as ING) have used this marketing technique to "brand" their organization by its service, products, or other aspects of its performance. The name was created using a variety of techniques, which included consulting a marketing branding agency. Ultimately, however, the decision was made by the management of the credit union, which includes paid and volunteer staff.

We have completed the very difficult task of choosing a new name. We like it and hope that in time it will become a non-issue with those of you who don’t like it. We are not looking for other suggestions. We considered hundreds of options and spent many hours during the process, and wish to move on to our core business – that of serving the membership in the best manner possible.

We discussed the feasibility of conducting some type of voting process to select a new name. In the end, we did not think that a voting process would easily yield the results we were looking for.

Although this comment does not qualify as a FAQ, we have heard it from about 5 of you and would like to address it. Not everyone will like the new name, regardless of what we chose. However, we are very confident that people will quickly get used to it. New names have a way of being resisted, as does all change. If you are unhappy with the new name, consider the many improvements in service we are planning for the near future. We hope this will more than compensate for your resistance to the new name. We are sure that even those of you who object will admit that what’s most important is what service we provide to you, not what we are called.

No. We have not been bought out or merged into another financial institution. Although our name has changed, our commitment to meeting the needs of our members and to providing exceptional service remains our number one priority.

Yes, insurance coverage is unchanged under the new name. At Vantria, your savings are federally insured to $100,000 by the National Credit Union Administration, a U.S. Government Agency.

No. The transition will be seamless to the member and all of your current accounts and account numbers will remain the same.

Yes. You may use your current supply of checks until you use them all. It is not necessary to write Vantria on the checks. Once we switch to checks with the name Vantria, you will receive the new checks with your next check reorder.

The name change will not have any immediate impact on your ability to do business with us using your current Visa credit card (which will be replaced soon), or your ATM or Visa check card. Over time you will see a complete transition to the name Vantria FCU on all our forms, documents and member materials, but there will be little or no impact on you.

No. Members will not have to worry about direct deposit of their payroll or other occasional deposits such as tax return deposits.

Yes, the new web address is now www.vantria.org, although your browser address field will still read "http://www.gfcu.org." Soon, our new domain will take its place and the old address, www.gfcu.org, will route to the new URL. Iif you have the old site bookmarked, it will automatically route to the new address. Eventually, our e-mail addresses will change as well, but for now the ones that are published on the website are still valid.

No.