Charlotte Fire Department Credit Union

About this location

A few stories people tell about this place

1. One morning, a delivery driver pulled up to the drive-thru and heard an unusual announcement over the intercom: ‘Attention, please deposit your lucky penny today for good luck!’ Curious customers started doing just that, and soon enough, everyone in line was tossing pennies into the vault. Soon, people from all around town were driving miles out of their way to get their lucky pennies blessed at Charlotte’s firefighters’ credit union. Even a regular old neighbor stopped by one day, saying he’d been having bad luck with his garden—and sure enough, after depositing his lucky penny, his tomatoes grew twice as big! The whole thing became such a joke among friends that whenever someone had bad luck, they’d teasingly ask if they forgot to visit the credit union again.

2. At dawn, when most people were still dreaming of coffee, an old man walked into the credit union’s lobby. He asked the teller for a loan with such a straight face that everyone in line burst out laughing. The teller, used to odd requests, calmly nodded and said, ‘We’ll see what we can do.’ The old man left, whistling an unfamiliar tune. Later that day, a delivery driver joked to his neighbor, ‘I heard he wanted to borrow twenty bucks until payday—guess he’ll be okay!’

3. A regular was making his daily deposit, humming a tune as he approached the teller window. Suddenly, the teller asked him to stop for a moment and listen carefully. The man leaned in closer, curious. 'Is that “Twinkle Twinkle Little Star”?' she whispered with a smile. Embarrassed, he realized he’d been singing it aloud all along. Everyone around them burst into laughter.

4. A young teller was finishing her shift one evening when she noticed something odd. As she was locking up, a neighbor knocked on the door, asking if they could withdraw just one dollar—because it was their lucky number. The teller smiled and said, ‘Of course!’ She withdrew a single crumpled bill from the drawer, noticing its worn-out appearance but thinking nothing of it. The neighbor thanked her warmly and left, never realizing that the dollar had been in circulation since the Great Depression. Months later, while sorting old documents, the teller found an envelope marked with the same faded ink. Inside was a handwritten note: “Dear Charlotte FD CU, please return my lucky dollar—it’s mine!” Turns out, it belonged to an elderly lady who’d lost it decades ago during a delivery run.