REV Federal Credit Union President and CEO Jason Lee, left, poses for a photo with First Neighborhood Bank President and CEO Dave Righter. REV finalized its acquisition of the bank on July 1 and has begun an 11-month process to transform the bank’s locations in Parkersburg, Ripley and Spencer into full-service credit union branches. (Photo provided)

PARKERSBURG – A South Carolina credit union recently became the first to acquire a bank in West Virginia and has begun its transition into the Mid-Ohio Valley.

Effective this week, REV Federal Credit Union finalized its acquisition of First Neighborhood Bank, which has offices in Parkersburg, Ripley and Spencer. Over the next 11 months, each of the community bank’s locations will become full-service credit union branches. That includes retaining the approximately 35 employees at those sites, as well as rebranding physical locations, rolling out new products and services, and migrating existing First Neighborhood accounts to REV accounts, said Jason Lee, president and CEO of REV.

“We will over-communicate,” he said in a recent interview, referring to efforts to keep customers in the loop.

REV started out in 1955 on Charleston Air Force Base in Charleston, S.C., and has a presence in that state and North Carolina. In 2020, it rebranded from Heritage Trust to REV, which is not an acronym.

“REV, like rev your engine – motion, momentum,” Lee said.

REV is one of 1,400 low-income designated, certified community development financial institutions in the country, he said, which means its mission is to serve people of low to moderate means, regardless of their geographic location.

“We’re extremely excited to enter the market and look to bring our vision and mission initially to the Parkersburg, Ripley, and Spencer communities,” Lee said in a news release. “Our mission is Growth with Purpose. … REV can generate significant impact by offering competitive products, personalized service, and a full suite of digital enhancements to support community resiliency. In 2025 alone, REV generated over ($4 billion) in economic impact, which supported the creation of 32,000 jobs.”

As the state’s first transaction involving a credit union acquiring a bank, the process was reviewed by the West Virginia Division of Financial Institutions, Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation and National Credit Union Administration before receiving approval on May 27, 2026.

With a tentative completion date of May 1, 2027, this will mark REV’s third expansion in the last five years and the first outside the Carolinas, the release said.

In addition to First Neighborhood’s more than 6,700 customers, the community at large will begin to notice the credit union’s presence as well, Lee said. REV supports local nonprofit partners and causes through its UpTheGood Foundation.

While this is REV’s first foray into West Virginia, it won’t necessarily be its last, Lee said. The long-term goal is to have a healthy amount of growth and expand its footprint to other parts of the state, he said.

“That’s absolutely an opportunity,” he said.

Evan Bevins can be reached at ebevins@newsandsentinel.com.