WASHINGTON–It isn’t just members who are losing control over their own credit unions, it’s credit unions themselves losing control over their regulator, according to one person.
Wearing a black t-shirt that showed an upside down NCUA logo and the words, “NCUA’s Priorities are Upside Down. It’s the Members, Stupid,” Chip Filson offered an impassioned view on what has occurred at an individual credit union and what he believes is happening to credit unions overall.
Speaking in the same rooftop room atop the Hay Adams Hotel in which he had just been honored the previous evening during an event paying tribute to his career, Filson, the chairman of Callahan & Associates, told the Underground Collision Conference hosted by Mitchell Stankovic that he believes subtle but profound changes are taking place both at local credit unions and at the national level.
As CUToday.info previously reported here, Filson joined a small group of people in Carlisle, Penn., who were attempting to stop the merger of the $105-milion Cornerstone Credit Union into the $450-million Bellco Community Credit Union in Harrisburg, Penn.
Filson had joined with the CU’s former president, Dave Keffer, in attempting to get members to vote against the merger deal. Filson, Keffer and other opponents argued that Cornerstone CU’s financials and products offerings were far superior to those of the larger credit union into which it was supposed to be merged and that members would not be better off.
But Filson had signed on to the cause just eight days ahead of a membership meeting on the merger, and by that point the mail ballots had already been shipped.
“Cornerstone Credit Union had been instrumental in the economic transition in the Carlisle community,” said Filson, who added he met with numerous small business owners who had been financed by the credit union. “This credit union was the number-one rated financial institution in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, when it was merged out.”
Ultimately, members voted 1,100 to 630 in favor of the merger, even though Filson said those members who attended the in-person meeting and who heard the arguments of opponents voted against the combination.
“The bottom line, as you can see in the financials of the merged credit union, is members were not better off before the merger, and they are not better off now,” he suggested.
Alleging there were irregularities in the vote, Filson said he and the group appealed the case all the way to NCUA, but were ultimately thwarted. Indeed, Filson alleged documents show the regulators had already approved the merger even prior to the member vote.
“The vote was a façade,” said Filson. “The bottom line is that NCUA isn’t about to protect members’ rights. Members don’t really have anyone who cares about their rights if someone doesn’t act. NCUA wasn’t about to enforce or even take an interest. NCUA is not interested in your member rights.”