Another Utah CU Creeps Back IntoForbidden Territory

OGDEN, Utah - (01/04/06) – Another Utah credit union hasbeen able to partially skirt last year’s federal court rulingbarring it from a six-county community charter by obtainingapproval from NCUA to serve some of the same counties through itscontroversial underserved field of membership policy, the subjectof a current legal dispute with the American Bankers Association.NCUA said it approved an application in November from GoldenwestFCU to add underserved communities in Washington County to its FOM,11 months after a federal court in Utah struck down a six-countyFOM NCUA had granted Goldenwest and two other credit unions thatincluded that county. Earlier in the year, NCUA allowed Goldenwestto use its underserved program to serve portions of Salt LakeCounty and Utah County, two other counties in the prohibitedsix-county FOM. In their latest suit, the ABA and the Utah BankersAssociation claim NCUA used its underserved program to allowAmerica First FCU to serve several of the counties it was barredfrom by the court’s decision.