The newly formed National Center for Member Trust is working on a plan to assist DFCU Owners United in spreading the word about the value of credit unions. The group's leader, Bucky Sebastian, CEO of GTE FCU in Tampa, told The Credit Union Journal last week he expected to provide assistance to the Michigan-based group "within the next 10 days." DFCU Owners United was formed in response to the $1.8-billion DFCU Financial's bid to become a mutual bank. "We might be able to help them with some pieces in the media-billboards, ads in the newspaper,'' he said.
Sebastian, who has more than $260,000 in financial commitment from CU leaders, said his group was formed to promote the value of the CU charter and doesn't intend to "badmouth'' anybody. "This is hopefully a permanent, ongoing effort to keep the value of the credit union charter in front of the American people, in front of Congress, bankers, members and the general public,'' he said. "My personal belief is that some of us are too close to it and take it for granted...We are probably the best-kept secret in the country. We don't want to keep that secret anymore.''
