CU Democracy 1: Members Win Chance to Recall Objectionable Name Change

IOWA CITY – The University of Iowa Community CU announced Friday it will hold a special meeting next week where members will be allowed to vote on the recall of the credit union’s new name, Optiva CU, which was approved by a narrow vote in October. The stakes in the name-change, scheduled to take effect March 1, are continuing to rise, with the credit union believed to have spent more than $500,000 on consultants and new signs, checks, credit cards and logo. In addition, a California mortgage company, Optiva Mortgage threatened last week to sue the $500 million credit union over the new name. Members of the 54-year-old credit union, many of them employees at the University of Iowa, opposed the shedding of the old name and the vote for the new name, which they said was fixed by management. “To be honest, I think it was sleazy,” Carolyn Deterle, an opponent of the new name, told The Credit Union Journal, of the ballot, which culminated in a special meeting last October. Under the credit union’s bylaws 100 the 40,000 members can force a special meeting. The members —calling themselves ‘Sink Optiva’--collected more than 150 signatures. The special meeting will be held on Feb. 28.