Members Vote to Recall CU Name Change

IOWA CITY – Members of University of Iowa Community CU turned out in droves last night and voted to recall the credit union’s new name, Optiva CU, just hours before it was scheduled to go up on signs at the credit union. The members voted 806-to-631 to retain the credit union’s name, reversing an October vote in favor of the new name that passed narrowly 198-to-192. “It was a huge amount of people. They were in lines of cars going all the way back to town,” said Carolyn Dieterle, one of the members who fought the name change, of last night’s special meeting held on the outskirts of town. Opponents of the name change, who petitioned for last night’s rare re-vote, easily outvoted the advocates, who were boosted by large numbers of credit union employees and their families and friends, who heavily favored the new name. Credit union officials explained they wanted to change names to de-emphasize the original field of membership as they sought to serve new markets in 14 surrounding counties, and as far as into neighboring Illinois. Credit union directors backed off their earlier position that the University of Iowa had urged them to shed the name. The $525 million credit union spent almost $500,000 on the ill-fated name change, including $250,000 to have Weber Marketing Group develop the new name and brand, and costs for new signs stationary, cards and checks that were supposed to go into effect on March 1.