New Fees Proposed For New YorkCUs

ALBANY, N.Y. - (05/15/06) – State chartered credit unionsin New York would pay exorbitant fees to merge under a new budgetproposal aimed at narrowing a gaping fiscal state deficit. Theproposal introduced by Gov. George Pataki would more than doublefees assessed for mergers to $12,500, while mergers involving morethan two credit unions would cost $25,000. Current mergers feesrange from $2,000 to $5,000, depending on the size of the creditunions. In addition, fees for adding a branch or changing a namewould rise to $750. A bill introduced in the state Senate wouldreduce the merger fee to $1,000 for any credit union under $100million in assets for any credit union seeking to convert to astate charter. The bill is seen as an incentive to converting tostate charter. New York has only 32 state chartered creditunions.