No 'Once A Member, Always A Member'Policy At Corporates

DALLAS - (04/11/05) -- With the planned conversions ofCommunity CU and OmniAmerican CU very much on the minds ofattendees of Texas CU League's 71st Annual Meeting, one of thequestions is who will continue to serve these CUs once they becomebanks? There's one vendor these would-be banks can scratch offtheir lists: Southwest Corporate Credit Union. "As the rulescurrently stand, we can only serve our member credit unions," saidSouthwest's Bob Rehm. "We actually gave NCUA a call about this,because sometimes we'll chat with them informally before weofficially apply to them for something. We asked them if we couldapply the 'once a member, always a member, rule to situations likethis. They told us don't even bother filing." To date, the numberof credit unions that have converted to banks is so small-under30-that it's not a burning bottom-line question for most vendors,but for cooperatives like Southwest Corporate, it's also aphilosophical issue, Rehm noted.