HARRISBURG, Penn. – In another defeat for credit unions, the state Supreme Court today reinstated the bankers challenge of the largest community charters ever granted to state credit unions, the second judicial setback dealt credit unions in the Keystone state in a matter of months.
The ruling, which reopens the bankers challenges of three community charters covering more than five million residents surrounding Philadelphia, follows a federal ruling in July that struck down three broad charters NCUA approved.
In the latest case, the state High Court ruled that the Pennsylvania Department of Banking did not give the bankers adequate input in when it granted the community charters for TruMark Financial CU, Freedom CU and Corey Jamestown CU, and ordered the case remanded to the lower court for hearing.
The community charters, the broadest fields of membership ever granted state chartered credit unions, were challenged by the Pennsylvania Bankers Association, the Pennsylvania Business Bank, Fulton Bank and Premier Bank.
In July the U.S. District Court for the Middle District of Pennsylvania struck down community charters that would have allowed three federal charters–Members 1st FCU, AmeriChoice FCU and New Cumberland FCU–to serve more than 1.2 million people in six counties between the state capital of Harrisburg and York.
