Pittsburgh Qualifies As UnderservedCommunity

ALEXANDRIA, Va. - (11/30/05) -- NCUA said Tuesday it has approvedPittsburgh-based A-K Valley FCU to serve the entire city ofPittsburgh as an underserved area, the latest large U.S. city toattain the underserved designation under NCUA's low-income field ofmembership expansions. NCUA also said Tuesday it has approvedapplications from Portland FCU to serve the entire city of Lansing,Mich., and from DPL FCU to serve all of Wilmington, Del., both asunderserved FOMs. NCUA generally qualifies a community asunderserved if at least 20% of the population is below the povertylevel or the median family income is below 80% of the nationalmedian. So Pittsburgh and its 350,000 residents have joined theranks of Philadelphia, Washington, D.C., Baltimore, Richmond, Va.,St. Paul and Minneapolis, and Tucson, Ariz., as entire cities thathave been qualified as underserved communities under NCUA's policy.The policy is currently being challenged in federal court by theAmerican Bankers Association and four Utah banks.