SALT LAKE CITY – Beehive Credit Union is tabulating member votes on its plan to convert to a bank charter, and one of the opponents of that conversion is not optimistic the credit union will remain a credit union. Lori Christian-Chavez, one of the founders of “Protect Beehive,” a group of members who have opposed the conversion plan, told the Credit Union Journal she is expecting a close vote, but one that approves the proposed conversion.
“I’m pretty sure the conversion will go through. But if it does, I’m not convinced there won’t be some questions raised about how they did what they did,” she said. “There is a lot of conflict of interest going on.” Among the conflicts alleged by Christian-Chavez is that a Beehive Credit Union board member also is a lobbyist for a bank. “I don’t know if the vote will be the end of it,” she said.
Beehive CU hosted an informational meeting on Feb. 13, but Christian-Chavez dismissed it as “a dog-and-pony show. About 50 people went, and 90% of them were employees.” She said management indicated it would have the results of the vote by this week.
Christian-Chavez and other members earlier had set up a website called protectbeehive.com, and provided information to members during the conversion review process. In addition, the group petitioned NCUA to allow it to send a mailing to members at its expense. Christian-Chavez suggested there were several issues leading up to the vote, including a controversy over how many members were eligible to vote.
According to Christian-Chavez, the most important issue is she prefers to do business with a credit union, and does not want to lose it. She said she is prepared to close her Beehive accounts and move to another credit union if the conversion goes through.
“If I wanted a bank, I’d go to a bank,” she said. “And if I wanted a bank, and had the choice of going to Chase Bank or Beehive Bank, I wouldn’t want a nothing bank like Beehive Bank, I’d go to Chase. Beehive is going from a somewhat large credit union, in the scheme of things, to a very small bank. The only ones who are going to get rich are the board members, Scott Jordan, the president, and anyone who puts a lot of money in. They say they have no intention of converting to a stock bank, but 75% of all mutual savings banks go to a stock bank because they aren’t productive without going to a stock bank.”
Beehive CU did not return telephone calls for this story. The credit union said it needs to convert to a bank in order to expand its branches and expand lending options. Utah passed a law in 1999 that prohibits the credit union from adding branches in its county.
