After failing to gain the necessary two-thirds vote from its members, a $1 billion-asset Grand Rapids credit union will not convert to a mutual savings bank.
In any other state Lake Michigan Credit Union's conversion attempt would have been successful; 60% of its members voted in favor of the plan, said Alan D. Theriault, a Portland, Maine, consultant who has worked with many converting credit unions, including Lake Michigan.
"The will of the membership was to do this," but the state "set the bar too high," Mr. Theriault said.
Lake Michigan Credit Union, which offered cash prizes and a chance to win a three-year lease on a Cadillac to those casting ballots, said it fell about 2,400 votes short of a two-thirds majority.
The Michigan Credit Union League questioned the get-out-the-vote tactics.
"It wouldn't be unfair to assume that the 60% threshold was attained in part by the use of the prize offerings and other promotional efforts to encourage voting," said David Adams, the league's president.
