HOBOKEN, N.J. — The financial industry has seen various changesas a result of the current economy and the subprime crisis and thelatest results of the Credit Union Times online voting poll aimedto see how the economy has impacted business loans in the creditunion world.

Of the readers that reported their credit union offers businessloans the largest percentage, 24%, reported seeing a decrease inloan requests during the economic downturn, subprime crisis andtightening of credit. Following closely behind, 22% of readersreported that they haven't noticed any significant changes in theamount of loan requests. Sixteen percent of voters reported thatthey had actually seen an increase in loan requests.

Overall, 38% of voters reported that they don't offer businessloans.

Are Mega Mergers Good for the Industry?

HOBOKEN, N.J. — Mergers in the credit union industry is not justbetween small and large CUs as there has been an increase inmergers between credit unions of similar size in good financialstanding.

Mergers between two fairly large and healthy CUs have becomenotably more common and have grabbed the attention of the industry.With the recent announcement of merger plans between $470 millionVisterra Credit Union and $530 million Credit Union of SouthernCalifornia and between $611 million T&C Federal Credit Unionand $609 million USA Federal Credit Union, Credit Union Times wantsto know your opinion on how these large mergers affect theindustry.

Are mergers between large, healthy credit unions good for theindustry?

-Yes

-No

-Not Sure

Vote online at www.cutimes.com.