NCUA Board member Michael Fryzel defended NCUA examiners in a June 11 letter to the editor after an online editorial accused theregulator of “trying to destroy small credit unions.”

The opinion piece published May 23 by online industry newsaggregator CUInsight was written by Stephen Nelson, vice president ofcredit union support at the Utah Credit Union Association.

It recreated terse conversations between small credit unionpresidents and examiners which Nelson said credit union leadershave recounted to him. In one conversation, an examiner agreed witha credit union president's accusations that NCUA is trying to “killsmall credit unions.”

“There's no denying that all credit unions – not just small ones– feel like NCUA is trying to push them out of business,” Nelsonwrote in the piece.

Not so, Fryzel countered in his June 11 letter to CUInsighteditor Randy Smith.

“Only in (Nelson's) mind would such an exchange of words takeplace between a credit union president and an examiner,” Fryzelsaid.

The board member said he “begged to differ” with Nelson'sassertions. He called the editorial, with the exception of claimsof inconsistency, “unfounded, off base and just not correct.”

Nelson defended his editorial to Credit Union Times,saying executives at many credit unions, not just small ones, havespeculated that the NCUA would prefer the easier task of regulatingfewer credit unions.

The Utah association leader said Wednesday that he's “still inshock” Fryzel responded to his editorial, although he said he canempathize with Fryzel's reaction. If someone wrote an articlecritical of his association, Nelson said he would respond the sameway.

However, he said Fryzel's response indicates NCUA isn't aware ofhow some credit unions feel about their regulator.

“I was … surprised at (Fryzel's) reaction because that's howmany credit unions in my circles talk with each other about NCUAall the time. It's an almost weekly topic of conversation,” hesaid.

The Utah association executive blamed the disconnect between theNCUA and credit unions on indirect, unspecific feedback from tradeassociations, much like the anecdotal examples he recreated in hiseditorial.

And, “credit unions fear retaliation if they make too muchnoise, so they don't give NCUA the useful information it could useto make improvements,” he said.

Fryzel's office said the board member was willing to speak withCredit Union Times about the letter but due to hisschedule, he was unavailable before press time.