The president/CEO of the $600 million Vermont State EmployeesCredit Union acknowledged Wednesday his credit union is inwhat he called “an amazing” pitched battle with the state andthe banking lobby over use of the word “bank or banking” in itsadvertising.

Steven Post told Credit Union Times he has asked ThomasCandon, Vermont's deputy commissioner of banking and the chiefcredit union supervisor, for more information about who brought thecomplaint about Vermont State ads that resulted in a cease-and-desist order against his credit union.

• UPDATE, Oct. 8, 2012, Vermont Credit Union, Regulator Settle 'B' WordDispute

Post said Candon's office has already denied the petitionwithout explanation as the Montpelier credit union girds for arequested hearing on the June 18 order.

“We are getting support both from CUNA and the (Association ofVermont Credit Unions) and the next action for us is the hearing,”Post said.

Post said appeal papers were filed with the state on Mondayand the request for information on the complainants were based onpublic information statutes.

“We've never been involved in something like this but we expectthe state will move quickly and we're looking for a hearing withinfour to six weeks,” Post said.

“We would like to find out the source of the complaints and ofcourse we understand it is driven by the Vermont BankersAssociation,” he said, calling the state's action “an amazinginterpretation of state law.”

Meanwhile, Chris D'Elia, the president of the VBA, said duringthe last session of the legislature ending in March the practice ofusing “bank” and “banking” came up in discussions with both theAssociation of Vermont Credit Unions and Candon but not much wasdone.

The issue has boiled over in recent weeks following new ads runby VSECU which hit on the bank theme, he said. “We just don't knowwhether these ads will continue to run,” D'Elia said.

“They've spent a lot of money on those ads and they'vegone way out on a limb in their use of 'bank' and 'banking'and so we think they may be buying time” in their decision to seeklegal redress, he said.