Two Technology Credit Union members have joined forces to fightthe potential coversion to a bank charter. 

Carlos Rodriguez and Robert Marinace announced July 18 thecreation of “Save TCU,” a group to organize other members opposedto the move.

Rodriguez, a member who had already launched a page on Facebookto publicize his opposition to the conversion and build support forits defeat, revealed the existence of the group in a letter toother Technology Credit Union members.

Rodriquez said he and Marinace, working independently, launched different projectsbut consolidated their efforts on July 14. The group now has fewerthan 10 members, Rodriquez said.

“Over the course of the last 50-plus years, Tech CU has become a$1.6 billion institution and has attained a 9.99% net worth ratio,”Rodriquez wrote in the letter. “These numbers are good, reallygood, but the current executive team (all former bankers) and boardof directors can't take full credit for this. It's taken over fivedecades to get us where we are.”

“Nonetheless, Tech CU's officers and the board want to take ourmoney, the money that members have saved and borrowed since 1960,and use it to build a bank. Building a bank from scratch is hard.Building a bank with a $1.6 billion head start is much easier. Ifthe conversion passes, the bankers already have stated that therewould be a peer compensation review. Additionally, since over 80%of credit unions that convert to mutual savings banks eventuallyissue stock, the officers and directors would profit by obtainingstock in excess of that available to other credit unionmembers.”

In a separate letter to members, Marinace focused on differentaspects of the charter change proposal, along with what he haddiscovered about the percentages of credit unions that become banksand issue stock and the numbers of former credit union executivesand board members who profited from the windfall.

“As a retiree, it would be so simple for me to not care aboutour credit union and let it become just another bank,” Marinacesaid. “But we owe a great debt of gratitude to the TechnologyCredit Union over the years in helping us achieve our comfortableretirement. No bank could ever have done that for us. This is ourway of paying our credit union back. I'm asking you to remember whyyou chose to join a credit union instead of a bank and to vote noon this conversion when you receive your ballot in the mail inAugust and to attend the meeting in September.”

Meanwhile, a San Jose, Calif., newspaper added more fuel to thefire buy raising questions about the credit union's recent hiring,suggesting that the San Jose, Calif.-based credit union was hiringbank executives well in advance of actually changing itscharter.

According to The San Jose Business Journal, the creditunion has hired executives to head up a commercial lending divisionand a wealth management/private banking division as well as a newchief credit officer.

Each of the executives came from an exclusively or predominantlybank background, and the credit union has postings up for anadditional wealth management/private banking manager and a chiefcompliance officer that would have an orientation toward bankregulations, including recommending and monitoring programs to“ensure the company meets the needs of the community and attainsCommunity Reinvestment Act compliance goals.”

The Community Reinvestment Act regulations are exclusively aimedat banks, except in  Massachusetts, which has a state CRAregulation that includes credit unions.

As of press time, Technology Credit Union had not responded torequests for comment on the hiring.

“I think this hiring spree raises important questions formembers,” said Marinace. “What do they know about the vote that we do not thatmakes them so confident they will win that they have no problemhiring executives? Who will pay for any golden parachutes if thevote does not go their way, and the new hires have to be let go?”he asked.

The letters to members came at the end of a few days whenRodriquez answered allegations that he had not joined Technologyfor any other reason than to interfere with the conversion. Theseincluded objections from American Bankers Association SeniorEconomist Keith Leggett who challenged Rodriquez on his weblogCredit Union Watch.

“So, we have a credit union advocate joining a credit union inApril that was in the middle of process of converting to a mutualsavings bank,” Leggett wrote. “Something does not smell right aboutthe timing of his joining of Technology Credit Union.”

But Rodriguez maintained that he had not known about theconversion attempt before joining Technology.

“I joined Technology with my own agenda and my own needs,”Rodriguez explained, adding that he had joined the credit uniononline and had only found out about the conversion attempt when hewent to the credit union's San Jose branch to open a businessaccount.

Rodriguez is launching a video services business that will offerother small businesses an affordable way to add professionalquality videos to their websites.

He said he had been shocked at the conversion news, and that heleft the branch without setting up the account. “I took my moneyand left,” he said.

Rodriguez acknowledges having worked for several credit unionsand having taking training to become a credit union developmenteducator, but he said that was because he has been a strongadvocate of credit unions since first joining one in college.

“As I said before, I believe more strongly than ever that whenthey do what they are supposed to do, credit unions are the singlebest tool we have to fight poverty.”