Five credit unions in Oregon are well on their way to acceptingand safely holding large government fund deposits.

The $916 million UnitusCommunity Credit Union of Portland, $146 million Pacific CrestFederal Credit Union of Klamath Falls, $777 million O.S.U. FederalCredit Union of Corvallis, $3.2 billion OnPoint Community Credit Union of Portland and $928 millionAdvantis Credit Union of Milwaukie submitted the required noticeand paperwork to participate in the Oregon Credit Union PublicFunds Collateralization Program, the Oregon State Treasury said inan announcement.

The program, slated to take effect April 1, 2013, will allowOregon credit unions to take public deposits in excess of thecurrent FDIC-insured limit of $250,000 per depositor. Thosedeposits will be protected through collateral, the Oregon StateTreasury said.

Legislation for the new program was passed in 2010 and clarifiedin 2011. In order for the program to launch, a minimum of fivecredit unions had to submit required materials, which includeletters from government entities promising to make deposits above$250,000.

Officials from the cities of Portland, Beaverton, Corvallis,Independence and Klamath Falls provided the pledge letters for thefive credit unions.

According to the Northwest Credit Union Association, five additional Oregon credit unions plan to participate in the program afterit takes effect next year: the $453 million Marion and Polk SchoolsCredit Union of Salem, the $723 million Northwest Community CreditUnion of Springfield, the $115.8 million Old West Federal CreditUnion of John Day, the $145 million Wauna Federal Credit Union ofClatskanie and the $1 billion Oregon Community Credit Union ofEugene.

Oregon State Treasurer Ted Wheeler said the program offersgovernment entities in Oregon an additional option while choosingwhere to store their funds.

“I want to thank community leaders, legislators and creditunions who have worked long and hard to create this new avenue forstate and local deposits,” Wheeler said. “Oregon governments of allsizes now will have the ability to deposit public money in many ofour fine community credit unions with the appropriatesafeguards.”