<p>Kudos to Richard Rays for raising issues about "credit union" as the name to describe the organizations! ("Richard Rays wonders if there's a better alternative to `credit union' ", CU Times, Jan. 23). While wordy and cumbersome, I always liked the world moniker "Cooperative of Savings and Credit" as being more descriptive of the interplay of funding and lending. It is the word "cooperative" that has the most potential. Consumers respond very positively to cooperative concepts. It is this vital difference that can provide a basis for credit unions to specialize and differentiate more in the future. Many research groups, e.g. Forrester, have emphasized that the successful financial service provider in the future will be those that exploit their speciality. This speciality could be geography, field-of-membership and the cooperative nature. Philip F. Donovan, CIMA FTN Financial Portfolio Advisors Vice Pres., Senior Portfolio Manager Memphis, Tenn.</p>