Community charters have problems other credit unions don't, such as trying to find ways to penetrate a very broad field of membership, or building a board that represents the diversity of the membership the CU serves. Community charters are also a prime target for banker lawsuits as bankers believe the charter is inherently "expansive." But really are there that many other issues so unique to community charters? Credit unions are all dealing with rising compliance costs, shrinking margins, fierce competition, understanding and weighing whether to be part of the consolidation trend, banker attacks, falling ROA, and on and on. These issues affect all CUs, not just community charters, thus the leadership of NACU did the right thing in shuttering the organization. There are plenty others out there that could do the same. By the way, NACU Executive Director Marc Selvitelli hasn't been with the organization for months, a little fact CUNA was very quiet about.

In another potential example of knowing when to pull the plug, MEMBERS Trust Company and Members Trust Company of Colorado have announced merger plans. Were trusts a bad idea? Well no. But think back to the trust hype of five years ago. There were hordes of credit union studies done by the likes of Filene and others that touted trust services as a vital future product credit unions have to offer. It was trusts, trusts, trusts, trusts!! I still think trusts make sense for some credit unions, but I am not sure it's the homerun product people thought, and maybe the industry can't support two separate trust organizations. There are so many stories about baby boomers not having nearly the assets everyone expected, and with the negative savings rate, where are all these people who have the kind of assets to warrant trusts? They're out there, but the product is probably not thought of much by your average consumer. So kudos to the leaders of those trust companies for deciding to merge to make a larger, hopefully more efficient CU-owned trust option for the industry.

We also witnessed CUNA Mutual and Wescom Credit Union hang up their efforts to buy or charter an industrial loan corporation to create CU-owned options for credit unions to sell their card portfolios. With all the flak over ILCs, it was a good move. Credit unions certainly don't need the extra scrutiny that ILC activity would undoubtedly bring.

Individual credit unions have to know when to say when too. I have visited some credit unions in palatial buildings, yet their staffs are shrinking! With new technologies, more and more CUs are going lean and mean, leaving plenty of empty cubicles, offices and in some cases entire floors. Credit unions in big buildings that have trimmed staff should swallow their pride and lease out space or sell for a handsome profit and move into a more fitting building.

Remember account aggregation? It was supposed to set the online world on fire. Didn't happen and a number of vendors pushing it faded away or at least let that product die out. The market wants what the market wants.

Even NCUA knows when to give up the fight. After rising congressional pressure, it broke down and decided to do a pilot study to show who credit unions are serving. No one wanted to do it, but NCUA recognized the time had come or the industry would be under even more scrutiny today. It takes strong leaders to give in.

If only the bankers could learn when to give up. They have been harping about the credit union tax-exemption for years to no avail. They owe it to their membership to invest their efforts in more worthwhile causes that can actually bear fruit, rather than trying to tear down credit unions. Will the bankers ever learn when to say when? –Comments? E-mail [email protected]