SALT LAKE CITY — Moving to tamp down interest in a proposed mutual bank conversion of Beehive Credit Union, the Utah League of Credit Unions has launched a "member information" Web site (membershipcounts.com).
Patterned after a similar Web site employed successfully by the Michigan Credit Union League to help turn back a 2006 conversion attempt at DFCU Financial, the site contains a broad range of information on rates, service and ownership benefits designed to discourage Beehive members from voting favorably for the switch.
Management of the $177 million Salt Lake City CU disclosed in March its intent to solicit member approval for a switch based on what it said were severe field of membership and regulatory impediments to branch expansion in its market.
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The Utah League Web site is titled "Membership Counts.Com," and was put up about a month ago with a link eventually planned to the league's own Web site, said a spokesman.
The Michigan League said its anti-conversion Web site (memberinform.com) was taken down as a link to that league's Web site last year once the DFCU bid was turned back. However, it remains accessible on a direct basis.
Meanwhile, a spokesman for Beehive said its plans for membership action on its planned conversion remain on track following the March 3 announcement of its intent. The Salt Lake CU has not paid its Utah League dues under a Feb. 1 deadline and was not represented at the league's annual meeting in March held in Salt Lake City.
The Utah League's new Web site contains the formal trade group statement adopted in March on charter conversions which stresses member choice, but argues "it cannot conceive" of circumstances in which members would be better off with a bank charter.
The Michigan League said its "memberinform" Web site was first created in 2004 when the first conversion attempt was made by Lake Michigan CU of Grand Rapids. The league's own Web site noted then that "occasionally credit union boards and management recommend converting the credit union to a for profit bank."
"Should you ever be put in a position to abandon your credit union charter, the Michigan Credit Union League believes you should know what's at stake," the site reads.
Data on the number of "hits" to the new Utah League site or to Michigan's were not immediately available. –[email protected]
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