COLUMBUS, Ohio — BMI FCU here is celebrating the success of amortgage program it started in the 1970's, said president/CEOSharon Custer. And it's also proud that, like other credit unions,it didn't go astray into foolish lending and end up holding lossesfor which it could only blame itself.

“We didn't do crazy no-doc mortgages that have led to thissubprime debacle,” Custer said. “And historically, credit unionsdon't do that sort of thing, period. When we launched our programwe made good, solid loans to our members.” Doing the smart thingfor both the CU and its members has resulted in BMI tripling itsmortgage program to $136 million from $46 million in five years.BMI has assets of $288 million and just over 28,000 members.

“Any problems we've had with delinquencies go back to thegreater economy, but in this area of central Ohio, our originalfield of membership base was a research facility that spun off intoa greater tech-service related industry. That has helped us greatlyand we are still a multi-[Select Employee Group] credit union witha large white collar membership.”

Geography may have given a kindness, she allowed, as “Here inColumbus we're a little isolated from Youngstown and Cleveland,”Custer said. Those areas have been hard hit from industry andmanufacturing-based plant closings. “Our economy here is a bit morestable, and we haven't had the wild swings in real estate valuesthat you see on the coasts.”

Custer gave much of the credit to her mortgage department andbusiness development specialists. “I'm very proud of our mortgageloan officers. They are focused on the long-term needs of ourmembers. And we apply that same perspective to how we run thecredit union. And our business development people stay in front ofour SEG employees' companies.”

Running a successful mortgage program these days is all about“keeping ones wits” about yourself, she said, and being mindful notto parrot what others are doing just because they are doingsomething different. “You really have to look at a whole package ofservices. Not every credit union will have the same product mix,nor should they.”

BMI FCU's annualized growth rate has been 10%, Custer said. Thatincludes a few mergers, though these haven't been large enough toaccount for the growth rate. “The largest credit union that mergedwith us was $11 million,” she noted, so the growth is deemed thebest kind: organic. She's also optimistic every time she hears thata bank has been consolidated. “I'm happy to hear that because Iknow people will be honked-off about all the changes they'll haveto go through. Here, Chase Bank is the 800-pound gorilla, but wealso have a lot of regional banks. We'll just keep doing what wedo, there really is no secret formula, no magic bullet.”

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