PERRYSBURG, Ohio — Imagine it's President's Day, most financialinstitutions are closed, and a college student really needs acheck.

What to do? Well, if the student happens to be a member of St.Rose Parish Credit Union, he calls the manager then zips over tothe credit union office. No real problem, since the office alsohappens to be in the manager/treasurer's home. If he's lucky, themanager's wife has just taken some cookies out of the oven and willoffer him one.

With $1 million in assets and 300 members, SRPCU is one of thedwindling ranks of credit unions that reflect a more folksy,intimate era in the credit union movement. While the number ofcredit unions shrinks as the average size grows, some of these verysmall credit unions are not only surviving but also glad to filltheir specific niche.

Frank Brahier, manager of SRPCU, doesn't collect a paycheck.Retired from the city police force, he's a volunteer who iscompensated only–as allowed in credit union “space occupied”regulations –for the office area he provides to the credit union.He actually owns everything in the office except the computer andsoftware.

SRPCU also has a seven-member board, three-member creditcommittee, and three-member in-house audit committee comprised ofvolunteers.

“When I get a loan I'll call [the loan committee] and we'll gettogether and discuss it. But usually I can do it the same day,”Brahier explained. Although many area credit unions are 40% loanedout, SRPCU is running at 50 to 55%.

While many large credit unions encourage tellers to greetmembers by name, that's not really a problem at SRPCU.

“I do know most of them,” Brahier said. “I know them by sightand I know their families. I've lived in this town all my life. Iwas on the police department for 30 years and I've been doing thecredit union for over 20 years, so for the past 50 years I've beenright here.

“A lot of people for a long time would come up to me in churchand hand me $10 and say, 'Hey, Frank, put this in my account.' NowI'll tell them, 'Wait a minute. Would you please put that in anenvelope with your name on it so when I get home I don't wonder whogave me that money?'

It's not unusual for a member heading home after work in thelate evening to call Brahier to make sure he's home, then stop by.There's even a drop box on the front porch, the SRPCU equivalent ofa night depository.

What accounts for the credit union's survival in a time whenbigger is often considered better, and when the Toledo metropolitanarea certainly offers other financial institution options to anyconsumer?

“Perrysburg is a relatively small community,” Brahier said. “Thecredit union has been here for more than 50 years. Many of ourmembers are parishioners and the children and grandchildren ofparishioners. We haven't really tried to grow big. We've juststayed about where we're at.

“It's been more or less a family credit union. Membership isopen to members of St. Rose's Parish and their families. So eventhough the children or grandchildren may attend a different churchor have a different religion, they can be a member of the creditunion.”

If you join St. Rose church, hear about the credit union and askBrahier why you should sign up, he'll probably point out the creditunion is able to pay above-average returns on passbook savings –andyes, members still have passbooks. He doesn't want to cite specificfigures because he laughingly imagines many people suddenlyswarming in to join, but he said the interest is well above theone-half percent or so others are offering. He'll also point outthe credit union still pays insurance on loans up to $30,000.

The hours Brahier works for the credit union each week vary. Oneday there may be no activity at all. The next day may be busy withthree or four loans, frequent phone calls, and a steady flow ofmembers stopping by.

“Of course, there's a lot of paperwork involved,” Brahier noted.“We face all the policies and rules such as the Patriot Act,minutes of meetings and so on. We have to ask for a picture ID andwe have to run credit reports.”

He acknowledges that eventually the desire of new members for afinancial institution that offers mortgages, credit cards, on-linebanking, and other items expected on a modern services menu willeventually put the credit union in a crunch.

“We talked about that at our last annual meeting. We all agreedthat at some point we will probably have to merge with someone. Butright now, we're kind of holding on,” Brahier said.

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