TUCSON, Ariz. -- On top of the IndyMac Bank collapse in California, the weekend failure of a large Arizona/Nevada bank holding company is providing some challenging on-the-job training this week for Tucson credit unions in getting out the deposit insurance message and dealing with the media on safety/soundness queries.

"I'll bet we had couple hundred calls to our offices yesterday and over the weekend as a result of that failure," declared Ray Alexander, president/CEO of the $65 million Pyramid CU, referring to staffers fielding calls from worried members following the Mutual Bank of Omaha takeover of First National Bank of Arizona plus two banks in Reno and Newport Beach, Calif.

Lamenting the public still "doesn't understand that credit unions have NCUA insurance" Alexander said he is becoming far more skilled now at dealing with media questions on safety/soundness after he was recruited two weeks ago "on 10 minutes notice" on a local TV newscast to respond to deposit insurance questions and detail FDIC/NCUA comparisons.

"We had only had three minutes on the air but I guess I am a little disappointed I didn't get to discuss the member-owned differences between credit unions and banks," said Alexander also suggesting NCUA needs to do lots more work in sharpening the public's knowledge on CU deposit insurance.