Embarking on its first merger, the $77 million NuVista Credit Union of Montrose, Colo. has agreed to take over the ailing Gunnison Western FCU effective Feb. 1.

For nearly eight months, NuVista has been acting on a request of examiners by assisting in management of the $4 million Gunnison CU, which has long been in the financial doldrums with depleted capital and an interim CEO, said NuVista officials.

The CU ran into problems on its real estate portfolio and has been operating under a document of resolution supervisory order, said Angela Halsey, NuVista's director of marketing.

Gunnison Western was founded in 1963 and has 700 members. Its members approved the merger into NuVista at a meeting Nov. 15. The Gunnison CU lost $56,000 in the first three months and most recently had 4.20% net worth.

The small credit union is located about 60 miles east of Montrose and serves a membership base representing Western State College and various other schools, the U.S. Forest Service, the Bureau of Land Management and the medical community.

Halsey said there are no current talks under way for possible mergers of other Colorado CUs.

NuVista, she said, was approached, however, to look at but later turned down merging Saguache County CU of Moffat. The $17 million Saguache County CU had been placed into conservatorship by state regulators in July with the NCUA named as the conservator agent.

“That credit union is in southern Colorado and we felt it was too far from us to manage,” said Halsey, whose CU is located in the western part of the state.

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Colorado&rsquo;s NuVista CU Merging Ailing Gunnison Western

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Colorado’s NuVista CU Merging Ailing Gunnison Western