As of December 2011, the total balance of participation loanssold and/or serviced by Telesis Community Credit Union neared the$427 million mark.

News Update, April 2, 2012, Telesis Management Taken Over By PremierAmerica

The Chatsworth, Calif.-based credit union retained $120.5million in participation loans at the end of the year, down from$147.4 million in December 2010, according to Telesis' December 2011 NCUA Call Report.

Some have speculated that the $318 million Telesis may haveoverextended its business lending efforts and that reach, whichincluded out-of-state deals, may have led to the credit union beingplaced into conservatorship Friday by the California Department ofFinancial Institutions. The NCUA was named Telesis'conservator.

The amount of participation loans Telesis sold between December2010 and December 2011 fluctuated all over the place. In December2010, the credit union sold $26 million year to date, compared to amere $5 million four months later in March 2011. That June, Telesissold $19.8 million, $20 million in September and $29 millionDecember 2011.

Telesis, however, had not sold or purchased any loans in fullfrom financial institutions or other sources since at leastDecember 2010, according to NCUA data.

In early fall 2011, Telesis addressed reports about its safetyand soundness particularly after Bauer Financial, a financialinstitution ratings and research firm, gave the credit union zerostars based on its status as of June 2011.

Without naming Bauer or any other ratings firm, Telesisaddressed the concern on its website.

“While there are a few websites that assign ratings to banks andcredit unions, it's important to keep in mind that these websitesoften only look at a narrow range of numbers that may notaccurately reflect the overall situation at Telesis or ourperformance in relation to other credit unions of our size andregion,” Telesis wrote. “As one site itself states, it uses'conservative measures' when assigning these ratings andconsequently the ratios will often be lower than those supplied byother analysts or the institutions themselves.”

When contacted earlier Monday by Credit Union Times,NCUA Public Affairs Specialist John Zimmerman said the agency wouldrespond to several follow-up questions regarding Telesis includingthe future of its stakes in several CUSOs including those that arewholly owned.