ALEXANDRIA, Va. — NCUA Chairman Debbie Matz and Board MemberMichael Fryzel stuck to a controversy-free agenda Thursday morning during the agency'sOctober board meeting, approving financial statements and a newcommunity charter and proposing an extension of its Augustlow-income credit union offer from 30 to 90 days.

Because the board's third seat is empty, following former BoardMember Gigi Hyland's departure Oct. 5, the Democrat Matz and Republican Fryzel areforced to unanimously agree on any proposed rules or actions untila replacement is appointed and confirmed by the Senate.

The 20-minute meeting produced no surprises, with the mostfar-reaching decision being a proposed rule to extend the timeallowed to accept a fast track to low-income designation that was offered to 1,003credit unions in August. To date, 676 credit unions have acceptedthe offer, the NCUA said Thursday in a release.

The agency must wait 30 days after the proposed rule ispublished in the Federal Register to allow for public commentbefore voting on the final rule.

Matz said the move to extend was prompted by feedback fromcredit unions that reported they needed more time to contemplatethe offer and meet with volunteers than the original 30-day windowallowed.

Matz and Fryzel also voted unanimously to approve a bid by the$379 million BMIFederal Credit Union to convert from a multiple-SEG charter toa community charter. Because the Columbus, Ohio-based creditunion's new community charter would include more than 1 millionpeople, it required board approval.

Matz said she was impressed by the credit union's commitment toserving the entire Columbus community, specifically its convenientlocations, financial literacy program, payday loan program and anearly 50% increase in its marketing budget.

Consumer Access Analyst Annette Moore told the board BMI hasbudgeted $357,000 for marketing in the first year, which representsa 35% increase over its current budget, and $407,000 for marketingin the second year serving the community, a 14% increase.

The 27,458-member credit union will serve an eight-county areawith five centrally-located full-service facilities, Moore said,along with 50 shared branching locations and CO-OP ATMs. Thirtypercent of the area's residents live in low-income areas, which thecredit union will serve with free checking accounts and other freetransactional services, she added.

Board Member Michael Fryzel questioned Office of ConsumerProtection Director Kent Buckham about the fate of nine SEGs thecredit union currently serves that aren't located in the newgeographical area. Buckham said existing members can retain theiraccounts, but no new members can join from the companies. However,Buckham reassured Fryzel other credit unions would be able toprovide services to the groups.

Fryzel asked Buckham to provide a report in one year showing howwell BMI has made use of the conversion.

The board also approved the NCUSIF and corporate stabilizationfinancial reports, which included a $792 million increase inrevenue due to the September billing of the corporate assessment to federally insured credit unions.