Setting the record straight on Municipal CU

I would be remiss if I didn’t thank Mike Welch for his supportive response to the Municipal Credit Union’s (MCU) action during the World Trade Center disaster of September 11, 2001. I read with great interest his column of September 11, 2002 (“Back to normal not always a good thing”), and I want to respond to the alleged NCUA examiner’s comment and the comment from the credit union CEO. Firstly, the alleged NCUA examiner is obviously not aware that we have collected to date almost 60%of the original amount. Within the first two weeks we recovered almost $6 million. We expect by year-end to only have approximately $3 million to recover. Secondly, lowering the limit to $100.00 would not have served the requirements of most of our membership, particularly with the series of complaints received from SEG leaders, senior governmental employees and the perception that the credit union was going out of business. As to the credit union CEO who stated that MCU was totally irresponsible, it should be noted that 99% of our membership acted responsibly, and the bottom line is that is what really counts. We knew the credit union would have to bear the cost of the decisions we made. There was no intention to pursue recovery of ATM losses (assuming there were any) via the CUNA insurance company nor the Federal government. Unfortunately, the CEO does not understand under what circumstance bond claims can be filed. If he did, he would know that the MCU ATM withdrawals are not forgeries because the members used their own ATM cards and the credit union made the decision regarding the dollar withdrawal amounts. MCU did have a disaster recovery plan and a hot site. William Porter President/CEO Municipal CU New York, N.Y.