ALEXANDRIA, Va. – Twenty-eight credit unions under $10 million in assets disappeared via mergers during the month of March, according to NCUA's most recent monthly data. (see related story, page 1) A total of 34 mergers occurred in March, the most since October 2003. Of those 28 under $10 million, 12 had less than $1 million in assets. Twenty-eight federal credit unions and six state chartered credit unions merged into 19 federal credit unions and 15 state charters. Year-to-date, there have been 70 credit union mergers. Community charters continue to blossom this spring. Another six credit unions converted to community charters in March, the largest being L&N Federal Credit Union in Louisville, Ky. It currently has 193,000 members and $411 million in assets and is adding 1,053,708 potential members to its field of membership. L&N's new FOM accounted for nearly half of new potential members for the month of March, which totaled more than 2.1 million. A total of 14 credit unions have converted to community charters through March of this year. Credit unions are continuing to add underserved areas to their FOMs with 11 tacked on in March. Barksdale Federal Credit Union of Barksdale Air Force Base in Louisiana added 392,866 new potential members by adding an underserved area. The credit union already has 238,787 members and $468 million in assets. Other credit unions adding large underserved areas included Potlatch No. 1 Federal Credit Union in Lewiston, Idaho, which added two underserved areas in March for a total of nearly 200,000 potential members; Truliant Federal Credit Union of Winton-Salem, N.C. added two underserved areas with 141,559 potential members; and $3.2 billion Security Service Federal Credit Union (San Antonio, Texas) added an underserved area with 141,472 potential members. As of March, 26 underserved areas have been added to credit unions' FOMs this year. As has been the trend for more than a year now, more state chartered credit unions have joined the ranks of the federal credit union charter than the reverse. Two more credit unions, Partners Financial Federal Credit Union of Richmond, Va. ($27.5 million) and Jetstream Federal Credit Union of Miami Lakes, Fla. ($84 million), converted from state to federal charters in March. For the year, five state charters have converted to federals with no federal credit unions converting to state charters. Last year, for the first in many, more state charters (17) converted to federal charters than the other way around (11), according to NCUA's Insurance Reports of Activity. In addition, a new federal credit union, Table Rock in Shell Knob, Mo., was established to serve the residents of Barry and Stone Counties. The potential membership was given at 62,668. [email protected]