CHESTERFIELD, Mo. — While the eventual legal outcome of lawsuits filed against credit unions by Lyndon Insurance, including The CU of Texas, may drag on, Credit Union Times has learned that Lyndon assured NCUA back in late August of 2005 that it was not aware of loan alterations changing coverage of Centrix loans.

Through the Freedom of Infor-mation Act, a letter sent to NCUA General Counsel Robert Fenner from Richard Hackett, senior vice president of the asset protection division on behalf of the Lyndon Property Insurance Company has been obtained by Credit Union Times. Hacket wrote: "…regarding your question of whether certain loan alterations have voided coverage at present we are not aware of any such alterations that have voided coverage…I'm not aware of any instance where a loan alteration has resulted in coverage being voided or in a claim being denied." Lyndon would not assert a "blanket assurance that loan alterations will not impact the compensability of a claim," however.

NCUA wrote Lyndon on behalf of CUs for which it had obtained power of attorney. A credit union (its name redacted according to a FOIA privacy exception) questioned Centrix valuations, claiming the wrong value had been used in paying claims. Lyndon countered, "claims are not adjusted on particular credit unions because the formula for the claim is the same for each and every credit union. No credit union receives a preferred claim or valuation by Lyndon or Centrix Financial."