Officials of the Vermont Bankers Association, which could become a party to any future legal wrangling, said Candon had become frustrated with VSECU's ads and agreed to requests from Vermont bank CEOs that the law be enforced.

“Candon has always been a supporter of credit unions but not this time around,” said Chris D'Elia, president/CEO of the VBA.

VSECU in its appeal filed Monday said its petition for declaratory relief indicates that DFR's order “is unsupported by law, illegal, unconstitutional on its face and as applied to VSECU, and would open VSECU to substantial future penalties and damages if it were to be entered as a final order.”

The DFR's order cited Section 14103 of title 8 in the state law that says: “No person shall advertise or put forth any sign as a bank, banking association or trust company, or in any way solicit or receive deposits or transact business as a bank, banking association, financial institution or trust company, or use the words 'bank,' 'banking association,' or 'trust company' or other similar sounding word or name unless it is a financial institution reporting to and under the supervision of the commissioner or is authorized to conduct such business in this state under federal law, or unless the commissioner approves the activity or word or name used in writing after giving due consideration for whether the activity, word or name will confuse or mislead the public as to the nature of the business of the entity.”

The department's order said the credit union is not one of the entities that may use these words “or any other similar sounding word or name, including but not limited to 'banking,' 'banker,' 'banking co-op,' 'banking cooperative,' and 'not for profit banking cooperative,' to describe itself, its services, or its activities.”

These words are “limited to financial institutions” and using them “is misleading and, at a minimum, significantly blurs the lines between a credit union and a bank and will confuse the public,” the DFR order notice said.