“We've never been involved in something like this but we expect the state will move quickly and we're looking for a hearing within four to six weeks,” Post said.

“We would like to find out the source of the complaints and of course we understand it is driven by the Vermont Bankers Association,” he said, calling the state's action “an amazing interpretation of state law.”

Meanwhile, Chris D'Elia, the president of the VBA, said during the last session of the legislature ending in March the practice of using “bank” and “banking” came up in discussions with both the Association of Vermont Credit Unions and Candon but not much was done.

The issue has boiled over in recent weeks following new ads run by VSECU which hit on the bank theme, he said. “We just don't know whether these ads will continue to run,” D'Elia said.

“They've spent a lot of money on those ads and they've gone way out on a limb in their use of 'bank' and 'banking' and so we think they may be buying time” in their decision to seek legal redress, he said.