It can be as specific as employment at a job site of a company or as broad as being a resident of Newark or Sussex County. It was this common bond that came under attack by the banking industry, which took the battle to court, claiming that fields of membership were far too broad and provided an unfair advantage. Credit unions argued that they needed to add employee groups to offset cutbacks in many old economy industries. A court decision restricted that common bond to the point that the future of credit unions seemed to be jeopardy. Legislation was overwhelmingly passed by Congress and signed by the President that rolled back the bulk of the restrictions in the court decision.
Credit unions are now free to affiliate with other employment groups.
Prior to putting the furniture together, Walls and Alice Smith, communications director for the Credit Union League, sat down and discussed issues and opportunities. We've always had growth. With passage of 1151, our member credit unions are able to sign up additional employee groups. Credit unions need to diversify their membership to reduce the risk of downsizing at industrial employers such as DuPont and Hercules. I would call it an uneasy truce.