who regulates credit unions in PA

MELOC · #1 08/03/10, 01:14 PM

my sister is having some issues with her loans from a credit union in pa. who regulates credit unions in Pennsylvania?

katy · #2 08/03/10, 01:28 PM

As far as I know, it is the good ole FDIC., they are just not as stringent with credit unions. and the credit unions are not offering nearly so many programs to the public as the banks. SORRY that was just a little to quick. try this, and based on a report i saw 2-3 days ago regarding Ohio, if she has ANY CHECKING OR SAVINGS ACCOUNTS, where she has loans, stronly suggest she close them. If you're interested i will try to find the link for the Ohio one.

http://articles.latimes.com/2010/aug...ilure-20100802

AR Transplant · #3 08/03/10, 01:30 PM

can't help you with that but a friend of mine wrote his thesis on credit unions and I learned that they don't have to pay taxes and there are more in washingdc than any other area.

they don't have to follow the same strict laws as banks and not paying taxes makes them a lot more profitable.

good luck, but honestly because of the ability for congressmen to abuse them, they won't be going anywhere soon.

katy · #4 08/03/10, 01:40 PM

I hadn't heard that credit unions were starting to have difficulties, guess times are changing. this search brought up interesting articles. Hope some of them give you the info you/r sis need.

http://www.google.com/search?hl=en&q=pennsylvania+credit+union+regulators+are+%2F%3F&aq=f&aqi=&aql=&oq=&gs_rfai=

MELOC · #5 08/03/10, 01:47 PM

my sister has a home equity line of credit and, although my knowledge of exactly what is going on is fuzzy, i think she had to either get another loan to pay back property taxes or she had to add more on to her home equity loan. i think she had to borrow on a separate line of credit. during that, since she gets partial disability via SSI and has her money direct deposited, they structured one of the loans so that she was to have extra taken out and held in escrow to apply to pay her taxes. suddenly, she gets notice that someone had messed up and fudged the holding by a decimal point (or something) and she needed to come up with an addition $600-$700 for her taxes. she could not afford it and applied for another $600-$700...which was denied. now she gets notice that they are requiring her to purchase insurance to the tune of $300-$400. for what, i do not know. i do know that she has two other forms of insurance on her house...but i wonder if this may be a requirement for her home equity line of credit? i have no idea at the moment, but the poor girl gets SSI due to mental issues and this type of crap can put her over the edge. our family has many other irons in the fire at the moment that are stressing her greatly. she had several kidney surgeries this past winter for a massive kidney stone, my brother had cancer and chemo, my brothers missing daughter was found 15 years later murdered, mom's defense of an adverse possession claim (success) and my sister's ongoing financial issues stemming from her original breakdown 15 years ago. it's a wonder she holds on at all and i admire her strength and determination. she just doesn't need this predatory crap and too much more will put her back in the hospital...or worse.

i try to stay available but separate from her issues, but when i get a call from mom and she is crying and my sister is crying and ready to run to the credit union and "flip out", it's time i get involved. there is just no logical reason that i can fathom why the credit union cannot be upfront with all that they require in a timely manner from the inception of any loan or transaction. having to restructure or whatever every dang six months means something funny is going on.

Ramblin Wreck · #6 08/03/10, 03:15 PM

The NCUA is the federal organization that oversees/gaurantees credit union deposits. In Georgia, there are state chartered and federal chartered credit unions, and they have different oversight bodies. My credit union is state chartered and is overseen by the Georgia Department of Banking and Finance. I'm not sure what the deal is in Pennsylvania, but note that credit unions are member owned organizations...so you can always show up at the annual meetings and raise heck!

MELOC · #7 08/03/10, 03:24 PM

pretty sure i found what i need... Pennsylvania Department of Banking.

i think i have an idea of what was going on. she was required to have insurance on the house for the home equity loan. she had insurance but was sold insurance by the credit union as well. they claimed they had no idea she had the other insurance (at first) and then claims that it was a clerical error that the wrong information was entered resulting in forced insurance sold by the credit union or whoever they are hooked up with. it's sort of odd since my sister has a receipt where the credit union drafted a payment to my sister's insurance company in 2009...but they were not aware she had her own insurance insurance.

since the insurance issue arose after she actually got the loan (or had the equity line raised or simply made the agreement to hold money in escrow for taxes...not sure), the money to pay the credit union sponsored insurance was taken from the escrow funds which resulted in a shortage of funds to pay the taxes. they told her that even though it was a clerical error on their part, she was as much at fault for not recognizing it since last year.

that was issue one. issue two is a letter she got today claiming she needed to pay $300-$400 for insurance because they require it for her home equity line of credit??? she has insurance...she now has two policies for goodness sakes! they now want her to have another? they somehow don't know that not only does she have the policy they sold her, but her other insurance as well? that money was going to come out of her escrow as well!

i dealt with this credit union for over a decade until they denied me a loan for $1000 to buy a car. i had no problem with the denial, but the lady who wrote my application told me on a Tuesday that she would have a decision on the loan by the following Monday. when i called on Monday, they told me the lady i dealt with was on vacation all that week??? like she didn't know she was going on vacation... i then withdrew my saving and checking funds to the minimum required to maintain an account and made them send me a statement every month for several years.

long story short, my sister has demanded satisfaction by noon on Wednesday or she will seek damages in court. i think she also needs to file a complaint with the Department of Banking.

fransean · #8 08/03/10, 09:16 PM

Has your sister provided the credit union with proof of insurance? I don't remember reading that in your posts.
If they do not have proof of insurance on file then that would make sense why the insurance issue keeps getting triggered.
Generating a payment is not proof of insurance, nor does it indicate that the policy is still valid.
Hopefully this gets cleared up soon.
Good luck.

MELOC · #9 08/03/10, 09:28 PM

yes, she provided them with proof of insurance and that is when the "clerical error" occurred. whoever was responsible for entering the info into "the system" entered the wrong "code".

StephanieH · #10 08/04/10, 08:13 AM

I am the CEO of a small credit union. I would ask to speak to the chairperson of the supervisory committee of the credit union. They are the "watchdog" of the credit union board as well making sure the employees follow policy. I would contact them first, before contacting NCUA or PDB.

Ramblin Wreck · #11 08/04/10, 09:57 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by StephanieH

I am the CEO of a small credit union. I would ask to speak to the chairperson of the supervisory committee of the credit union. They are the "watchdog" of the credit union board as well making sure the employees follow policy. I would contact them first, before contacting NCUA or PDB.

That is excellent advice. Our credit union web site lists all the board members and the committees they serve on. Maybe hers has a listing also.