Careful now! That attitude may be hazardous... to your health!
😎 Readers here have frequently asked why so much time is being "wasted" on the west coast sell-out of SAFE CU by its Board and CEO? "Not our problem, stay focused on SECU!"
Fear such thinking is an example of the maxim : "Can't see the forest, for the trees." SAFE represents a pattern of betrayal of CU member-owners that has not yet reached SECU, but it may be a lot closer to North Carolina than you might suspect...
In fact, it might be staring you right in the face: WRAL News - 8/21/26: "WakeMed-Atrium deal ‘deserves close scrutiny,’ governor’s office says ahead of possible merger vote" [link] Take a few minutes to read the story.
✅ While you roll your eyes with a "now what?", let me give you a few brief details on WakeMed. It was chartered in the 1960's, funded by local tax revenue bonds to provide access to affordable healthcare to local, Wake County residents [kinda sounds like a field of membership!]. WakeMed is a community-owned, community-controlled cooperative, operating on a non-profit basis. WakeMed is tax exempt. (By the IRS definition: A hospital or a cooperative hospital service organization described in section 170(b)(1)(A)(iii).) [kinda reminds you of a CU!].
Wake County is home to our capital city Raleigh and is growing rapidly, thriving economically [Sounds like Sacramento doesn't it!] WakeMed too is prosperous, profitable with $2.5 billion in revenue, 14,000 employees - a locally driven economic engine! [remind you of SAFE?] The acquiring hospital chain is Atrium which is actually Advocate Healthcare which operates in six states - Alabama, Illinois, Georgia, North Carolina, South Carolina and Wisconsin, operates over 70 hospitals, and has 160,000 employees. Anyway, anywhere, anywho "corporate" ambitions! [Yep, BECU-like.]
As you'll note from the newspaper articles:
- The WakeMed Board tried to slip the merger by the public as a "consent item" on the county commissioners agenda - but got caught.
- There was never any prior discussion with the citizens of Wake County about the merger. [link]
- Benefits of the merger appear at best illusory, if not totally imaginary.[link]
- Better offers by more local, state-based hospital systems have been made to WakeMed and rejected.[link]
- The Board of WakeMed is basically giving away a multi-billion dollar asset created, funded and built by the citizens of Wake County. [link]
- Trust in WakeMed and local political leaders has reached a new low - with good reason.
😎 Nah, something like the SAFE/BECU mega-me misappropriation will never happen in the Tarheel State... nor at SECU.
Good info. Hits close to home and is a great analogy to the SAFE / Boeing deal. Unless our Board tries to sell us to Navy Fed without a member vote, it has no relevance to SECU whatsoever.
ReplyDeleteThe fatal flaw in your comment is you make the false assumption that only a larger CU could takeover SECU. Dead wrong to put it bluntly.
DeleteNow don't lose your marbles, but you and I could make an offer right now to buy SAFE CU for $1 and promise to keep it in Sacramento, with current operating procedures, staff, reserves and services.. Of course, we'd need a new board, CEO, and would immediately lower fees! Everything remains the same.
Sound silly... yep but that's where we are in CU land! Our offer at $1 is better than the Boeing total giveaway agreement, so state approval is assured!
Want to go for it? Got 50 cents?
11:03.. I acknowledge, there is no law in CU mergers requiring the merging credit union to be the smaller credit union. Yes, legally we could be ‘taken over” (whatever that means). It’s legally possible l, and didn’t say it wasn’t.
Delete11:51am You always seem a bit poutish and become defensive when someone points out that you may not fully understand what is going on.
DeleteJust say I hadn't thought of that and yes it sounds silly... what does SECU need to do to protect the members?