Unbearable!
✔ ... and unbelievable! Cal Toast? Here's the skinny:[link]
What a mess! So now you know the truth, credit union mergers come with brass-knuckles, not kumbayah!
Boards and CEO's are on a mission of me-first, more than member-first. The gloves have been taken off, the "faux cooperative purpose", now so in-artfully and embarrassingly exposed.
✅ So how can one make chicken salad out of this chicken mess? God Only Knows!*
Imagine this! SAFE CU (remember them! [link]) steps in with a counter-offer to takeover Cal Coast CU, creating a statewide, California-based, California-led, California-focused powerhouse with @ $8 billion in assets, 450,000 members, 45 California branches, no overlap, no layoffs! California Dreamin'!*
To make it happen! SAFE in addition to merging, agrees to pay each and every Cal Coast member a "Welcome to the SAFE credit union" introductory bonus of $500 in cash! That's right, each Cal Coast member receives $500 bucks! Hey, let the Cal Coast members vote on it! Surf's up!*
SAFE would remain a strong, well-capitalized credit union (10.3+%!) with better rates and lower operating costs. No compliance or control issues! A statewide footprint. Don't Worry Baby!*
And, if the new SAFE/Cal Coast Credit Union needs a sound, experienced, "no mess" leader to heard the chickens...
Bring back Henry Wirz! - the most trusted credit union leader in California, who led SAFE CU for over 30+ years, with honor and integrity. I Get Around!*
😎 Now that really is a kumbayah moment, with good, good... Good Vibrations!*
Yeah!... Wouldn't It Be Nice!*
* California's favorite sons: The Beach Boys.
With behavior (and profit/salaries) like this, I can almost hear that “giant sucking sound” of credit unions losing that precious tax-exempt status. My only question is “why isn’t this so obvious to us all?” I now wait for some of the mean-spirited people who follow this blog to call me names for saying this and to argue vehemently that it’s really just all about economies of scale and creating efficiencies? Sure it is…
ReplyDeleteSan Diego Tribune:
ReplyDelete"Rather than non-compliance, Cal Coast said SDCCU’s concerns were about “control”: which CEO would lead the combined credit union and how many board seats each would be granted.
Cal Coast said there was a due diligence period of several months before the financial institutions agreed on the merger, but soon, “SDCCU got cold feet about the control it had bargained away.” SDCCU wanted to put its president and CEO as the new entity’s head, whereas Cal Coast’s leader had been named in the merger agreement, the complaint alleges."
Gets worse:
ReplyDelete"According to SDCCU’s December court filing, the parties decided to merge “with limited due diligence” because they were aligned in their missions and presupposed that they were “both engaged in the lawful activities of a credit union.”
"The complaint also includes a broad allegation of “deficient policies” that SDCCU claimed violated “dozens of federal and state laws, rules, and regulations.”
https://hoodline.com/2026/01/san-diego-credit-union-mega-merger-explodes-into-courtroom-brawl/
ReplyDeleteand now the members get the "privilege" of funding this court battle ...
ReplyDeleteWhat a great idea! But Todd Lane would sooner give up a kidney than control of Cal Coastal.
ReplyDeleteSR