July 7, 1998
William H. Yarborough, CEO
U.S. Postal Service Federal Credit Union
7905 Malcolm Road, 4th Floor
Clinton, Maryland 20735-1769
Dear Mr. Yarborough:
You have informed us that your primary field
of membership is defined as "[a]ll employees of the U.S.
Postal Service who do not have local credit union service available
through another government employee-type credit union."
Because of this exclusionary clause, credit union members that
belong to smaller postal credit unions, which may not be able
to provide a full range of services, cannot join your credit union
and may have to go to other types of financial institutions for
services. You would like to offer these members those services
that are not currently available from their own credit union,
regardless of the exclusionary clause.
Although your goal is laudable, such service
to members of other postal credit unions is prohibited as long
as the exclusionary clause remains in your field of membership.
You can contact NCUA's Region II office to determine if it will
consider an amendment to your charter to remove the exclusionary
clause in its entirety. Alternatively, you can work with the
other credit unions whose members you would like to serve and,
on a case-by-case basis, request that those credit unions indicate
to the Region II office that they have no objection to an overlap
of their fields of membership. The regional office could then
determine if it will amend your charter to permit your credit
union to overlap those credit unions.
Sincerely,
Sheila A. Albin
Associate General Counsel
GC/MJMcK:bhs
SSIC 6010
98-0649