(building the) Black Rock Federal Credit Union

Status Update

It’s been a while, and so I wanted to send out a quick update on what’s been happening with the project.

Recent updates:

• I spoke about the project at the IgnitionNW Town Hall Meeting on March 26th and made two important announcements:
1. The first group in our Field of Membership will be IgnitionNW.
2. I’m building a technology platform to create and operate Credit Unions like Black Rock Federal. (There will be more about this soon!)
• I also had an outstanding meeting with Carmen Mauk of Burners without Borders, who is taking BWB in some exciting directions.
• The BarCamp Bank folks asked us to host their first US meeting, and I have agreed to do it. Brady Forrest has graciously agreed to advise me on this, and I’m hoping that the OpenSourceCU/Trabien & Wesabe folks will help out too.

• I’m sending our revised Field-of-Membership to the NCUA on Friday.
• On Saturday I’m flying to San Francisco to help Brady run the Ignite Event @ the Web2.0 Expo in San Francisco. (Justin.tv will be there and presenting, so you might be able to see it live… and from a speakers perspective!)
• I might be speaking at the Web2.0 Expo as well (check my personal blog if you want to know more)

Next Update: Friday, April 20th

Add comment April 11th, 2007

Update from the NCUA

I just received really helpful response from the NCUA about our earlier request for approval of our Field of Membership.

They asked us for more information about our potential member organizations, as the NCUA “cannot charter a credit union around a group simply on the basis that an association exists.”

Here’s a little more on this requirement:

“To qualify as an associational group for field of membership purposes, the group must have common interests defined as individuals participating in activities developing common loyalties, mutual benefits, and mutual interests. To show that there are common interests, each grup must demonstrate that it:

1. holds meetings open to all members at least once a year
2. sponsors activities which clearly demonstrate that the members meet and interact regularly to accomplish the association’s objectives
3. has an authoritative definition of who is eligible for membership (usually, this will be the associations charter and bylaws).”

So… What does this mean?

It means that we will probably begin with Burning Man Regional Groups like Ignition Northwest and wait to include more informal groups groups like the Theme Camps until we’re up and running.

I’ll post more a bit later… right now I’m going to head to Ignite Seattle!!!

2 comments February 13th, 2007

DIY Credit Union: First regulatory milestone complete

Just a quick note to let everybody know we filed our proposed Field of Membership with the NCUA today. Our Field of Membership defines the community we are legally permitted to serve. There are numerous regulations about who and how a credit union can define it’s “Common Bond”, and we hope we’ve defined ours accordingly.

As always, comments, questions and feedback are requested and encouraged!

2 comments December 15th, 2006

Correction: $1 = $1

What was wrong?
I said that Credit Unions were able to loan out $16 for every $1 in member deposits, because they have a 6% capitalization requirement. I confused Credit Union capitalization ratios with banking Cash Reserve Ratios, and didn’t find out until I spoke with a gentleman from the NCUA today.

Credit Union loans are backed by member shares, and the Credit Unions are required to keep a reserve in excess of this amount. This reserve is the capitalization requirement.

Banks do operate this way, and as I asserted in my talk, generate significant profit from loans they are able make loaning out more money then they have on deposit.

What does this mean?
It means that we have less “upside” (in the form of interest) to use than we originally hoped.

We will still create a non-profit, member owned, member driven, community financial institution. We will still empower our community, offer great financial services, and use our resources to change the world.

There are now 10 passionate people directly involved this project, and our understanding is constantly growing. We are beginning to find mentors in Credit Union community, and have started the chartering process with the NCUA.