Credit Unions Warned About Ads’ Field Of Membership Language
The California Department of Financial Institutions (DFI) issued a warning about credit unions using certain language about their fields of membership in their advertising.
In the April monthly bulletin, the California DFI issued a statement regarding “Impermissible Advertising by Credit Unions.”
“The Department has recently become aware of certain impermissible advertising campaigns by credit unions. The advertisements state that ‘everyone can join’ or ‘all individuals can join’ the credit union,” DFI said in the bulletin.
“Advertisements that display this message violate the Commissioner’s regulation concerning common-bond requirements for field of membership,” the bulletin continued.
“Title 10 California Code of Regulations 30.51 provides that members must share a common bond ‘beyond obtaining financial services.’ Stating that ‘everyone can join’ or that ‘all can join’ the credit union incorrectly suggests that the common-bond requirement of 30.51 does not apply.
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